from a boat to a backwards car

canals are to venice as streets are to normal cities and like all streets canals have traffic. apparently this traffic can be so bad that water taxis get stuck. thus forcing individuals like myself and my mother to choose another mode of transportation. oh wait...aside from swimming (which is difficult to do with 7 pieces of large baggage) there is no other option. so we had a taxi driver walk to us and with all of our luggage we walked to a larger unblocked canal. after the first 3 blocks the burning pain in my arms dulled to a tingle and i eventually lost all feeling. my fingers held onto the pain though, i literally thought they would explode. and once to the dock this man nearly tossed our belongings in the ocean. that would have been lovely... as terrifying as our first airport transfer was i may have preferred it to this man's driving style. he alternated between a normal 20 mph rate of speed and idling. so our trip took twice as long and i was sweating.

once there we chose a van as opposed to me having another mid street issue with the luggage cart. allow me to go on record as stating american airports may be overly secure but at least the tsa/airline agents know what the hell is going on. mass chaos is the venice airport. in this chaos something strange happened. we befriended an asian! granted she was a faux asian, from the bay area. she was as feisty as any red blooded american should be. we were fast friends of course. our flight was uneventful unless the time mom screamed and threw my laptop counts. she was watching the adjustment bureau which is apparently a tense movie. so that was special. also interesting was the time that i almost wet my pants. british airways deplanes from the back, via steps. we were trapped on the runway for a long enough time that i could literally NOT stand up. hello embarrassment. the loo was my first british stop.

once we got into the taxi with a potentially drunk driver (smelled of beer and had bloodshot eyes) i was in love. it was finally setting in that i'm traveling all summer since this is my first new city, maybe it was the fact that i was getting goose bumps from the cold, or just being so confused as to why the cars were on the wrong side of the road. but i love london! the ride was about an hour from airport to hotel so i had time to take in the sights.

our hotel is lovely, pablo (ironically he is english) is our top hat wearing doorman and he is such a doll. i'm torn between kissing his rosy british cheeks or smacking the suck up grin off his face, but i think he is sincere and im a lover not a fighter so i'll choose to love pablo. the hotel has the longest cocktail bar in london called zander bar. we sat there briefly while waiting on dinner at the bank--a restaurant for those of you who just pictured me eating coins and bills. FINALLY a decent meal! i was so pleased to finally be eating something delish. fish & chips-you earned a place in my heart, and i'm tempted to attribute it to being fried but i'll just give compliments to the chef. we sat by two horribly dykey looking women who were in fact obsessed with men. one was married to richard who im sure is having an affair because no one could bear this woman for more than a few hours a day. one is on a life long man hunt. her current prize is "emotionally invested" elsewhere but he said to give him two months and he'll end things... he's 48 by the way. and this has happened to her before... not that you cared about any of their drama, i sure didn't but since they were seated 7 inches from us i was forced to listen and watch them eat sickening food. the woman who is hunting men should be hunting a dentist. her teeth were rotted at the gum line. i suppose the english traded deodorant for toothpaste, no smelly folks so far!

we finished the night with fondue that was beyond amazing! and the only thing missing from my tavel day was a visit from sarah kramer the london lady. maybe we'll cross paths tomorrow... if she happens to be in harrods where i will be until my flight to ireland!! cheers yall!

ps-our hotel room views a school yard...can't wait to see what these kids are learning about what to do when someone pelts you with hotel shampoo and soaps on your walk to class if you're too loud before the person doing the pelting wants to wake up...