Saturday, November 11, 2006

We got to London early today and attempted taking a double decker bus tour. We sat up on the open top to get good views. I think it would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't 30 degrees and windy. The tour had predetermined stops where you could get off, look around, and wait for the next bus running every 20 minutes. This is a good idea except when you see something midway between stopping points and can't get off.

We started off the day pretty slow on the pub front. One of the pubs we ended up at was the Coach and Horses. Of all pubs we visited, this was by far our favorite. We were on the busy Saturday streets where it'’s a zoo with all the people. We stepped into this pub and as cliche as it sounds, it felt like we transported back in time. Along with the incredible atmosphere, I think it was just a combination of our mood and exhaustion and the many pints throughout the day.

I'’ll tell you one thing: it'’s damn expensive here. But once you stop doing the conversions in your head during every transaction, it'’s bearable. And another thing, to get deals on souvenirs, look for the dimly light stores compared to the bigger stores. We attempted to haggle over price at the bigger stores and they pretty much ignored us. When I did the same thing at the "“shady"” store for the exact same things, I was able to get things a lot cheaper.