Excuse me, but you just left sweat on my arm.

London was my first visit to a LARGE city. Oh sure, there's Seattle, Paris, and Munich - but they have never seemed 'overly crowded'. There was always an empty spot to do the 'bob and weave' or to sit back and avoid the crowds.

London was PACKED - people were literally everywhere, all of the time. 

On DAY ONE I made the NOVICE MISTAKE of wearing a short sleeved shirt.

What was I thinking?

Everywhere I went I was SKIN-ON-SKIN with gross and sweaty strangers. In the tube (subway) I was nose-to-nose AND arm-to-arm. Sometimes bum-to-bum. EEK.

(REFLECTIVE THOUGHT......)
You know how you have your 'PERSONAL BUBBLE', and others are expected to STAY OUTSIDE of your invisible  'bubble'? 

For example...when you're standing in line at the grocery store, you expect the person behind you to stand 2 feet away. Anything closer and you find yourself fidgeting and getting annoyed. Can you relate to this space requirement?

Yeah...there's NO BUBBLE whatsoever in London.

The good news is I adjusted fairly quickly, mostly because of how NICE people were. At one point I was just pushing and shoving people out the way with no response whatsoever.

It's NORMAL to be shoved out of the way (can you believe it?) .

If you do happen to make eye contact, they simply smile and say hello. Awww, how nice! I LOVED London and would go back in a heartbeat. Granted that I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt and have on solid great-for-shoving shoes.  



At one point there was no pole space available left to grab, so you just 'lean' on strangers as you go from stop to stop.




People EVERYWHERE! This was at the tower of London - which really isn't a tower at all. Its a palace where the Kings and Queens  lived for nearly 900 years.


The stories of debauchery were over the top, and I have a new appreciation for English -Period type movies. The 'Other Boleyn Girl' is based on true events at the Tower of London. More pictures of the Tower will post tomorrow!

 xoxo,
Michelle