Heathrow budget hotels brooklyn new york reminds me of Newark International. The décor comes straight out of the sterile 80 s and is less an eyesore than an insipid background to the rhythm of human activity, such hustle and bustle, at the fore. There certainly are faces from all races present, creating a rich mosaic of humanity which is refreshing if not completely revitalizing after swimming for so long in a sea of Chinese faces in Hong Kong.
Internet access is sealed in England, it seems. Nothing is free; everything is egregiously monetized from the wireless hotspots down to the desktop terminals. budget hotels brooklyn new york I guess Hong Kong has spoiled me with its abundant, free access to the information superhighway.
Despite staying in a room with five other backpackers, I have been sleeping well. The mattress and pillow are firm; my earplugs keep the noise out; and the sleeping quarters are as dark as a cave when the lights are out, and only as bright as, perhaps, a dreary rainy day when on. All in all, St. Paul s is a excellent place to stay for the gregarious, adventurous, and penurious city explorer budget hotels brooklyn new york couchsurfing may be a tenable alternative; I ll test for next time.
Yesterday Connie and I gorged ourselves at the borough market where there were all sorts of delectable, savory victuals. There was definitely a European flavor to the food fair: simmering sausages were to be found everywhere; and much as the meat was plentiful, and genuine, so were the dairy delicacies, in the form of myriad rounds of cheese, stacked high behind checkered tabletops. Of course, we washed these tasty morsels budget hotels brooklyn new york down with copious amounts of alcohol that flowed from cups as though amber waterfalls. For the first time I tried mulled wine, which tasted like warm, rancid fruit punch the ideal tonic for a drizzling London day, I suppose. We later killed the afternoon at the pub, shooting budget hotels brooklyn new york the breeze while imbibing several diminutive half-pints in the process. Getting smashed at four in the afternoon doesn t seem like such a bad thing anymore, especially when you are having fun in the company of friends; I can more appreciate why the English do it so much!
Earlier in the day, we visited the Tate Modern. Its turbine budget hotels brooklyn new york room lived up to its prominent billing budget hotels brooklyn new york what with a giant spider, complete with bulbous egg sac, anchoring the retrospective exhibit. The permanent galleries, too, were a delight budget hotels brooklyn new york upon which to feast one s eyes. Picasso, Warhol and Pollock budget hotels brooklyn new york ruled the chambers of the upper floors with the products of their lithe wrists; and I ended up becoming a huge fan of cubism, while developing a disdain for abstract art and its vacuous images, which, I feel, are devoid of both motivation and emotion.
My first trip yesterday morning was to Emirates Stadium, home of the Arsenal Gunners. It towers imperiously over the surrounding neighborhood; yet for all its majesty, the place sure was quiet! Business did pick up later, however, once the armory shop opened, and dozens of fans descended on it like bees to a hive. I, too, swooped in on a gift-buying mission, and wound up purchasing budget hotels brooklyn new york a book for Godfrey, a scarf for a student, and a jersey on sale, of course for good measure.
I m sitting in the Westminster budget hotels brooklyn new york Abbey Museum now, resting my weary legs and burdened back. So far, I ve been verily impressed with what I ve seen, such a confluence of splendor and history before budget hotels brooklyn new york me that it would require days to absorb it all, when regretfully I can spare only a few hours. My favorite part of the abbey is the poets corner where no less a literary luminary than Samuel Johnson rests in peace his bust confirms his homely presence, which was so vividly captured budget hotels brooklyn new york in his biography.
For lunch I had a steak and ale pie, served with mash, taken alongside a Guinness, extra cold 2 degrees centigrade colder, the bartender explained. It went down well, like all the other delicious meals I ve had in England; and no doubt by now I have grown accustomed to inebriation at half past two. Besides, Liverpool were playing inspired football against Blackburn; and my lunch was complete.
Having budget hotels brooklyn new york had my fill of football, I decided to skip my ticket scalping endeavor at Stamford Bridge and instead wandered over to the British Museum to inspect their extensive collections. Along the way, my eye caught a theater, its doors wide open and admitting customers. With much rapidity, I subsequently checked the show times, saw that a performance was set to begin, and at last rushed to the box office to purchase a discounted ticket if you call a 40 pound ticket a deal, that is. That s how I grabbed a seat to watch Hairspray in the West End.
The show was worth forty pounds. The music was addictive; and the stage design and effects were not so much kitschy as delightfully stimulating the pulsating background lights were at once scintillating and penetrating. The actors as well were vivacious, oozing charisma while they danced and delivered lines dripping in humor. Hairspray is a quality production and most definitely recommended.
