London Holiday

Erica and I left on vacation to London on August 15th and returned on the 26th. I thought I'd share what we experienced while there. To commemorate our stay in England, I'll be writing this entire blog post in English. Disclaimer: I am not a photographer and do not have a serious camera. I'm sure Erica will share the good photos later, but for this blog post, you'll have to make due with my phone camera.

tl;dr summary for the busy folks:

• 15th: Flew to DC, flew to Brussels
• 16th: Flew to London, slept in Hotel
• 17th: Rode the Eye, saw Big Ben, toured Westminster, cruised the Thames
• 18th: Toured the Tower
• 19th: Toured St. Paul's
• 20th: Train to Paris, cruised the Seine, climbed the Eiffel, Notre Dame
• 21st: Slept in, walked to Buckingham, got real sick, turned in early
• 22nd: Windsor castle, Stonehenge, Lacock, Bath
• 23rd: Museum of London
• 24th: Warwick castle, Stratford-upon-Avon, Oxford
• 25th: Picadilly, Globe theater
• 26th: Flew to Toronto, flew to Seattle

August 15th

Our trip to London started with a flight from Washington to Washington. This was of course pretty dull, despite the fact that we were being miraculously propelled 2300 miles through the air at incredible speed in a metal tube. Once we landed, we had a short layover in the Washington Dulles airport. Enjoy some Airport Art:

Some crazy contraption

Stained glass reminder that we would not be enjoying our bed tonight

As we headed for the Brussels Airlines gate, we saw an advertisement for the airline with a man laying horizontally on a bed, sleeping peacefully on the airplane. "Are we going to get to sleep on our Atlantic crossing?" we wondered to ourselves.

August 15th-16th

No, there were no beds, but rows upon rows of seats instead. I think Brussels Airlines was bullied by tall kids in Junior High and is enacting revenge by skimping on the leg room. I'm not exceptionally tall, but my knees were still touching the seat in front of me. The back support was pretty miserable on the seats as well, so the Atlantic crossing did not afford us a very comfortable sleep. Oh, and if you think that domestic airlines go overboard with the in-flight announcements, try having each and every blurb repeated in English, French, Dutch, and German.

The layover in Brussels was a long 6 hours. We were quite delighted that the security procedures were very relaxed compared to the States (my favorite: no shoe removal), enough to where when we saw there was nothing much to do at our gate, we didn't mind leaving and going back through security later.

The Brussels airport was pretty nice. Duty on fragrance must be high because the mall portion of the airport was replete with perfume shops. I sort of wanted to try some Belgian beer while there, but it was too early in the day for me to be degenerate. Plus, I mostly only saw Stella Artois and other staples that you can get anywhere.

The flight to London was only a bit over an hour. After reviewing the intimidating list of transport options from Heath Row to our hotel, we decided on taking a taxi ride. Our cab driver was very chatty, with a hard-to-understand accent coming from his Spanish origin mixed with a 10 year London influence. He was also a maniac on the road. Luckily, we were so distracted while taking in the London streets that we could almost ignore our precarious situation. After the driver had almost run someone off the road, however, he was actually verbally confronted about it. The lady passenger had her driver pull up alongside so she could curse at him.

When we got to the hotel, my fears that I might have accidentally gotten us crappy accommodations proved to be unwarranted. The hotel is very nice, and we were very glad we got something in Central London that was close to most of the city's main attractions. Here you can kind of make out through one of our windows that we had easy access to the tube system, were close to the Thames, and had a view of both the old and the new.

View out one of our windows

Given our sleep deprivation and the late hour, we turned in for the night.

August 17th

Given our location in central London, I had left us a few days tour-free where we could wander at-will wherever we wanted. Since we were staying on the Thames, and since most of the attractions were along this river, we just picked a direction and walked. On this first day, we headed west toward the Eye of London. Along the way, we detoured to the Temple district for some snapshots.

