Guess where I am this weekend!? London and Edinburgh! Two new cities in two new countries in 3 short days. Boy, oh boy - I’m in for an action packed weekend! There will be a picture slide show at the end of the blog! This week, I wanted to focus my blog more along the lines of comparison. I had previously done a blog about a few differences I noticed between Spain and the United States. In this blog, I wanted to do something similar, while also incorporating the UK into the mix. Here are 4 major differences I noticed.
Water - In the states, when you order water at a restaurant, you get tap water in a glass, free of charge. In Spain, you pay for the water you order with your meal. Usually, it comes in a plastic or glass bottle and the server will pour it for you into a glass. In the UK, depending on which place you go to, some cafes will only sell you water and do not offer a free glass or cup of water. However, at some restaurants we sat down at, we were offered free water. Before getting to London, I was told that they charge you when you order water, but I guess it just depends on where you go.
Money - In the states, we use dollars. Most of the time, we use bills and the only coins we use are of $1 or lesser value (and the golden dollar coins are rarely used). In Spain, the currency is Euros. €1, €2, and cent amounts (1, 2, 5, 10, 20, 50) come in the form of coins. The first paper note is a €5, and the amounts go up like they do in the states, except the EU also has €200 and €500 euro notes. In the UK, both England (London) and Scotland (Edinburgh) the currency is in Pounds(£) and goes up by the same increments as the Euro. The conversion rate was really high at the time of our trip, which is why many people say London is very expensive. Personally, I think prices average out to be the same as in Barcelona or even Chicago, the currency is just different. If I were to earn £15 an hour working in London, I would be able to afford it comfortably (when it comes to food and shopping, I have no idea how much housing and taxes are so in that aspect I do not know if I would be able to live comfortably).
Outlets (adapters) - This has been the biggest hassle when it comes to traveling. I need a different adapter in the US, Spain, and in the UK. US plug ins have two flat prongs and sometimes a round prong on the bottom. Spain (and most of the EU) have double prong adapters that are round like rods. In the UK, even though it is still part of the EU for now, has a different outlet from the rest of Europe. This is not one of the changes made due to Brexit, obviously, this has existed before. But imagine it was… like, what if the UK was like, “We want absolutely nothing to do with the EU. Not a single association. Change everything, right down to the electrical outlets!” Imagine the outrage of all the citizens. Imagine all the re-engineering that would have to be done. Chaos would ensue. But anyway, that’s a tangent. So, as I was saying, the adapters in the UK look like two horizontal flat prongs at the bottom, and one vertical flat prong in the middle on top. All of this makes me beg the question, why are all electrical outlets different? Why don’t all countries have the same electrical sockets? It would make life a whole lot easier, and also save me some money when it comes to buying adapters.
Driving - This I left for last because everybody already pretty much knows about this. Crossing the street gave me a headache in the UK because I kept forgetting to look in the correct direction when crossing the street, and even tried to board buses on the right side (aka, passenger side in America and Spain). I know I only spent 3 short days in the UK, so I was not able to get used to the way traffic worked, but upon return to Barcelona, I noticed how different it really was to see traffic go back to the way I am used to it.
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Anyway, as promised, here are the highlights of my trip:
Top 5 Favorites: London and Edinburgh
Favorite Food: Broccoli and Chive soup. We had this at a cafe in Edinburgh and I am not sure if it is a Scottish dish, but I had never heard of it, let alone tried it before, and it was delicious.
Favorite Museum: The Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh. The art was all modern and on sale in the gallery. Even though I love Europe for the history of it, I’ve seen so many paintings from centuries ago that seeing a modern art exhibit and being able to interpret what the art meant all on my own was a breath of fresh air.
Favorite Activity: Going on a hop-on, hop-off tour of London. The bus was worth its value since we were able to utilize it all day and have access to all the most important locations we wanted to visit. I personally like guided city bus tours because I get to learn more about the city that I would otherwise have not known had I tried to rush to places just to see them and not learn anything about them. Highly recommend the guided hop-on, hop-off tour of London. There are many tour bus companies in London, but we used The Original Tour.
Favorite piece of art in the National Gallery in London: Road in the Village of Baldersbronde (Winter Day), 1912, Laurits Andersen Ring. This was my favorite because I felt like I was there in the setting of the picture. Like I was standing in a photograph, even though it was a painting.
Favorite Fun Fact: There used to be a morgue at the bottom of the Tower Bridge in London. Once people were offered money to fetch dead bodies from the river Thames and bring them up to the morgue for a cash reward, deaths in London tripled because people would murder others just for some money. Shortly afterwards, the government stopped the reward program for the public.
SLIDESHOWS!!!
London, England
Edinburgh, Scotland
