London Calling

In my ongoing tribute to Ricardo and wife being in London, I'm reprising the emails I sent home during my trip to both London and Paris. This is entry #2:

Saturday July 1, 2000

Subject: Days two and three across the pond

I had to change locales today so I did not have a chance to write about my day yesterday (ok, I was hungover after drinking all night with some Germans and a Dutch girl). As such, I'll condense the two days, as much of today was spent traveling.

Tube follow-up

-As it turns out, I was right about the garbage situation on the Tube. I didn't write that my initial reaction was, "The lack of garbage cans can't be because of the terrorist bombings that occurred 10-15 years ago by the IRA." Well, it turns out not only can it be the reason, it is the reason. Signs have been posted now instead of advertisements explaining the reason why. I likened it to the fire codes for buildings in Chicago where it's still illegal to use extension cords in the workplace, all because of the "Chicago Fire" and a reluctance to change the code because it's good for various unions.

-While really wanting to blame the ventilation for the odor at Piccadily, the blame really has to rest on the users lack of hygiene. I'd like to blame solely the Londoners, but that's not possible as this town is the most international I've been in by far---10 times more so than New York. I've heard some people speaking what I don't even think was a language.

-The Tube made £10million last year. With 3 billion riders, that tells me they aren't charging enough. The Londoners aren't happy and I found out it's because the trains are really crowded during rush hour and you may even have to let one go by because it's full. Poor babies. Welcome to the real world you over subsidized weanies.

General

Tour of London

-Took a two hour tour of London by double-decker bus, in the misty rain of course. They claim the weather isn't like this in June/July, but it's all I've seen and all I've read about, so I think they are just pulling my chain. Anyway, these tours are cool. A must do in London. I learned that not only is Big Ben NOT the name of the clock tower (it's actually just the bell, which resides in Sir Stephen's Tower) but it isn't even the largest bell in London at 13 tons. There's another one that's 17 tons. Useless trivia, but I'll await the call from you on Who Wants to be a Millionaire.

-The Milenium Wheel is in downtown and is this huge, ferris-wheel-looking thing. Each cab holds like 25 people or something incredible. It's constantly moving! How do people get in and out you say? It's rotating at twice the speed of a minute hand, so it makes a full revolution in 30 minutes and the movement is essentially imperceptible. What a cool idea.

-They have an obelisk from the early days of Egypt that was sent to the Romans for helping in some silly war. Really old stuff, not 200 years like we think in or even 500 years.

-Saw tons of things on the tour including Benedict Arnold's house. Learned also that George Washington was born in England, but that was courtesy of Tom Scalf, with whom I'm staying the next few days.