Some magnificent church converted to a measly courthouse

Dragons with shields guard the London city limits. Here's one marking a Westminster/London boundary.

Was tempted to buy this wig

Obelisk gift from Egypt, dubbed "Cleopatra's Needle"

Not sure what this is

The London Eye is pretty fantastic. In a way, it's like an enormous Ferris wheel, only each car is a large compartment holding maybe 20 people. And there's no waiting while people load and unload; the thing is more or less continuously rotating slowly. When your turn in line comes, you walk into the open car as it drifts slowly by, and after one rotation, you exit. Also inside of the car are some tablets where you can view information about the panorama around you. Here are some picture of and from the Eye.

After exiting the Eye, we headed over to Big Ben (officially named the Elizabeth Tower now) and the rest of Westminster Palace.

Next was Westminster Abbey. There was a long line queue to enter, but it was totally worth it. Photos are not allowed inside most parts of the abbey, so I don't have many pictures unfortunately. Inside the abbey there are audio guides to tell you the stories of what's around you. There has been a church on these grounds for a long long time. Apparently even before the Norman Conquest, there was St. Peter's Chapel. Edward the Confessor replaced that church in the 11th century with St. Peter's Abbey, where he intended to have himself buried. Some of that building is still preserved inside of the present Abbey, which was built in the 13th century. A few upgrades (the towers) were added in the 18th century.

Westminster Abbey is an important symbol in London. Pretty much all of the kings and queens of England since St. Edward are buried here, as well as various other nobility. Sir Isaac Newton, Sir Charles Darwin, Handel, and various poets were also given the honor of burial here. As you might imagine, each room is downright stuffed with statues, effigies, and other monuments. There are even monuments paying respects to people that are not actually buried there.

The audio guide told many stories about some of these people buried in the Abbey. One of my favorite stories is about Oliver Cromwell. If you aren't familiar with Cromwell, he was the leader of the Puritan faction that won the English Civil War which resulted in the monarchy being abolished for a short while. When Cromwell died, he was buried in Westminster Abbey. However, when the monarchy was reestablished two years after his burial, they exhumed his body and hanged the corpse (take that!).

In addition to being a place of burial, coronations and weddings also take place in the Abbey. The coronation chair can be seen behind a locked gate. It's unfortunate that we didn't get a chance to hear the famed Westminster Choir, which performs in the elaborate quire of the cathedral.

View into the cloisters, where in monastic times, vegetables were grown.

Medieval paintings depicting the Apocalypse

After killing time at the Namco station (yes, that Namco), we embarked on a river cruise. The guide was informative, giving us ideas of things to see during the rest of our vacation holiday. He was also pretty funny curmudgeon, telling us he doesn't like the new modern buildings in London at all, sharing their Londoner nicknames. See if you can spot the Gherkin, the Walkie, and Cheese Grater.

St. Paul's

Replica of the ship Sir Francis Drake used to sail around the world

Some new peeking out over the old

City Hall

Tower of London

Tower Bridge. It was pointed out multiple times during our trip that this is not the London Bridge. The awesome London Bridge of yore is no longer and has been replaced with a really dull bridge.

August 18th

The bulk of Sunday was spent at the Tower of London, probably my favorite activity. The Tower is a fortification built by the Normans as part of their conquest, so it dates from the 11th Century. You may wonder, "why is it called the tower of London when there's clearly multiple towers?" Well, originally, the White Tower, the central structure, was all there was. Then, Richard the Lionheart encircled it with more fortifications in the 12th Century, and Edward I added another fortification ring in the 13th Century.

With your admission, you get a group guided tour by a tower warden ("Beefeater"). While we waited for ours, we enjoyed a water balloon trebuchet demonstration.

The Tower has served multiple purposes over the years. Of course, it started out as just a fortification, but later also became a place to house prisoners. Near the Tower is Tower Hill, where public executions were held, and inside the Tower itself, private executions were had. The mint was also located here (and was operated by Sir Isaac Newton at one point!). Before the London Zoo was opened, wild animals were kept here for royal amusement. The crown jewels are also housed at the Tower.

