The Smalrus Web Site

After several hours, I came into Gatwick Airport on time, managing to fall asleep for barely 1 1/2 hours. Everyone kept telling me to fall asleep on the plane ride, but I just couldn’t manage to do it. So, after finally getting in, I went through the long haul of a trip through to the customs line. Fortunately, this was one of the easiest customs I’ve passed through, since apparently the Brits are able to screen your baggage before it goes through baggage claim. So the only thing there is left to do is go through passport control and head to either declare goods or not.

I managed to make my way through the connecting mess of trains after figuring out where the train was going. With my £26.80 round trip ticket, I left on the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station at 9:35, arriving around 10am. By the time I got in, I was carrying about 60 pounds of baggage through the Underground. But being the stubbourn person I am, it wasn’t an option for me to take a taxi.

Instead, I went to an information kiosk and asked the for best option for travel pass. Here in London, they call their card the Oyster and their tube operates in different zones with variable pricing. A single ride costs £4, but with a pay-as-you-go, it costs £1.50. I opted for the Zones 1-2 unlimited weekly pass for £23.60. That allows me unlimited access to all the London I’ll probably see, all our visitations, and all of the busses. With a transfer at Oxford Circus, the tube trip ended at Holborn, where I dragged my luggage all the way to the Ruskin Hotel at 23-24 Montague Street in Bloomsbury. The hotel is located right across the road from the British Museum.
Feeling kind of grungry with a layer of filth on me after 15 hours of travel time, I checked in and went to take a shower. The rooms here are really small, almost smaller than my dorm room in Molson Hall. In fact, it almost seems like a hostel with a paint job. They don’t even have Wi-Fi! But adequate conditions nonetheless. I came out of the shower and a guy from the seminar, Amish, had already checked in also, so we decided that rather than sleeping, the only way to break through the jet lag would be to keep on going, straight through the day.
So after making a trek to Barclays to pick up some cash (Bank of America has a deal wherein you pay no ATM fees to use Barclays ATMs), we walked to Birkbeck College, University of London, and then walked up and down part of Southhampton Row to find some sort of place to eat for lunch. Dean’s Brasserie it was.

After lunch, I felt it prudent to do some spontaneous exploring, so we walked back down to High Holborn and picked up the 25 bus, carrying us all the way to the Bank tube station before getting off. From there, we walked across the London Bridge (which was a real disappointment, given that it has a song named after it) and over the other side of the Thames River. The view was alright, the only thing was that the days have been overcast and somewhat rainy, so the lack of sunlight is a little depressing. But we crossed the Tower Bridge, decided not to waste £6 on going up and then walked by the Tower of London. We thought it might have been bigger or better, but a cursory view wasnt’t that impressive.

I wanted to go check out the Swiss Re building, aka the “Erotic Gherkin,” but it started to rain and we couldn’t exactly figure out where we were. We ducked into a Marks & Spencer since I’m including them in my thesis and I know they’ve done a lot with social responsibility. There’s a lot of in-store promotion of their actions, but no real print material for me to take. However, I ended up getting a fairtrade cotton t-shirt for £5 and a washable no-pattern navy blue tie for £4. We also took a few snacks from their little grocery store downstairs (again with the organics and fairtrade products) and decided to walk to 30 St. Mary’s Axe anyways.

The Swiss Re building is neat in its architectural design, but there’s not much in the way of public space or any way to go in the lobby or anything, so unless you have business there, its not worth your time. Especially when it starts to rain.

We headed back to the Aldage tube station and took it back to Holborn, deciding to keep walking, through the edge of Leicester Square all the way to Charing Cross station. From there we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, walked around, took a couple of pictures and browsed tourist stores and then went back to Holborn since Amish’s roommate Mahesh was due in to the hotel. As such, the three of us went out for dinner at some vegetarian thai buffet, which wasn’t that bad. Ultimately, we came back to the hotel so Mahesh could hit the sack and Amish and I went back to Leicester Square, looking for a place to get drinks.

We decided on The Bear & Staff, where I got a pint of Addingstone’s cider for £2.95. Outside, there were a couple of kids jamming out to a guy from Mauritius playing Bob Marley on his guitar. So we sat down and this drunk, 42 year old guy from who knows where (we couldn’t understand him) came over and talked to us for quite a bit. The man claims he could beatbox and brought rap to New York 30 years ago, but quite frankly, it was obvious he was influenced.

Most bars in London close at 11pm, so it was quite early for me to finish my cider, but I was already starting to feel it. Unfortunately there was nowhere else really to sustain it, so we decided to head back to the hotel. I got in around 11:45, but my roommate Charles had just gotten in from the airport and he was thirsty, so we went back out to the convenience store to get a beer and by the time I fell asleep, it was about 12:30am – awake for nearly 35 hours straight.