So Long London...

Well, it's official... tomorrow morning I leave aboard the high-speed Eurostar train, headed for the canal town of Bruges, Belgium. My train leaves at 10am, and since it travels underneath the English Channel at 186mph, I'll arrive around 1pm. While London was absolutely incredible, I must admit that I'm a bit anxious to head to a new place. Five days is a long time to stay anywhere when you're backpacking, and London, while a blast to be in, didn't present any real challenge at all. I didn't have to bridge any language barriers, and can't really say there were many cultural divides present. I explained to my brother that it felt as if I was visiting any other big city in the U.S. The people may talk a little different, the food may have its regional differences, and you have to spend an hour figuring out the public transportation system for the first time. Other than that, it's been smooth sailing for me. I have gotten to meet some really interesting people from Australia, Taiwan, and even Uruguay though, so that has been cool. But here are just a few of the small differences between the US and London that I found interesting:

The cops - As you've probably seen in my pictures, the cops look much different than they do in the US. They don't carry guns, and they wear a bulbous helmet with a big shield on the front. I'm not sure why, but I kind of chuckle every time I see one. I think it's because I picture them in my head trying to get by in the United States - chasing some notorious bank robber that's armed to the teeth, all the while yelling "Unhand thy weapon" in a funny accent and waving a wooden baton. Haha I really shouldn't make fun though... the fact that they don't need to carry guns and can still uphold the law speaks volumes about this country's government, as well as its people. Think a gunless police force would ever fly in the US?

The food - One thing I found interesting is that pretty much every single restaurant in London charges you more if you plan to eat in rather than if you take it out. I tried to figure out why, but the only thing I could think of is greater costs from trash removal, as well as cost for water and paper towels if the person uses the bathroom. Weird. Also, I stopped in at a McDonald's and noticed that they are totally different from the ones in the US. The menu only offers a few of the same items, and they have things like deli sandwiches and subs. Also, all portions are smaller - their medium is our small, and their large is our medium. In the same token, sodas are far less sweet than ours, with only a fraction the sugar. And one thing I thought was really funny was that on their menu, they had a "Tastes of America" section, which included the Miami Melt (looked like just a cheeseburger) and onion rings. I'm pretty sure McDonalds in the US don't even serve onion rings, but hey, whatever floats your British boat.

The cars - London is filled with beautiful and expensive cars. Today I saw Alfa Romeos, Lotus', Aston Martins, Porsches, a Ferrari, a Maserati, and even four (count em) Bentleys. The most common cars, however, are BMWs (by far), Mercedes, and Volkswagens. In my entire time here, I think I saw two American-made cars, both Fords. It makes sense though - why would you buy an inferior, expensive "import" when you can get BMW engineering right here at home? Walking around and seeing all the uncommon cars (back home anyway) was pretty cool.

Oh, what's that? You wanna hear about my day? Well, I didn't take too many pictures today, as I walked around the city a bunch, not looking at any sites in particular. Then, on the recommendation of some of my hostel-mates from Michigan, I checked out the Imperial War Museum. It wasn't on my long list of the major sites in London, so I didn't know if it would be cool or not. Once again, very glad I went. I got there at 11am and didn't leave until the closing bell at 6pm. I walked through exhibits on the first world war, which included a cool interactive exhibit about life in the trenches, as well as a special exhibit on the holocaust which were both incredible. I only stopped for about 10 minutes in the middle to eat a way-overpriced ham sandwich, so my feet were killing by the time I left. I really wanted to see the World War II exhibits, but I guess they'll have to wait until my next visit. I got some sweet pictures of the World War I exhibits, but wasn't allowed to take pictures in the holocaust exhibit. One interesting exhibit in WWI had to do with the "Christmas Truce," which occurred on Christmas Day, during the middle of the war. The British saw that the Germans had a lighted Christmas Tree in their trench and were singing carols, so somehow, someway, the two sides called an unofficial truce and stopped killing each other in order to celebrate and drink tea with each other in between the opposing trenches, called no-man's-land. There were pictures of high-ranking British and German officers smiling for a picture together, and in some places the Christmas truce went on for days. Once word of the unofficial truce got back to the powers at be, they strictly outlawed anything of its kind, and to this day it's the only unofficial truce ever to have been recorded. The holocaust exhibit was awesome as well, as well as incredibly sad. It was very well done and greatly detailed. One thing they did a lot was display the "last letters" and other personal mementos of those that were taken prisoner by the Nazis. They were all the original, handwritten copies, usually written a day or two before that person's death. One case that I remember particularly well was that of a 12-year-old girl from Warsaw, Poland. Her and her Jewish family had been persecuted by the Nazis and forced to live in a ghetto, a tiny sectioned-off part of the city, with thousands of other Jews. Her best friend, however, was not a Jew and so the friend would sneak over the wall of the ghetto (the gates were guarded by Nazi troops) and the two would spend the day coloring together, before sneaking back out again. One day, the Gestapo broke into the house while the kids were coloring and beat and arrested the Jewish family, but let the non-Jewish girl go back home. Before she ran out, she picked up all the colorings that they had done that day, and those are what were on display in the exhibit. She never saw or heard of her friend again. They had been placed on the train for Auschwitz, and were presumably executed upon arrival. It was crazy to see things like that, and I can only imagine what it's going to be like when I get to cities like Berlin, and even Auschwitz itself. They had a scale model of Auschwitz and the stories and facts they presented about it were mortifying. I'll be there in only a week or two, so I better start preparing myself for an intense day.

Well, that's all for me tonight. The next time you hear from me, it'll be from Belgium!

To see every picture I took in London, click here.