Tuesday, 19th June 2001, 11:27 - Hyde Park, London

My feet hurt, my legs are tired, and I didn't get a lot of sleep last night. Shared a room with four other people. Was under the impression that almost every hour during the night someone arrived, or left, but in the morning the room was still occupied by the same five people.

I arrived in London Stansted around 15:20 local time. Took the bus at 16:10, and got off at the Victoria Coach Station around 6pm. Opted to walk to The Village, the St. Christoper's Youth Hostel I'm staying at. Walked off in the wrong direction, so that I still made a detour getting there; down Buckingham Palace Road, Ebury Bridge Road, Chelsea Bridge Road, joining the Thames. Along the Thames over Grosvenor Road, Milbark Road, crossed the Thames at Lambeth Bridge, then onwards following Lambeth Road, Borough Road, and finally Borough Highstreet. Which must have been around 6km. I occasionally stopped for photographs, and ate the remainder of my chicken sandwich I had brought from home. The first impression from London was how much nature is around, but then again I suppose Stansted is still countryside. Another thing is that there seems to be more of an ethnical diversity. This is pretty much the first time I saw "kosher" restaurants and shops, in a part of the city I drove through in the bus. Today, I got up around 7:30am, had a shower and a continental breakfast, or what they call continental breakfast (yoghurt, muffin, orange juice, apple). Walked off towards London Bridge, past the HMS Belfast (had already got as far in the evening, during a short walk), crossed Tower Bridge, walked around Tower Castle, rejoined London Bridge at the other side of the Thames, walked on towards Cannon Street and took the underground at Mansion House. Rode the District Line to Westminster and then took the Bakerloo Line to Piccadilly Circus. Took a few photographs, visited a Virgin and an HMV, without buying anything, and then had another breakfast at McDonalds ("Big Breakfast" with a coffee that was too hot).

Walked westward on Regent Street until reaching Oxford Street, and then took a bus to Marble Arch. Walked The Ring (North Carriage Drive), now I'm lying under a tree in the grass, near Victoria Gate.

"Are you American?" asked one of my room mates, complimenting my English. I said it wasn't that good. His name, if I remember correctly, is Vincent, and he's from Ghana. And that's pretty much the only exchange I've had since being here, apart from "hi", "bye" and ordering some food. I can see a minor headache coming up, but that's okay. It's nice here, temperatures are agreable, even if it's cloudier now, as opposed to this morning. At least I'm not at home, wasting my time in front of the computer or the television.