london surprised us both

kristin & i weren't sure what to make of london. we'd talked about going to london in the past but neither of us had any real desire to make those discussions a reality. there were still so many great destinations in this world that we'd yet to enjoy & london simply didn't rank high enough on our list to deserve it's own trip.

my take on london was pretty simple. it was a big city, much like a NY for example with the downside of everything being two to three times more expensive. kristin & i also had a horrific layover in heathrow when returning from prague a couple years back & ever since we've had a bad taste for london.

the good news is that our trip to dubai landed us in london & we decided to give london a go for a couple of days. the outcome was that we both loved it. granted we spent a lot of time in/out of different pubs, but we both really dug the history, the city, & the people.

from the moment we hopped in a cab from paddington station to our hotel we were hit with the common question from the locals, "are you both happy about obama?" regardless of whether we were in a cab, a pub, or a restaurant there was a happy stir about obama just winning the election back home. it made us both feel really good that our UN friends were as happy about obama as we were.

beyond the drinking at the pubs & obama talk we took a ride on london's eye, watched the changing of the guard at buckingham palace, experienced the typical dark & rainy weather london offers, we enjoyed tea & coffee at some local eateries, we walked through both st. james & hyde park, & we saw big ben which reminded us that we needed to get out of town & catch our flights to dubai.

in the future we'd both like to use london as a transition point for a couple of days before reaching our final european destination. i'm thinking greece, ireland, &/or istanbul will be where we travel next in europe. before europe we owe a visit to south america (chile, peru, brazil, &/or argentina).