There was a lot to see here. We got to most of it, but it did close before we finished seeing everything.

Still-operational portcullis

Top of portcullis

Invaders wouldn't stand a chance with all these arrow slits

Just some cool looking cannon

I think this dated from the Roman Londinium.

The White Tower had an armor exhibit

Replica of Edward I's living quarters

Old graffiti in a tower that housed religious/political prisoners. Sorry for the flash off the protective cover, but you can still make out that this dated from King James I (REX JACOBVS) in the early 17th Century, the first king of the UK. Since so many of these prisoners were types like Jesuits, most of the graffiti  in here was actually devotional phrases.

When touring the outer wall and its towers, you were shown information on castle protection. I found this sign amusing.

After our tour of the tower, we crossed to the south bank of the Thames over the Tower Bridge (only built in the 19th Century, but that's still old for us Americans!). The towers house art and historical exhibitions, but we never got a chance to see them. They were closed on Sunday, as are many businesses in London, surprisingly.

We spent a lot of time on the South Bank of the Thames throughout our trip since we were on foot the majority of the time. It's a fun stretch of land holding shops, art exhibits, a circus, performers, eateries, and of course pubs.

I meant to send this to +Chris Teague.

Just thought this plaza looked rad

Cool sculpture

We just happened upon the oldest cathedral in London while walking

Apparently, I'm impressed with old walls. Was from Norman days I think.

August 19th

Today, I finally noticed that the hotel had Marmite, so of course I had to try it. I dig it.

St. Paul's Cathedral was next. If it wasn't for all the great things I'd heard from other vacationers about St. Paul's, I might have skipped this; after all, I already went through Westminster Abbey, which is even more ancient. Boy, I'm glad I went here, though. It is neck-in-neck with the Tower for my favorite sites in London.

First off, I'm not sure if my crummy photos convey this, but this building is massive (365 feet high because of its mathematical significance). Before the more modern steel & glass monstrosities were added to the city, it dominated the skyline. Even if it wasn't so massive, its significance throughout the history of London makes it the symbol of the city to me.

Apparently, in pre-Norman times, there were at least three cathedrals that had existed on this spot. The first one was built in the 7th Century, but then the country fell to paganism and it was lost. The second was built in the 7th Century and destroyed by fire in the 10th. The third was immediately rebuilt after the other burned down, but then it burned down in the 11th Century.

The next cathedral of note was built by the Normans after the last one burned down, but took some time because of more fires (it's amazing to me how much of a problem fires were throughout London's history), and it exceeded even the current structure in size. Eventually, it started to decay, and suffered many indignities, like Henry VIII's looting of Catholic properties, and the destruction of the spire by lightning strike. Apparently, it was used to stable horses while the Parlimentarians were in charge after the Civil War. Finally, it had had it in the great fire of 1666 (of course!)

Sir Christopher Wren, one of my favorite historical figures, was the guy most responsible for the architecture of post-Great-Fire London. The current St. Paul's is his creation, and it's magnificent. We learned that at first, he built a large, elaborate to-scale model that enabled the king to peer inside and examine it in great detail. This model took him over a year to complete, and just the creation of the model earned him his knighthood! The model is still around, but it wasn't on display, which is too bad. Some details had to be changed from the model (it was considered too Catholic), but for the most part, this building was erected with the original design ideas. Because Wren was one of the great Royal Society Polymaths of his time, who was knowledgeable in physics, astronomy, mathematics, he built the cathedral using new scientific techniques. He was apparently the first cathedral designer who got to see the cathedral completed within his lifetime!

The interior is just as magnificent as the exterior. Wren wanted the interior dome to be done in mosaic originally, but since that was seen as too costly and Catholic, it is painted instead with beautiful art that looks like stone carvings from the ground floor. It features scenes from the life of St. Paul.

