Arriving in Europe: day 1 in London

If I were smart I would have set this all up before I left the Boston rather than waste money in Internet Cafes, but oh well. I originally had no plans to keep a blog of any kind, but after taking a few pictures today I realized that I wanted to send emails to a few people anyway, so maybe this will actually be easier. I'm not much for prose, and I can't promise I'll be able to keep it up, but it's worth a shot!

This is the entire room, minus the loo

First of all, business class on an international flight was pretty amazing. I don't know why I got so excited about all the perks - like fully reclining seat, champagne before takeoff, 5 "course" dinner - but it certainly was an exciting start to the trip. I woke up just at sunrise to see the west coast of Ireland; it's going to be a good month.

After checking into the ~75 sq ft villa that will be my home for the next six nights and having a shower I set off on a trek. An hour or so touring Hyde Park and Kensington Garden (the difference is not unlike Boston Common and the Public Garden - only locals even know), then a long walk along Piccadilly  to the circus and Trafalgar Square. As I was taking the 15th picture of a statue I decided most of the pictures are going to be a little boring since I'm not going to be in any of them. The photo of Byron seen here took no less than 45 minutes to get, as it's in the middle of a roundabout with no access, at least not legally or safely.

Sunset at Trafalgar Sq

A couple pints near Covent Garden before heading back to the hotel, then here. If I keep this up I'll have many posts about beer so I'll save that for later. Suffice it to say that the cool-ish, flat, mild IPA was not exactly like it is in the states.