Wow! What a fantastic weekend!! I went to visit Anna in London on Friday. She's an au pair there for an uppity uppity British family with quite the pistol for a daughter. Buttttt the mom, Anji, is cool, she ordered us pizza on Friday night from Papa John's (tastes the same!) and Anna and I went to Croydon (on the 403!) to see Sex and the City. I really liked the movie, even though I'd never seen the show. The Flowers (last name of Anna's host fam.) have THE CUTEST CAT! His name is Tobey Juan, lol... he was so skiddish and friendly at the same time... here's a pic of us together [for Blogspot users: click on the pics to make them BIGGER]:
It's a shame, really, he's a lot cuter in person and if I were a cat, I would leave everything I know to be with him.
Saturday was a really busy day!! First we took the bus ("403, to, WEST Croydon!") to the train station and then bought a day ticket for the transport system and took the train to London Victoria station... man, transportation is mondo efficient in London. We went to the London Eye first, that's the biggest ferris wheel in the world and it costs $31 to ride it for 30 minutes. But it was absolutely brilliant! Here's a pic of it from across the Thames river:
Afterward we took the tube ("Stand on the right!") to St. James' Park where there are is a diverse multitude of large and small birds: pigeons, swans, gray geese, and HUGE white pelicans. We walked through the park, although my fascination with the large white pelicans prevented that from happening very quickly, and wound up at Buckingham Palace, where people were beginning to crowd for something... we found out that there was going to be a parade in rehearsal for the Queen's birthday two weeks from then. We stayed for like 40 minutes until it started, it was neat! Saw a bunch of those fuzzy-headed guards, too!
We had a 2-for-1 ticket coupon for Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, so we headed there, next. We waited in line for about an hour and then the place was sooo packed, it was hard to get pictures because everyone would push you out of the way to get there first. It was definitely neat, though, and there was a haunted house like at Halloween Horror Nights in the basement, that we were supposed to pay $6 extra for, but the guy was like "you know what, go ahead!"... I think it was because we are sooooo cute! See?
After that we were in search of food. And as shocking as this may sound, I consumed fish for the second time since being in Europe... I had to try "fish and chips"... it didn't taste any different than the fish Dad used to fry back in the day, and the french fries were mediocre as well. Not sure what the English are all abuzz about this for... anyway for dessert we had an Oreo + Toffee McFlurry... and then went to find the Platform 9 ³/4... and I went to Hogwarts for a while.
We then checked out the Piccadilly Circus, which is mainly a building with a bunch of HUGE screens on it. We ate donuts that cost $2.70 each, and then took the Tube to Oxford street, where we went to the giant store, Primark, which is like Penney's in Ireland... it was sooo cheap. I actually bought a few things that I ended up taking back, but found a shirt for $4. I really wanted these brown leather flip flops buuuuuuut... they didn't have my size.
By then I was running out of money for the day, anyway, since I only brought 60 pounds with me and left the rest at home. It sure does go fast in London, geez. I also was lucky enough to find a banana lying in the street... I could not believe my luck and immediately picked it up and took it home, although I wasn't the lucky one able to consume it...
Sunday was also a busy day. We went to the Camden Market, where no one is allowed to take pictures apparently, of anything. The market is sooo cool and so much stuff is overpriced, but we found a store where there was a lot of really cheap (even in dollars!) stuff. The "food court" at the Camden Market is CRAZY... all sorts of ethnic foods and everyone is trying to get you to buy theirs... I bought Indian food... wasn't too impressed, but it was ok. Anna and I split a giant donut for dessert:
And I bargained with a really tough Asian lady for the most amazing handbag in the entire world... it's hand-stitched "quilt" style with a ton of different fabrics and is totally rad... I only got it for a pound cheaper than what she wanted for it, but I'm still proud of that because that lady was TOUGH as nails!!
Then we headed to the Imperial War Museum, where we saw about an eighth of what they had to offer... we saw the Children's Perspective exhibit, where we walked through a war bunker and a really neat replica of a house from those days, and talked to an older lady about what it was like to have lived in a prefab. We also visited the Holocaust exhibit, where we were a bit hesitant to speak German to each other, for obvious reasons. The Holocaust, though not the only instance where people were ruthlessly racist and killing other people, is significant in how
systematic and
efficient and
swift the Nazis wiped out all of those people. Six
million people... that had never been seen in history before at such a magnitude. That's what makes it so hard for people to wrap their minds around it.
