June posed a little problem for me. I spent a third of it in Israel. Should I talk about it? It would contradict the purpose of the Barak Ori Times - telling my friends and family what's up with me while I'm away. If I do talk about what happened in Israel, is that count as a precedent that might force me to continue writing about my pity life when I return to Israel? Just to be on the safe side, I will not mention Israel. So here's this 2/3 months issue...
I was trying to buy a ticket about 3 weeks before my flight. Should have done it a month before, but I'm an expert on delaying things. A brief check with some real travel agents and a few virtual ones made me rethink the whole trip. Tickets were prices between $2500 to $3800, depending on the exact dates I checked. Coach, of course.
(I don't have a picture for this section, so here's a Dilbert dose)So armed with my computer I set up to find out how come the prices are so high. I tried to find a flight from New York to London, and it wasn't too bad - $600 to $1000. Now what about a flight from London to Tel Aviv? The answer is very simple - if the flight to Tel Aviv departs within a reasonable time after a flight from New York has landed - it's $1500 and up. If not, you can find tickets for $450. So instead of buying one flight (with or without a connection in Europe) I bought 2 separate tickets. To get the cheapest price, my arrival to London was at 10:00 AM on a date I already forgot, and my departure from there to Tel Aviv was at 10:30 PM. Bare in mind that this was shortly after TowerAir stopped its service, which meant there was high demand for tickets. I still paid over $1000 for the tickets, but considering the time, it was an excellent bargain. In addition, I got to spend a little time in London...
I arrived at Heathrow airport and took the Tube (That's the Britton subway) to the center of London. The moment I stepped into the train I could see that the Americans lost a lot more than they can admit in their Independence war. You know what, it was even before that. While waiting for the train I saw the tracks. They were cleaner than my apartment. Maybe that's not a high standard, but in New York it's very easy to spot rats on the tracks. Instead of explaining the difference in words, let me use pictures instead. I admit it's a bit biased, but that's the general feeling I had:
Here are a couple of more differences:
- In many of the Tube's stations, there's a glass wall between you and the tracks, when the trains stops at the station, doors in that wall open, and you can get into the train, but when the train is not there, there's no access to the tracks. In many of the Subway stations someone either fell or was pushed to the tracks at one time or another.
- In the Tube's stations there are displays that tell you how long you have to wait before the next train arrives (and they're quite accurate). In the Subway, it's sometimes hard to find a sign that tells you which way the train is going.
After saying all that, I'll just add that although I put things in perspective now, I still think the subway in New York is excellent, and I wish we had something half this good in Israel.
I took the Tube from Heathrow to Picadili Circle. From there I just walked around, ate really bad ice cream, and got really tired pretty soon, so I found myself a nice park with lots of grass and slept for about an hour.
You might find this story a bit tiring. If you do, take your own one hour nap right now, and you'll see how things look much better afterwards... Let's get back to the story. When I woke up
I walked towards the annoying chime sound - the Big Ben. As a kid, I remember this La-Fa-Sol-Do... tune that the Big Ben is supposed to sound at noon. Whoever told me that got it all wrong - it plays that tune every 15 minutes. I sure hope the rent is cheap around there. Actually all the area is filled with govermental buildings. Tony Blair lives nearby. This made it possible for them to use a square of streets near old Big Ben for test purposes - driving on the right side of the road.
It's a weird experiment, but I think it's for a good cause. I don't think driving on the right side is better than driving on the left, but there should be a standard.
After living in New York, Big Ben doesn't look that big, but I had to see it with my own eyes. I'm glad I did. I turned east and crossed the Thames. As I was looking left, I saw this really big ferris wheel - you can see it on the top of this issue. I had to ride it.
It turns out it's called "London Eye", and it was constructed as part of the Millenium celebrations. It's 135 meters (450 feet) high, and it's the fourth tallest structure in London (much higher than Big Ben). It's used as an observation deck. A full circle takes 30 minutes, and there's a nice British stewardess, with excellent British accent, who points to the more interesting things in the area during the rotation. Just for your information, the wheel keeps rotating all the time. It's slow so it's not hard to board it as it turns. They only stop is once in a while when a person with a wheelchair (for example) needs to board the "wheel".
Okay, when the half hour ended I hurried up to the Millenium Dome. It was 5:00 PM, and the Dome closes at 8:00 PM, so I didn't have too much time.
I don't have a lot to say about the
Dome. I ran through it, briefly looking at the exhibits. Some exhibits were quite interesting, and all were very artistic. Allow me to describe a few:
- There was a corridor called "Break the limits" where you would walk and to your left you saw a few statues and paintings that were quite ordinary. One of them was a decorated bicycles. Then, as the corridor ended, you turned and walked back, looking at the same items from the other side. Using some kind of special glass, the exhibits now included a video image over them. For example, in the case of the bicycles - some images were turning inside the wheels. It was very interesting.
- There's an exhibition in the shape of a couple hugging (maybe 20 meters high). You walk inside the couple and see parts of the human body as it looks from the inside. At one point you walk inside a cavern with a giant pumping heart above you. At another point you see a bar with a stand-up brain telling smart jokes.
- They have a booth where there are monitors all over, in each you see a question like "How many kids do you want to have". You can answer as many or as little questions as you want. In the booth they explain that they have thousands of questions, and they will collect all the answers and seal them in a time capsule that will be opened on the year 3000. This would give these people an idea of who we were.
It was getting late. The guards at the Dome rushed people out, and I definitely didn't want to miss my flight to Israel, so I exited the Dome, and started walking towards the gates that lead from the Dome area to the Tube. As I was walking, I passed near a (You would think London is different, but it isn't) a McDonald's store. I looked inside (suprisingly, I wasn't hungry) and something caught my eye. It was the neon signs with the prices:
Okay, it's hard to see in the image, but believe me there are not your basic signs. All these "Extra Value Meals" signs are actually flat TV screens. I looked at them for a few minutes, and they change every once in a while, sometimes showing video clips of (what else) McDonald's commercials. I have seen the future, and it looks like a big chunk of cholesterol on TVs as far as the eyes can see.
Oh, and one last thing, the Big Ben picture is a mirror image. Brits will be Brits, and they'll keep driving on the left side (not unlike Israelies, come to think of it).
