Tourism in England

I'm pretty sure this is travel rule number 1, but I wasn't really paying attention during that DEA guy's presentation before heading off: Never go running in an area that you don't really know anything about. That's what I did last night and ended up taking an almost 2-hour run because I couldn't find my way back. But the awesome thing is that I was lost in Hampstead Heath, which is like London's Central Park, but more beautiful and historic. Luckily there was a nice old man to steer me home.
I did a little better this morning, but it wasn't such a good workout.

So, since I hadn't really set up meetings or anything like that during my first few days in London, I thought I should take some time to do the tourist thing in London. I saw the Tower of London, the British Museum, Big Ben, Westminster, and almost anything else I could do for free. It has been a wonderful time. I feel like such a tourist.

In my time here, I've noticed some thing that Londoners love. Londoners love:
Londoners love Sex and the City. It's everywhere. They even write crazy articles about how to visit New York like one of the "fab four." They're on buses, buildings, boats, the ground, anywhere.
Londoners love their celebrity gossip. It's all over the newspapers - more so than actual news. The love Paris Hilton, Posh Spice, and a bunch of British people of whom I've never heard. They even love Amy Whinehouse. It's all over the front page, second page, and then they have a whole separate section for celebrity gossip. There's definitely more celebrity news than real news, except maybe sports.
On that note, Londoners love sports. More importantly, I love how much Londoners like Cricket, because it's an absolutely ridiculous sport. I love reading about it, because it makes absolutely no sense.
Londoners love horrible traffic. Their roads wind with no particular pattern. Clearly, the roads had to develop around a city that had already been here for a while, but its like they made no effort at all. Trying to throw pedestrians into that mix makes it even worse. People get hit all the time. Apparently one teenager dies daily from getting hit by a car. That seems excessive.
Londoners love fitting perfectly into British stereotypes. I don't know why, but I feel like I've seen all Londoners before - in a movie or television show.
Londoners love Sir Walter Raleigh! They credit him with everything - he's like the British Benjamin Franklin. Even now, I'm watching a show on how he brought the potato to England. It's so funny to hear about his work here, since we know him so well on our side of the pond.
Londoners love not being from London, or England for that matter. Nobody I've come across is actually from London. There are Indians (like, from India), French, Germans, Africans, but not that many people form England.

Alright, that's all I've got for now. More to come later.