As with Westminster Abbey, UK notables are buried or memorialized in St. Paul's as well. There aren't any kings, but poets, artists, military heroes, and religious leaders are honored. A big winding staircase allows you to go up into the inner dome, then beyond to the outside where you can get a stunning view of the city below. It was a tiring climb, but worth it.

During the blitz campaigns of World War II, when London was being bombed, Sir Winston Churchill made it a point to protect this beloved structure. Firefighters were stationed here to battle fires that threatened St. Paul's. The cathedral was hit by bombs, one of which did pierce the exterior, but the dome amazingly stayed intact. The appearance of the dome towering over the devastation of the city gave Londoners the hope they needed to make it through this horrid period of history. 

After the war, a portion of the cathedral destroyed by the bombing was replaced with the American Memorial Chapel to commemorate the American soldiers stationed in Britain that lost their lives. It contains a book with the roll of the soldiers' names, and paneling featuring American flora & fauna as well as a likeness of Eisenhower.

Photography inside of the cathedral is not allowed, unfortunately. It seems some renegade tourists took some shots, so you can see some of this with an Internet search. Here are some photos that I was allowed to take.

I took this photo because the guy on the right has weird arms. Now I feel like an ass knowing it's memorializing the WWII fire fighters that helped preserve the cathedral.

That's Erica in front of the door to give you some idea of scale.

Why would anybody graffiti a national treasure?

At first I found it odd that the founder of Methodism would have a statue outside of an Anglican cathedral. I found out later that he used to worship here. He always felt that his beliefs and teachings fell within the bounds of the Anglican Church.

Go home, London road painters, you're drunk.

After St. Paul's, we went to the London Dungeon. This was an option when we purchased our London Eye and river cruise tickets. We weren't sure what this was all about. My advise to future London tourists: skip this. After some intense queuing, we discovered it was basically a spook house, with a few brief rides and juvenile humor.

August 20th

Erica had always wanted to visit Paris, so I had bought a day trip package. It still amazes me that you can take a high-speed train, tunneling under the Channel, and get to Paris in just over 2 hours!

London station

The inside of a train. It was awesome seeing the beatiful landscape whizzing by at 180 MPH, although passing through the tunnels really messed with my ears. This was far more comfortable than riding on a plane. There was even a kitchen where you could grab a hot meal.

Paris station

The activities started off with a "panoramic tour" of Paris, which apparently means driving around in a bus. The tour guide told us a bit about the architecture of the beautiful city and pointed out a few notable sites. I couldn't get very good photos from the inside of a bus, unfortunately.

The Moulin Rouge. You can sort of see the red windmill on the left.

The roads are arrow-straight in Paris, but very narrow. I don't know how our bus driver could manage.

Next, we moved to another tour vehicle, this time a boat touring the Seine. Again, it was difficult to get any good pictures due to the windshields and the fact that we chose the more boring side of the boat to sit on. If you get a chance to do a river tour, be sure to sit on the side facing the islands.

Next was a champagne lunch on the first tier of the Eiffel Tower. So far in our trip, we had not found any good food in London, so it was nice to have some delicious French cuisine. We also chatted with some Aussie tourists that were very nice. Apparently, it's pretty normal there to have 5 or 6 weeks of vacation, so they had all traveled quite a bit. They were shocked to hear that 2 weeks is more of the norm in the States.

After the extensive stair climbing at St. Paul's, we were ready to take the hike up the stairs of the Eiffel Tower's observation deck. It was actually not too bad. The view from up there was awesome.

We only had time to go up, snap some photos, then return to the bus. We were then driven to The Louvre, shown around a bit, then given a brief 45 minutes of free time. Erica and I decided we'd use our free time to speed over to Notre Dame, take some pictures, then come back. For a gal with such short legs, Erica can really move fast.

Inverted pyramid where we met the tour group

The Louvre

First glimpse of Notre Dame. Those are bleachers in front.

One of these guys is carrying their head?!

