So when you go out drinking with the Brits and they tell you to take a cab home because they don't know how to get back to your hotel from here, and they're from London, turns out you should listen. Instead of saying, "oh, I know where I am, and my hotel is less than a mile's walk, so I'll hoof it." Which was what I did. And I was, in fact correct. But instead, I ended up walking three miles, going around in a circle to where I started, and then walking completely the opposite direction of my hotel, giving up and taking the subway back. (Keep in mind I was completely sober by the time I had finished walking in a circle.) We were at a pub off of Piccadilly, and I was staying at Marble Arch. Somehow I managed instead to go to Knightsbridge, via Buckingham Palace. For those of you more familiar Boston than with London, it's sort of like trying to get from the Pru to Fenway Park and instead winding up at Faneuil Hall, via MIT. I ended up walking 2.8 miles until I gave up and took the subway, which doesn't sound like much except that we'd been walking all evening and I was in an incredibly uncomfortable pair of new dress shoes. Thanks to Google Earth, I'm able to throw at you the following statistics:

Had I gone home the way I thought I was going, I'd have walked only 1.9 miles.
Had I gone home the most direct way from the pub, I'd have walked only 0.9 miles.
Had I gone directly from the pub to the subway stop I ended up taking the train from, I'd have walked a whopping 0.8 miles.

From now on, I carry a map when I'm in London.

On the bright side, I got a free paring knife by watching a knife demonstration at a department store in London on Tuesday evening. Same place I bought my shoes.