Japanese Londoners

Hi, there! How is your summer? FINALLY, it is time to write about my summer trip to Europe!!
I LOVE visiting Europe! I have been to Italy, Austria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. However...wow! It's been eight years since I went there! I like Japan and America, but the European culture has been still attractive to me!!I
So, I was REALLY looking forward to this trip...going to Paris, London, and Brussels. Take a look at the picture! I got Japanese guidebooks and English ones. I enjoyed reading those before the trip!! I didn't want to spend much money for this trip, so I searched & searched a lot. Then I found cheap fares and booked all the hotels under $150 per one night even though our trip was at peak of the tourism season. I was quite satisfied with the results!
However...eventually, our trip was a kind of combination of good memories and bad?? memories. I mean, I experienced the gaps between"the Dream Europe" and "the REAL Europe." It will be a loooooong story...let's begin!!

On July 10th, my hubby and I were in the Chicago O'Hare Airport. We started to wait in a line for checking into the Virgin Atlantic flights. As you know, this airline is one of the biggest British airlines. We used it for the first time because they provided us VERY good fares($1,500 round trips, for the two of us!!) However...while we were waiting, my hubby showed me an anxious expression and said, " Where are we going to? Israel or somewhere?" You know what? Almost all the staff who worked for the Virgin Atlantic Airways at the O'Hare Airport looked as if they were from the Middle Eastern area (even though it was a British company.) Surprisingly, almost all of them!! We had no idea why...but later, we would see why.

London is five hours ahead of the Central time in the U.S. After an eight-hour-flight, we arrived at the London Heathrow Airport! Yeah!
Even though it was early morning (8:00am,) I was VERY excited!! Then, we noticed the gap between the DREAM Europe and REAL Europe...ALREADY.
Here was the first gap; DREAM= We are about to enjoy a gorgeous trip in Europe! Yeah!!
REAL= What!? What is this HIGH exchange rate!!?? One British pound is two dollars and twenty cents!? It's ridiculous!! Everything costs over double!!
It was the middle of July. Tourism was at it's peak, and coincidentally, the rate of the British pound (and unfortunately, Euro also was...) WAS sky-high!! In the airport, we looked for the way to get to the nearest station. Then we found that... we could take the Heathrow Express (train... the picture!) that takes 15minutes to the Paddington, the nearest station, but it cost ￡15.5 per person. It meant, we had to pay $64 just to get to the NEAREST station!!
OK, calm down, don't be upset, our enjoyable journey has just started... We tried not to visibly frown because of anxiety...

In London, the "tubes (subways)" get through all over the city. It is very convenient for Londoners and tourists. We got on the very crowded tube with our BIG luggage, but there were many tourists like us! Some of them had much bigger luggage than us & babies!! We talked, "If we had had a child, we couldn't have done that.." Oh, they did it!! Probably, because tourists knew the high prices in London, they avoided using taxis as possible as they could. That was our understanding.
While we were taking the tubes, we noticed there were...many people who were from the Middle-East!! Also, many of them wore their traditional clothes which looked obviously Islamic. In the United States, we also have many Islamic people...but most of them don't wear their traditional clothes regularly. Actually, our hotel clerks looked Islamic, and many shop owners around the Paddington area were similar.
Then, we recognized the staff of the Virgin Atlantic Airways were not special. In London, there just were many Islamic people!!
Now, America is sometimes called "racial salad"(not "melting pot" anymore) because people of many different races live together in the same country. However, we noticed England is the same thing...or, could be more obvious.

Our hotel was near the Paddington station. I booked it because it might be convenient. It was! However, again, here was the second gap;
DREAM= Our hotel was not gorgeous, but comfortable enough because it's not very cheap!
REAL= Is this our room!!?? TOO SMALL!! We can't open the bathroom door fully because of its small size!!
I suppose the culprit was the exchange rate. A $150-per-night hotel room is not so bad in the U.S. But because of the poor exchange rate, every value became half! Maybe, our hotel was like a $65-per-night hotel room in NY. If we think about that...it must not be so good!!

Anyway, we left the hotel early to try to forget the trapped feeling. Which place did you think we visited first in London?
The London Tower? Buckingham Palace? or, the British Museum??
Actually, we went to...お好み焼き（Okonomiyaki=Japanese pancake) restaurant! We had been taking a looong flight(even though it was much shorter when we go to Japan..), so we needed our favorite & plain food!! My hubby is from the Western area in Japan, and the Japanese pancake is famous as the area's speciality. "Abeno" is the restaurant's name, and here is the Okomomiyaki! It was good, but actually too small for hungry us... But It was a pretty good sum for lunch... Please don't think I am a miser because I have been talking about money in this article!! I just want to show you the differences. The sum was ￡50, which was almost $100! One hundred dollars for Okonomiyaki lunch!!