No idea what these guys standing on the others signifies. Looks like the third from the left is looking up the saint's robes.

She has a total Beetle Bailey helmet thing going on

Check out the crown snatching angel

Is that Bigfoot copping a feel on the right?

I really wish I had a nicer camera like Erica's at Notre Dame. The cathedral is plastered with all kinds of weird figures doing inexplicable things and making funny faces. If we were to make a full trip out of Paris, I'd be on the lookout for a guidebook that explains WTF is going on. These walls seem to tell a lot of stories.

After we all met back at The Louvre, we went back to the train station to return to London. It was pretty cool to get this tiny taste of Paris, but we really wish we could have stayed longer. Maybe our next big trip will be to Paris.

By the way, much to my delight I finally found interesting food when we got back and had a skate fin meal with a stinky cheese platter for dessert. Much better than fish & chips or meat pies.

August 21st

I feel bad about this day. We were both feeling pretty worn out from all our walking around the last few days. After sleeping in until 11, we finally got up and decided to walk over to Buckingham Palace, taking pictures along the way.

The National Gallery

Chicken Blue, what's the matter with you?

I think you overdid it on the flags, Canadian Embassy

In St. James Park, we came across true bird lovers. They let the pigeons climb right up on them.

You could pay a couple of pounds per hour to site on a lawn chair. Not many takers.

When we got to Buckingham Palace, I was pretty underwhelmed. "That's it?" I even forgot to take  a picture. Foolishly thinking we could see more "on the other side" we started circumnavigating, which took us around this enormous wall protecting the huge Buckingham Palace private garden.

They seriously want no visitors.

When we finally got back to where we started, I was feeling really sick. I don't know if it was dehydration on this very warm day, catching some bug, or shear exhaustion, but I had had it. Erica said she was OK with us not touring the palace (she was probably just being nice), so she let me stop and drink a gallon of fluids, then go back to the hotel to sleep. I feel bad that I wasted a vacation day, but it really was nice to take a break.

August 22nd

The 22nd was another tour day, so we took the tubes to the bus coach station. Aside: the London Underground should be considered a Wonder of the World. At first, we were pretty confused and intimidated by this thing. Once we figured out the maps, we found it pretty easy to get around London. You rarely have to wait more than 10 minutes for the next train to arrive, and there are stations close to most anywhere you want to go. What's more, the underground makes it easy to access stations for the national rail system, which can take you throughout England, Wales, and Scotland.

Anyway, we caught our coach, which first stopped at Windsor Castle. This is where the Queen makes her home; Buckingham Palace is more like the office. Since Windsor has been the home for the royal family for quite some time, it's very nicely maintained. We weren't given a lot of time here, so we kind of had to rush through. While there, we went to St. George's Chapel, which has incredible architecture, and the State Rooms, which have great Rembrandt art work and elaborate formal meeting areas. Unfortunately, neither allowed photographs inside.

Next up was Stonehenge. The stones were much smaller than I expected, and there wasn't a lot of information shared. The audio guide was like, "What was Stonehenge for? We dunno!" It was still quite cool to see something pre-dating the Romans and to hear about the strange astronomical properties of Stonehenge.

 I was annoyed at first that they keep tourists so far away from the stones, but now I think it is wise. I remember how sad it was that St. Paul's had graffiti. Some of the stones here had holes in them from WWI pilots using them for target practice. So I guess you just can't trust people to be respectful.

Next stop was Lacock, a town dating from medieval times, where we lunched at a 14th Century pub.

This is their famous dog wheel, where a dog would run to turn the cooking spit.

 Next stop was Bath. Bath seems like a really cool resort town with much more to offer beyond the Roman bathhouse, but I'm glad we got to spend all of our time inside of the bathhouse museum. I'm fascinated by the engineering acumen of the ancients.

Model of what it all looked like before ruined

Throughout, they rearranged found ruin fragments into the spaces they most likely occupied.

Apparently not all Roman artists were that great

Afrocus?

