well, i’ve made it. i kind of feel like death, but i’ve made it.
there is a conspiracy theory about denver airport. if you have not heard it, the gist is that the airport covers some secret underground city that serves as headquarters for the illuminati, and satanists, or whatever. it is, of course, absolute nonsense. that didn’t stop me from thinking a lot about it after i was violently sick just before landing in AND just after takeoff from the denver airport. almost definitely due to the mountains, but it sure felt like some illuminati satan trickery.
really fun stuff.
once we were properly in the air, however, the flight to heathrow was pretty uneventful. my sweet, naïve self thought that he could sleep on the plane (after all, traveling by air takes a lot out of you! it was going to be dark for a decent majority of the flight!)
that poor, poor fool. i did, however, learn that airlines have a strange deal with film distribution companies after noticing they were offering several movies that still have yet to get a home release. i got maybe fifteen minutes of actual sleep and the plane arrived at heathrow ten minutes early.
not much more to say about those particular eight hours.
BUT.
BUT.
THE LONDON UNDERGROUND IS THE COOLEST THING ON EARTH.
it is so easy. it is almost deceptively simple. you scan a card and you get on the train and it takes you to the place you need to go. sometimes you get off and walk through a tunnel to a different line. and you just… get on until you need to be off. i rode for an hour and ten minutes and it cost £2. i thought i loved public transit before, but this is something else entirely.
i love you, The Tube.
london itself is really on another level, when it comes to urban planning. the whole thing is really just a ton of little villages that were smushed together and built up on top of themselves. everywhere you turn feels like downtown, especially in southwark, and every time you turn your head, something is there to surprise you. here’s the view of the shard that i got just walking down the street towards my airbnb:
just oh-so-casually one of the most iconic pieces of modern architecture hanging out at the end of the road.
it took me less than ten minutes’ walk from the place i’m staying to also run into:
a. the world-famous borough market, full of very good food including more varieties of cheese than i can fathom:
b. the ruins of a palace built in the 12th century, boldly integrated into a much more modern structure:
c. the tate modern art museum, currently featuring an exhibit titled “picasso, 1932”
d. the actual, honest to god london bridge (i did not get a picture as i was standing on it but it was actually pretty standard bridge stuff)
e. a replica of sir francis drake’s ship the golden hinde, in st. mary overie dry dock:
stuff is just everywhere. and very, very cool, generally.
especially the accents.
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