We went to the British Museum after the lunch. The British Museum was good because the entrance fee was free...OK I know, I AM A MISER!!
As we heard, it was very crowded. We especially enjoyed watching Ancient Egyptian, Roman, and Greek works. This Rosetta Stone is very famous! Do you understand the hieroglyphics in 196 BC?? Impossible!! But many people tried to understand what was written on the stone...it made me smile.

After that, we walked in the Soho area which is one of the busiest areas in London. What did we find? Actually...many Japanese restaurants & shops!! Of course there were various shops, but we just cared for our mother country ones. Here are photos: the casual "Taro" restaurant, the ordinary "Manga" cafe, the "SPAR" convenience store, the "UNIQLO" retail shop, the "MUJI(無印良品）"variety shop, etc, etc... Then I remembered I heard London has the second largest Japanese population in a non-Japanese city. The first one is L.A, if my memory is correct. Well, it's good! If London has also a "racial salad" like U.S. cities, there must be many Japanese! Not only Islamic people!! Go! Go!! Japanese-Londoners!!!
My hubby and I went to the Japan Center, which is a combination of a Japanese book store and supermarket. We checked what kinds of Japanese food they had(the photo)... What!? We should visit Japan instead of Europe? Don't say that...

Oh, here is the THIRD gap between "the Dream Europe" and the "Real Europe."
DREAM = In London, the official Language is English! We can speak English, so we have no problem at all!!
REAL = What!? What are they talking about !? We can't understand the British accents!!
At night, we went to a British Pub. We ordered fish & chips as many tourists did so. A girl brought the dish to our table. We said, "Thank you." then she said, "Poperon."
.....??? My hubby and I looked at each other confused.
He said," What does it mean "Poperon?" It didn't sound like "You're welcome" at all...Isn't that a kind of code or something???"
I said,"She may have said," Macaroon..." Oh, never mind, that is a French sweet's name!"
Later, I asked an American girl who lived in London. She laughed at our guess, and answered, "I'm sure the girl said, "No problem!" British people pronounced it like that. " REALLY!?? She didn't sound like that...
When we went to a convenience store, a clerk often said, "Espresso! Espresso!!"
...We were sure he said,"Next person! Next person!" because he said it to a person who was in a checkout line.
But we couldn't ....understand their English!!!!!!

Exhausted from the time difference, the price difference, the language difference, and a long walk, we went to beds around 9:00pm.
But about 10:00pm...the EMERGENCY BELL rang loudly!! First, we had no idea what it was. We opened the door to figure out what was going on. Then we heard someone screaming, "Fire! There is a fire!!!"
"Fire!?? Let's evacuate!!" We raced out our room. However, because of the London hotels' characteristics??, our hotel (and another hotel we stayed in later also) had many doors in the corridors and stairs!! Even though our room was on the second floor (in the British way, "the ground floor,") it was like a MAZE!! We had to get through many doors & stairs... "Where was the exit??" Our room was very small, but it took time to get out of there!!

Finally, we could get to the exit. We went to the lobby, and asked, "What happened?" to a receptionist.
She smiled," Don't worry, it's nothing! Someone smoked in a non-smoking room. That's it! You can go back to your room!!"
....Hah...???? Then I remembered, I heard the same emergency bell several times from another hotel which was across the road.
I was wondering, "What is it?" But I was so tired that I went asleep...
Later, I heard from the American girl who lived in London, " In London, it is very strict for smokers! If you smoke in a non-smoking area, the emergency bell rings soon. I often heard it in my apartment. " I see...I didn't know that!!

But you know what? Because it was not very late at night, most people who evacuated wore regular clothes. We went asleep deeply at that time! My hubby had curls on his hair because of his deep sleep. I was too relaxed, so my pajama pants were untidy!
I tried not to lose my pants while I was running... Also, what did I have at that time? I was so upset that I just grabbed "something" when I evacuated. Actually I grabbed, ①a Belgium guidebook ②ear plugs ③an eye mask.... They are not "emergency needs" at all!!
My hubby was very calm, and said,"It's fine! It was not a real fire, so far, so good!! We can think it was emergency evacuation practice."
Then he looked at what I had, and said, "....Probably you needed to do that."
Ladies and gentlemen... It is better for you always to be prepared for "emergency!!!"
However, how come some people screamed, "Fire! There is a fire!"??? It was just a prank?or they tried to break into some rooms??
Anyway, we should be careful especially when we are in big cities!!

Now, I will conclude the first article of the summer trip... Have you noticed?? This is just about "the first day" of our trip. This trip lasted 9days.
I think now you can easily understand my hubby often says to me,"So...what!? Tell me just your MAIN POINTS!!"
Sorry, but I'd like to write more!! Can you follow me? You don't have to...but please do!!