Still running hot water from the spring after all these years

August 23rd

We got a break from tour buses this day. While I was taking my sick day, Erica found a great museum for us to visit this day, called the Museum of London. This museum is fantastic! It covers the history of London from prehistoric to our modern day.

I love the look of this ancient totem

Reconstructed Roman room

Actual fragments from a Roman mosaic

That's all the picture I took, until I noticed a "no photography" sign. Erica told me later that it was no flash photography. Bummer. She's got a lot of pictures she'll surely share later. Anyway, some of my favorite highlights of the museum was the replica of Victorian store fronts, the video memoirs of the WWII bombing, and the artifacts from around the time of the fire of 1666.

August 24th

Today we had another tour scheduled. By the way, I'd advise anyone wanting to take a big holiday like this to not do bus tours. In almost every case, Erica and I wanted to spend more time in a place than was allocated. It's nice to have the admission costs bundled together, guaranteed transportation, and knowledgeable tour guides, but if you're always having to watch the time to make sure you're not going to be left behind, it takes away a lot of the fun. In the future, we're going to try braving the roads and renting a car instead.

The first stop on this tour was a real disappointment. Warwick Castle is an ancient and historically significant castle... that was sold to Madame Tussauds when the family needed some cash. So it was turned into a kid-friendly attraction. I guess if you have young ones, it may be cool.

Of course there are wax figures

Next we were whisked away to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of Shakespeare. We didn't get much time here, but it was a nice picturesque town of significant age.

You may have known that William Shakespeare's dad made gloves. But did you know he made them for Lobster Men?

This is the famous panes of glass that visitors used to sign.

Really have no idea what this wallpaper in William's room was supposed to depict. Did young Will like to draw Hawaiian squash-breathing dragon pigs with boobies?

Pretty cool house. I was impressed until learning that this was not the original house. Replacement houses were built a number of times. This spot really is more of a commemoration of the tradition of visiting the Shakespeare house.

You want to sit and rest your legs? SCREW YOU!

Next stop was Oxford, which I really enjoyed. In my mind, I was expecting some big green campus with ancient stone buildings. However, it turns out that Oxford University is really a collective of multiple colleges, the largest being Christchurch, which is located in the town of Oxford. Christchurch is a very impressive stone building still, and the town of Oxford is beautiful.

That "oxford blue" color is everywhere in this town.

That's not grime. That's History.

Look familiar? Perhaps because this was used when filming Harry Potter.

That's not how it tasted to me.

Our guide was pointing out Harry Potter stuff throughout the tour.

During our free time, Erica let us go here, where the Inklings met. It's a cozy pub with some tasty English ale, my favorite style of beer. Oh, also Lewis Carol attended school here as a mathematician. His dean's little daughter was his inspiration for Alice.

August 25th

Today we were free from a tour bus schedule. We thought we'd check out this "Piccadilly Circus" thing we'd heard about, taking some photos along the way.

I guess it's a place for shopping and theater? Not really my sort of thing. It would have been cool to catch a show, but they were mostly Broadway circuit staples. Erica did us one better, and got us a show at the Globe Theater! Shakespeare's Henry VI. Because this was so last minute, we didn't get the best seats, but it was still really cool. Photos weren't allowed, but I took one shot before the show started.

The play was entertaining. Apparently, Henry VI is three separate plays, and we watched the second. It ended in a cliffhanger, so now I really want to read the other two.

August 26th

This was our last day in London, and we had to catch a flight early in the morning. This time around we got to fly Air Canada, which is by far the best airline I've ever experienced. There was so much legroom and head room available! And they had a much wider selection of movie titles. Erica and I watched something like four movies on our flight. We also grabbed some neck pillows which, while not attractive, really do let you sleep on a plane. We flew from London to Toronto, then from Toronto to Seattle after a 6 hour layover.

Miscellaneous Observations

I loved London! We only scratched the surface of what we could do there, and of course the rest of the UK has a lot to offer. Here are some miscellaneous observations about our vacation.

