le tube et la fontaine

Today has seemed to me the longest day of my life. Even though it has really taken two days to get here, spending the night in the air was hardly a night well spent. I arrived at the airport at 5:15, after calling friends and family to say goodbye. The woman at the check-in desk treated me like an old friend. She was so excited to hear it was my first time abroad, complimented my bright yellow boots and told me a story about her first trip to Venice ("I looked out of the window and everyone was wearing these long rubber boots, longer than yours. I went to the door to see what was going on. Did you know, the sidewalks were completely flooded over. I asked the bellhop what was going on and he said, "Madam, it's a natural phenomenon!")

After a nice goodbye with the fam, I flew to Dallas where I met up with Jenny. I proceeded to board the largest plane I've ever seen in my life! I was very intimidated. When I found my seat, a hunky guy was sitting in it. Even so, I forced him to move, because I prefer the aisle. We had good conversation about California and how tired he was. Eight hours and two crappy meals later, we landed, fought through customs, and began our tube adventure, which primarily consisted of me tripping of my luggage, other people, my boots, etc. and drawing attention to my touristy-ness by taking silly photos (note my haircut, not quite how I want it, but it's okay):

After I fell on another person trying to get off the tube, and got stuck in the exit doors at the station, Jenny's map and brilliance led us to our hostel, a fine establishment that will become even better once we get some posters over the cracks in the walls. We threw our stuff down and immediately headed for the city. It's beautiful and the people are great. We grabbed sandwiches and people-watched in Russell Square Park, where all the children seemed to be fascinated by this floundering fountain:

We also were quite enamored by a junk sculpture called "The Eco Thunder Kid," and met a old man equally enamored ("It's made for our enjoyment. See how the shorts are made with bottlecaps? I think it's fabulous!") He also shared a story about an old friend of his who sculpted two elephants from recycled materials ("For the baby elephant, for the end of his long nose, his trunk, he stuck a little blue baby shoe. Isn't that marvellous? I guess you could say junk art is my thing"). I love the stories I am collecting. The people here are fascinating.