Thursday, July 27, 2006

Traveling With ReforMaiden: London

Tuesday, July 25.
So how do you spend 9 hours in London? Why, you hit the streets, of course! You also take the wrong train out of the airport and see a part of London you might not normally see (the gentleman taking our tickets described it as a"boyfriend spying" neighborhood), you get all day Tube passes and thank goodness, because you are off and on all day just trying to get on the right line; you walk your feet into oblivion and you have to race across streets because Brits don't slow down for pedestrians and they drive like maniacs, too. You get to see some beautiful sites like St. Paul's Cathedral, the Hall of Justice (complete with protesting outside) The University of London, and Buckingham Palace Road, which of course you don't take because you're already running out of time. You pass a million Starbucks stores (go figure - I thought the British were only big on tea!) and never once stop to take authentic tea somewhere. You get down to the underground and find out that:

1. It's steaming hot and no A/C
2. People here in Europe don't wear deodorant
3. People are sweating all around and everywhere you go
4. It all combines to make a smelly situation

Nice British touches to our day was a sighting of a quintessential British gentleman - umbrella and all - lovely voice accents everywhere, beautiful, old, old buildings, walking in places I might never have been to had we known where we were going exactly (we took the Tube from Victoria Station to Charing Cross, we then walked from there to Westminster- and if you have never been to London, then you should know that it is not all in the same area!) and yet we were mixed with the true "Londoners" because we weren't in the tourist places. London was everything I expected it to be, except for one thing: filth. I was wearing flip-flops and by the time I returned to the airport, my shoes and toes were both black. Still, it was great to get out and see London, albeit for a short time. I would love to come back... Posted by Picasa

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

please ask a native there "why don't yall wear deoderant?" This could be part of our geography class :)

If someone in our home forgets - everyone asks the stinking one - did you put on deoderant? - KNOWING that they did not. Sometimes, we even resort to yelling at them (okay - because we are like passing out from the smell and are yelling as our dying exclamation!!!) PUT ON SOME DEODERANT!!!!!

Mrs. Molder and 2 of her older children

Shelbi said...

Ha Ha! I, too, feel like passing out sometimes, the smell is often that strong and it isn't any better here in France. Today it shouldn't be as bad because it's cooled down quite a lot, but yesterday when we were passing people, it was very bad. I wish I knew why they don't wear deodorant here. But I couldn't find the polite way to ask in my French translation book. :-)

Anonymous said...

pardon' e vy dooo yu stwink? Maybe this is a ministry opportunity - passing out tracts with deoderant samples???

Maybe it is like the way we are used to our "farm" smells around here :)

Mrs. Molder

Shelbi said...

Maybe so. I did wonder if a person without any body odor would be as noticeable to them as someone with body odor is noticeable to us? :-)

Unknown said...

We smell to people in Japan... the Japanese shower 2-3 times as much as we do, and tolerate way less odor... the feel like you do when they come to America...

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