Next we went to Harrod's giant department store, where we saw the Diana and Dodi memorial and the Egyptian escalator hall, walked through the Food Halls (just a really expensive grocery store), and browsed greeting cards. Trafalgar Square was next, where we discovered a big screen showing Romeo and Juliet (opera/orchestra version), which had consequently packed the square. Here I am with King Tut:
We went to the evening service at Westminster Abbey... I saw Isaac Newton's grave!! It normally costs $20 to get into the Abbey (but all the national museums are FREE!?) so we figured going for the service was the best way to see it without losing too many pounds. I was at a loss for words... I think one of the first things I said while in the church was "who the hell is that?"... not exactly pious, I know, but the service was centered on a guy named William Cowper, and the whole 45 minute service included three hymns, some readings, and poems by that dude... his picture was on the front of the program. The service was also soooo boring!! The Abbey has that weird church smell that makes me want to throw up, and I remember sitting there and looking at my watch and being SO surprised that only 15 minutes had passed. Time slowed down. On TV, the Westminster Abbey looks so much bigger...don't get me wrong, the place is HUGE, but I guess when the streets surrounding it are covered in people, it looks like a much bigger venue... here's a pic of me in front of the Abbey after the service.
After that we went over to London Tower and the Tower Bridge (which I, stupidly, had always though was the London Bridge... why isn't there a song about Tower Bridge, if that's the famous one!?) and walked around there for a bit... we had been soooo lucky the entire weekend that it did not rain a DROP on either day... here I am at the Tower Bridge
We were both staaarving so we headed to London Victoria station and ate at McDonald's, lol... I have never been so excited to see a McDonald's in my life... we were so hungry... the guys at the counter were funny and when I told them (after they asked me) where I was from, they had all kinds of questions about McDonald's in the USA... they were amazed that the cheeseburgers only cost 60 cents and that the double cheeseburger is on the dollar menu... it was really funny. I even told them that I would get as many free refills on my Sprite Zero as I wanted, and proceeded to ask if I brought my cup back, if he would give me more... he said yes, ha ha!! Anyway, in keeping with the pattern of absolute irony that was this weekend, I ordered my first Big Mac EVER at the London Victoria McDonald's...
On Monday, we went back into London and, after checking to see if Primark had restocked the shoes I wanted, to no avail, went to the London Dungeon... we had a two for one coupon for that as well and it was really neat! It was a scary place and I got "picked on" by the actors a lot. When our group was getting "tried" and "condemned for heinous crimes", I was picked out by the actor and I had to stand on the podium thing and they said that I was guilty of dancing naked and would only be allowed to go free if I plead insanity, which I did, lol... and somehow I was always the first one to leave the different rooms in the Dungeon and so I was the one the actors all jumped out at to scare when we entered a different room. The whole place was superbly well done, even down to the smells. There were two rides and at the end was a drop ride because we were all to be hanged, lol...
Afterward we ate greasy pizza next door at a seedy place called "Fantastic Chicken", but only because it was cheap (a 7" pizza with two toppings for $4) and then headed to Croydon to see if THAT Primark had the shoes I wanted, which they didn't, but they did have the Florida t-shirt the other one didn't have in my size. So, I achieved one of my mini goals for my trips around Europe: find a Florida t-shirt. YEAH!
Then I took the train to Gatwick and met these CRAZY Irish guys while waiting at the gate. At Gatwick everyone waits in the same area until their boarding and gate number is announced. I was trying to read my magazine and eat my Turkish Delight and the guy next to me kept looking over and commenting, like "what is she eating, lads?" and "what is she reading?"... I looked over and said I was eating Turkish Delight, but I shouldn't have said anything because the crazy one took it as an invitation to talk to me for the next 40 minutes. He was SO annoying and kept taking my magazine and telling me his mom was German, then his dad was, and then his mom was Spanish... he also had eaten a lime a few minutes prior to talking to me, so the whole time he was talking to me he smelled like LIME... gross. And he kept just getting too close for comfort so I had to tell him to stop touching me. Creepy. I got offer after offer to go to Dublin with them, that'd I'd definitely be in the top three most beautiful girls in Ireland, to which I said that certainly isn't saying much about the other women in Ireland, ha ha... anyway he was sooo annoying but it made for this funny story and I finally got a gate number so I had an excuse to leave...
Then the flight was delayed 40 minutes or so, AFTER we had already boarded. Apparently there was bad weather. But how lucky I was that finally the bad weather started as soon as I left. Sweet!
So now I am home and today I have school (hence why I am even here). I had a faaaabulous time with the best tour guide EVER, and although London ate up my money, everything we did was awesome and I loved every minute of it!
BANANA!
Caitlin