The London population is very diverse. Of course, I'm sure that the large number of tourists skews what I saw, but pretty much everywhere you go, you see a diversity of culture and hear a diversity of language. As in our county, they have a large immigrant workforce as well, so we found ourselves straining to understand thick French and Eastern European accents.

It seemed to us that folks in London were extremely unfriendly or even rude. I was puzzled by this, given the stereotype you always hear that the English are exceptionally polite. From what I've read online, this is mostly just a London phenomenon and a function of it being such a big city, with stressed out people trying to rush through their busy work schedules and personal lives. I guess it's similar in some ways to what I observed in Manhattan. In New York, I was amazed at how quickly people walked. Well, London has them beat! I've never seen a speedier people. The sidewalks can be intimidating for us that mosey in the Western US, with swarms of people weaving around the slowpokes at breakneck speed. Londoners are also not ones to strike up random conversations. As an American, I'm used to an occasional conversation with a stranger, or if not that, at least some polite chit-chat. Riding on a train with a bunch of silent Londoners that don't even share a smile is a bit weird. All this restraint is lost when they join up with their friends, however. The after-work crowds at the pubs get pretty rambunctious.

I was dismayed at how dirty the streets could get in places. I'm sure rude tourists are partly to blame, but Erica observed that there aren't a lot of public trash cans rubbish bins, so maybe that is a contributing factor to all the litter. She was told after we got back by someone at work that the reason why there are so few bins is because some terrorists in the 90's planted bombs in them. At least there's little graffiti compared with what you get in Seattle. Maybe that's due to the many cameras placed throughout the city. Big Brother is seriously watching you in London. Unlike the States, you see very few dog walkers in London.

Cleanliness-wise, Paris was the other way around. I saw no litter, but there was graffiti. Oh, and occasional dog turds on the sidewalks. Strangely, London had few dog walkers.

If you like pubs, you'll love London. As we overheard one tour leader state, "In London, it's historic building, historic building, historic pub, historic building, historic building, historic pub." It's true. Pubs are everywhere, each bragging about how old it is. I love the ales in England! I'm sure a native would think this is too mainstream and passé, but Fuller's London Pride is seriously great. I also enjoyed their ESB when I tried it in Seattle. I didn't have a beer I disliked while in London.

Pubs do disappoint when it comes to their food, I must say. At least the ones we visited. A large number of them are owned by two companies, which has standardized their menus to the same boring stuff, like fish and chips, meat pies, and "beef burgers." Seriously, what's with fish & chips? It's treated like a food of national pride, but I have no idea why it's such a big deal.

We found some really good restaurants eventually, but with the exception of one establishment, good service was not to be found. I guess it's a problem of mismatched expectations. In the States, you're greeted at the door and shown to your seat, sometimes after a wait. Then, your order is taken, you dine, you're checked up on occasionally, and they offer dessert or your check when they see you're done. 

It works a bit differently in England. First off, don't expect a pub to be like a restaurant. Nobody will show you to a seat, and nobody will come by to take orders. Oh, and if there are no seats, they are not going to go out of their way to let you know when one becomes available. You're supposed to find your own seat and order food and drinks at the bar, paying up front. Another oddity with pubs is you're not expected to tip, which is maybe why they don't go out of their way to be friendly. English restaurants are a little different as well. You are seated in the same manner, but they do not bring you your check unless you ask. This could get annoying if you were having a hard time getting the attention of your server. It's odd to me, because they are very quick at busing your table, and you'd think they'd assume that if you're done you're ready to pay. A 12.5% service fee was usually added to your bill, and you can optionally add more to that if you found you got exceptional service.

All-in-all, any annoyances we had while there were minor. I wish I could go back to the UK for a long two month vacation to drive around and see more of the English countryside, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland at a leisurely pace, staying the night wherever we roam. Ten days was not long enough, but they are ten days I won't soon forget.