At breakfast I sat across from a man who asked me to which country budget hotels brooklyn new york Hong Kong had been returned China or Japan. That was pretty funny. Then he started spitting on my food as he spoke, completely oblivious budget hotels brooklyn new york to my breakfast becoming the receptacle in which the fruit of his inner churl was being placed. I guess I understand the convention nowadays of covering one s mouth whilst speaking and masticating at the same time!
We actually conversed on London life in general, and I praised London for its racial integration, the act of which is a prodigious leap of faith for any society, trying to be inclusive, accepting all sorts of people. It wasn t as though the Brits were trying in vain to be all things to all men, using Spanish with the visitors from Spain, German with the Germans and, even, Hindi with the Indians, regardless of whether or not Hindi was their native language; not even considering the absurd idea of encouraging the international adoption of their language; thereby completely keeping English in English budget hotels brooklyn new york hands and allowing its proud polyglots to practice their languages. Indeed, the attempt of the Londoners to avail themselves of the rich mosaic of ethnic knowledge, and to seek a common understanding with a ubiquitous English accent is an exemplar, and the bedrock for any world city.
I celebrated budget hotels brooklyn new york Jesus resurrection at the St. Andrew s Street Church in Cambridge. The parishioners of this Baptist church were warm and affable, and I met several of them, including one visiting (Halliday) linguistics scholar from Zhongshan university in Guangzhou, who in fact had visited my tiny City University of Hong Kong in 2003. The service itself was more traditional and the believers fewer in number than the progressive services at any of the charismatic, evangelical churches in HK; yet that s what makes this part of the body of Christ unique; besides, the message was as brief as a powerpoint slide, and informative no less; the power word which spoke into my life being a question from John 21:22 what is that to you?
Big trees; exquisite lawns; and old, pointy colleges; that s Cambridge in a nutshell. Sitting here, sipping on a half-pint of Woodforde s Wherry, I ve had a leisurely, if not languorous, day so far; my sole duty consisting of walking around while absorbing budget hotels brooklyn new york the verdant environment budget hotels brooklyn new york as though a sponge, camera budget hotels brooklyn new york in tow.
I am back at the sublime beer, savoring a pint of Sharp s DoomBar before my fish and chips arrive; the drinking age is 18, but anyone whose visage even hints of youthful brilliance is likely to get carded these days, the bartender told me. The youth drinking culture here is almost as twisted as the university drinking culture in America.
My stay in Cambridge, relaxing and desultory as it may be, is about to end after this late lunch. I an not sure if there is anything left to see, save for the American graveyard which rests an impossible two miles away. I have had a wonderful time in this town; and am thankful for the access into its living history the residents here must demonstrate remarkable patience and tolerance what with so many tourists ambling on the streets, peering and photographing into every nook and cranny.
There are no rubbish bins, yet I ve seen on the streets many mixed race couples in which the men tend to be white the women also belonging budget hotels brooklyn new york to a light colored ethnicity, usually some sort of Asian; as well saw some black dudes and Indian dudes with white chicks.
budget hotels brooklyn new york People here hold doors, even at the entrance to the toilet. Sometimes it appears as though they are going out on a limb, just waiting for the one who will take the responsibility for the door from them, at which point I rush out to relieve them of such a fortuitous burden.
I visited the British Museum this morning. The two hours I spent there did neither myself nor the exhibits any justice because there really is too much to survey, enough captivating stuff to last an entire day, I think. The bottomless well of artifacts from antiquity, drawing from sources as diverse as Korea, and Mesopotamia, is a credit to the British empire, without whose looting most of this amazing booty would be unavailable for our purview; budget hotels brooklyn new york better, I think, for these priceless treasures budget hotels brooklyn new york to be open to all in the grandest supermarket of history budget hotels brooklyn new york than away from human eyes, and worst yet, in the hands of unscrupulous collectors or in the rubbish bin, possibly.
Irene and I took in the ballet Giselle at The Royal Opera House in the afternoon. The building is a plush marvel, and a testament to this city s love for the arts. The ballet itself budget hotels brooklyn new york was satisfying, the first half being superior to the second, in which the nimble dancers demonstrated their phenomenal dexterity in, of all places, a graveyard covered in a cloak of smoke and darkness. I admit, their dance of the dead, in such a gloomy necropolis, did strike me as, strange.
I m nursing a pint of Green King Ruddles and wondering about the profusion of British ales and lagers; the British budget hotels brooklyn new york have done a great deed for the world by cr
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