The Tubes 

       If you have ever been to a major metropolis like New York, Chicago, or even Dallas, you'll notice that public transportation is of most importance. From a tour of London, it was estimated that the city limits is about 630 square miles, that's a lot ground to cover. With a population that is and will continue to expand exponentially transportation is king. This is over 8 million persons needing to get to work at one time. Organizing an easy and effective system to move several million people at one time isn't a task to be done at a whim. I can't tell about theories about systems, industrial engineering, or just plain old trains, but I can tell you at a glance the layout of London's Underground looks...complicated. Its as if London's financial district is a specimen for a gross anatomy lab, the Londoners is its vitality, and the tubes are its veins. The first emotional response, "Shit! " It was like stepping into a cold pool. You just have to get you feet wet. Of course the best ways to get your feet wet is through the cultural experience. You have to see what makes London.  

• Goal one: hit up the National Theatre
• Goal Two: See the "Eye" 
• Goal Three: spy the Globe Theatre 

These seemed like an easy venture...haha wrong. So wrong! Very Wrong!  

     After long ride of pensively deciding which colored, (excuse me but the culturally relative term of the UK, "colour''), tram was the correct decision. At last we got off at Embankment and cross the Golden Jubilee Foot bridge. This bridge was nothing more then steel and aircraft cable. Though minimal, it was a piece of art. From then on we continued hour march across the Thames. We past many street performers busking in the throngs of tourists to find the Eye. 

 

      This wasn't no mere ferris-wheel. It was several hundred feet in height, a novelty. An even more novel spectacle was its cue...over an hour wait plus 30 pounds, approximately.  

After continuing the track we passed some vague cafes and hives of business offices, we came across National Theatre. 

 

       The site of it was extremely modern. Nothing was conventional about its architecture, but what do I know about architecture. It looked striking. After basking in modern architecture we continued our avant-garde tour to pass the wharfs and peers. It was just a splendid moment of people watching. You could see every walk of life enjoying the walk along the Thames. After even more walking we came to the Globe. It was a reproduction of what it would have appeared during the 17th century. All built from period appropriate materials, it was historical beauty. 

     It took several days to under stand a little bit about the tubes that could take me to such beautiful sites. Though I may not have all the answers, but the best way to navigate the tubes is to orient yourself about the Thames River because it runs from approximately east to west. If you can determine whether you're in South London or North, you can then decide which station is closest to the site. Rather then taking a tube to embankment, I have found it to be much more convenient to take  a line to St. Paul's or Mansion House station and walk across a bridge.   

 

For further advice...In London, if it seems too complicated, it's because you made it complicated. Just take deep breath continue the adventure.