The Underground

The London Underground fascinates me. It is a whole world all underground the streets of London! Over 3 million people use the tube system everyday. I read that the length of all the lines is about 253 miles total. I invite you to check out this map of the system: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/colourmap.gif Though it seems really confusing, it is actually fairly easy to navigate once I got the hang of it. I'll try now to get creative and write about the tube experience I had the other day with some friends:

"The longest escalator is Western Europe is located at Angel Station," I read from the back of a jigsaw puzzle of the Underground to my friend Karley. This began our journey to Angel station at 5:30 one evening. Our goal was that special escalator and little did we realize that 5:30 on a weekday is NOT the best time to travel the underground. We arrived at the station, slapped down our Oyster travel cards (credit card type tube tickets that are scanned for each ride) and went down the stairs to the line we needed to get on. The platform was crowded with people who were headed home from work. What I love about the underground is how everyone uses it. Very few people have personal cars in London because it is very expensive to have a car in the city. Name a type of person and you can find them using the underground-- business men in nice suits, students, tourists, moms and babies, backpackers... everyone! And no one talks to each other either. The British are very polite, quiet people and the tube is always very silent, despite the masses of people using the system.

Back to our pilgrimage to ride the longest escalator in w. Europe... We stood on the quiet platform and waited. It's always hot and stuffy, too. In the distance, we could faintly hear the growing noise of our approaching train. A sudden, cool wind whips our hair everywhere and the lights of the train can be seen in the tunnel. The long train of cars screeches to a slow halt. The doors of each car slide open and people stream onto the platform as others crowd to get on board. We get into one of the cars which always makes me a little nervous because the doors are merciless and quick to slide shut. Passengers have maybe 15 seconds of open-door time before the train starts to move again.

On the tube (again- no one talks) most everyone has open a paper or listens to music on their ipods. The three of us get off at our stop to change lines so we can get to Angel station. Now it is almost 6pm and prime time for rush hour. Platforms are long but seem unable to hold everyone trying to head home after work. We stand bumping shoulders with our neighbors as we wait for our next train to arrive. It comes but we can't get on because there are so many people already crammed onto the train! We wait again. The next train arrives and Leah and I shove our way into the small spaces available to stand it. The train takes off and I grab for a bar to balance myself. I glance around and see no signs of Karley! Then I see her as we whiz down the line, still standing on the platform, looking at me and shrugging her shoulders. The tube stops about 4 times before we get to our destination of Angel station. Incredibly, each time only a few people get off, while at least 6 more get on! We are packed in like sardines already and still people see the possibly that they can fit too! What a relief it was to finally squeeze our way off at Angel station. And another relief when Karley arrived on the next train to join us.

The longest escalator (it's almost 200 feet long!) in western Europe was a pretty good time. We rode it up and down twice taking pictures (I know, cheesy!) and I timed it once-- 80 seconds to go up! I'm glad that we survived rush hour to reach it. (I apologize for the picture--it just doesn't do it justice-- oh and thats part of me on the left.)

I hope that story was amusing for you and helped you better understand the amazing Underground which I ride almost everyday to get around London.