London!

We spent less than 24 hours in London but were able to see sights such as Big Ben, the London Eye, trafalgar square (from a double decker bus), Westminster Abbey (from afar) and met up with dear friend and 2009 grad J; he showed us around Camden Town where he lives. Besides the double-decker, T & I got to ride the Heathrow Express, the Tube, and an authentic British taxi. Our accomodations were near the Marble Arch but unfortunately we could not eat any of the Middle Eastern food, which was plentiful in the area.

J took us to a fancy burger joint where I feasted on duck breast and T had a spicy chicken with goat cheese sandwich. After we left J's hood, we visited a few pubs. I think one was the Victory and the other was the Duke of York. The Aussi bartenders at the Duke let us try the weird chicken teriyaki chips (or crisps as they call them in London; the Aussies called them chips) and we ordered the infamous PIMM's drink! It is sort of like a sangria, but made of a British liquor, lemonade and fruit, including cucumber. London exceeded expectations despite the crappy weather and outrageous costs of everything.

Anyway, public transportation has been very quiet. No one talks to each other. Very civilized and way different from JFK where kids ran around screaming everywhere. T witnessed a man snap at and scold his wife and I witnessed a woman breastfeed her child in the open (the offensive part is that she left her breast out after the baby was done). BUT the highlight of JFK, despite the 4 hour delay, was seeing my friend and former co-worker L waiting for the same flight!! Her love of all things Bon Jovi perhaps made this encounter happen. So happy to hear she left the industry as well and happy that she is happy :)

But we've made our way out of London and are now in Barcelona after a two-hour stop-over in Milan-Malpensa. Let me tell you, the European airports are amazing. You cannot even get to your gate in Milan without entering a duty-free.