About two months ago I spontaneously booked an irresistibly cheap round trip fair to London with Ryanair - the preferred airline of tightwads, people with very low standards, and the Irish. The many luxuries of flying with Ryanair include walking across the tarmac to the plane, qualifying a newspaper as "carry-on luggage" and holding your pee, but the price is just unbeatable.
After arriving at Stansted, I took a shuttle into the city, which I found to be astoundingly modern and multi-cultural in comparison to Austrian cities, despite the UK's alarming adherence to driving on the left. The weather in London was uncharacteristically unbad, so we spent most of our time outdoors, walking from site to site rather than checking out the over-priced and over-hyped indoor attractions. We did stop by to see the Tate Modern, home to the famous Roy Lichtenstein painting Whaam! (see right). I also ran quickly into the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone and the Parthenon Marbles. The museum described the latter set of statues as more or less "protected from the careless Greeks", although I remembered that in Athens they were essentially described as "stolen by the greedy British". Museum politics are rarely so interesting.
Other than one English breakfast and a scone (sadly without clotted cream), I mostly stayed away from English food, which is often boiled and infrequently praised. However, although England has a less-than-sterling culinary reputation, I thought that London was a great place to eat as there were restaurants serving food from just about every ethnicity imaginable. And if you forget about the crushingly unfavorable exchange rate, the prices almost seem cheap!
Other than one English breakfast and a scone (sadly without clotted cream), I mostly stayed away from English food, which is often boiled and infrequently praised. However, despite England's less-than-sterling culinary reputation, I thought that London was a great place to eat as there were restaurants serving food from just about every ethnicity imaginable. And if you forget about the crushingly unfavorable exchange rate, the prices almost seem cheap!
I've always had an odd interest in massive, nineteenth-century department stores, so naturally I also checked out Harrods - the UK's largest shop and once home to one of the world's first escalators (which apparently caused such a stir that distressed ladies were given smelling salts and cognac to calm their nerves). Having seen both Harrods and Buckingham Palace, I admit that it's hard to say which is actually grander.
My short trip was rounded out with a trip to the West End to see Wicked, which is even more fun than the reviews suggest.
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| I was excited to go see this painting as I once taught a lesson about this topic, despite being majorly unqualified to talk about art. |
Other than one English breakfast and a scone (sadly without clotted cream), I mostly stayed away from English food, which is often boiled and infrequently praised. However, although England has a less-than-sterling culinary reputation, I thought that London was a great place to eat as there were restaurants serving food from just about every ethnicity imaginable. And if you forget about the crushingly unfavorable exchange rate, the prices almost seem cheap!
Other than one English breakfast and a scone (sadly without clotted cream), I mostly stayed away from English food, which is often boiled and infrequently praised. However, despite England's less-than-sterling culinary reputation, I thought that London was a great place to eat as there were restaurants serving food from just about every ethnicity imaginable. And if you forget about the crushingly unfavorable exchange rate, the prices almost seem cheap!
I've always had an odd interest in massive, nineteenth-century department stores, so naturally I also checked out Harrods - the UK's largest shop and once home to one of the world's first escalators (which apparently caused such a stir that distressed ladies were given smelling salts and cognac to calm their nerves). Having seen both Harrods and Buckingham Palace, I admit that it's hard to say which is actually grander.
My short trip was rounded out with a trip to the West End to see Wicked, which is even more fun than the reviews suggest.
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