11/09/10

    It has only been two full days here in London but it already feels like a week.  There is so much to share and plenty to report on so I better get typing.  I'm not sure how I want to set this up but right now I just want to get things written and out of my head.  I apologize in advance for any rambling for which I blame the jet lag and odd choices of beer.  So where to start? Hmmmm perhaps the beginning eh?

 10/9/10 

4 a.m.

The Lodge Hotel, our home for now.

        After a rough night's sleep Sean and I woke and quickly hustled the remaining items into the pod and suitcases leaving poor Kirsten with a stark apartment.  It was hard to say goodbye to Anawan Ave after 5 years of superb West Roxbury living but off we went with Greg, our dear friend and neighbor who drove our tired butts to the airport.  The flight was about five and a half hours and quite honestly the easiest trip I've taken (not counting the short mini flights to Buffalo). The double decker plane was the largest I have ever been on with the added bonus of the plane being about 25% full.  We had choice seats, not first class though, and very attentive service.  It was a smooth ride and as the clouds cleared you could see the lights below.  Heathrow Airport is HUGE and it took us quite a good amount of time to just get to immigration and our baggage.  Everything went smoothly and we were whisked away to our hotel in Putney.  The place is cozy but nothing too different than what we are accustomed to back home, smaller and oddly laid out but not too bad.  ("A ladybug landed on me".....this is what Sean just said to me as I'm typing, had to add it in, he has had some good quotes on this trip so far) So yes, a tiny room, two twin size beds and I can hear the guy next door snoring.  Perhaps we'll put up some photos once we clean up the room and make the beds.  

    Our first meal in London wasn't anything special, sorry to say.  We wandered down the street to the first restaurant that seemed open and inviting.  Ta-da! It was a pizza place which we are now learning is quite a big chain here, probably the equivalent of a California Pizza Kitchen, but we were starving and didn't have the energy to venture too far.  As we sat waiting for our pizza and salads I began watching the other patrons in the restaurant.  Sean and I had had several conversations before about the table manners of people in Europe and how they make even the politest (is that a word?) eater in the U.S. feel like a slob.  Knife in the right hand cutting and directing small bits of food, while THE FORK IN THE LEFT HAND (get it??) gently stabs the food with prongs pointed down.  Very different from the shuffling an shoveling.  Now I don't know too too much about table manners yet but I couldn't help but notice that even at this casual pizza joint everyone ate their pizza with fork and knife.  Folding your piece of pizza in half with your hands then cramming it in your face did not seem appropriate. Not wanting to look too completely out of place Sean and I picked up our knives and forks and cut in. More to come on this style of eating later as it seems we are mesmerized by it and of course it is now the title of our blog.