Here is my first update from the road.

I've got to say that London was much cooler then I expected. I had always envisioned it as another New York, and it is similar in many ways in regards to crowds, traffic, and general big city stuff, but other then that, it is definitely like no other place I have been. Of course there is the history, founded by the Romans in AD 46, and really put on the map about 1000 years later. And all of the world renowned sites including the London Tower & Tower Bridge (generally thought of as the London Bridge, but that is a different bridge), Big Ben & the parliament building, Buckingham Palace, and the new London Eye ferris wheel. All of those sites are wonderful to see and each has a storied history behind it but London is much more. It it right up there with the best citys to eat in regards to world cuisine. English food is generally nothing to write home about, fish n' chips and bangers and mash (sausage w/ mashed patatoes and gravy), are the two main stand bys at dinner time. In London it is easier to get a proper Indian curry or turkish kebab take-away on the street, then it is to sit down and have an English meal of meat and potatoes. It is impossible to avoid the international menagerie that makes up this city and would take years to really get to know the distict neiborghoods comprising the 8 million people that compose London. London has the largest theater district in the world, three of the best museums, shopping beyond belief, and of course is the financial center for Europe.

As required I covered all of the prerequisite tourist sites and you can see the photos in my album, but I will only bore you with my highlights. My favorite site was Soho and the West End. Just walking around and people watching, sitting at a pub or cafe, and taking in all the madness that goes on there. Think Georgetown in DC times 100. The best meal I had was hands down the Indian curry, at 11:30pm, thanks to Paul and Mike for taking me out for an excellent meal (and thanks to my co-worker CT for hooking me up with them, they showed my a great Friday night in London.) Camden Market was neat as well, it is just a permanent street fair with all kinds of stalls selling everything under the sun. It was interesting to see that the US Embassy was surrounded by make shift gates and 24 hour armored guards, a peak at what's to come I suppose. The Tate Modern museum was great as well, it had a neat collection of just about everything including a display of nazi and communist propoganda, as well as some Dali's, Picasso's, and Warhol. I took a day and visited stonehenge too. It was definitely worth the trip and quite an amazing site to see in person.

Going forward I will try and include more stories and less touristy stuff, but London had so much to see and do it would take me far too long to include everything.

Overall I had a great time in London and am now in Berlin....Guten Tag...