London, Day 11 of 12

Yes yes yes, it has been far too busy here to update every night as I'd planned. Apologies!

We've since visited Abney Cemetery, finished our expedition of the Science Museum, eaten at a shady Chinese buffet cuz it was cheap and we were hungry, went to Brick Lane and had SALTY BEEF BAGELS with MUSTARD, walked through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, got threatened by a swan, went to G-A-Y bar twice (perhaps again tomorrow night for one last hurrah?) and danced to Lady Gaga the entire time, went to Crazy Homies tequila bar twice, went to TWO West End shows: Avenue Q and Wicked, and going back to Camden Market tomorrow to pick up my sister a cute lil doohicky for her birthday and myself one and a itty present for James. Everything's eensy weensy because we didn't check any bags and carry everything on, soooo no snowglobes and only wittle fings, i.e. postcards.

SO. MUCH. STUFF.

So yes, tomorrow is the last day. Then we fly back. We'll spend the entire day traveling. I'm not expecting it to be bad. We're coming in during the middle of the week. I just have some reading I need to do before class on Thursday. Plus, uhh... I have an 8:30am class on Wednesday. Whateva. It'll be fine. :)

I've thoroughly enjoyed this vacation and had so much fun with my cousins and Walt. I'm so glad we got the chance to do this. Now, some reading that's due Thursday. ONWARD HO!

What is the most unexpected/surprising thing that you've learned about London?

Bums sleep outside bagel shops on Brick Ln. and no one cares. And people chain up their dogs outside stores and people don't pay it any mind. People carry little dogs onto the tube. Assholes pee in cemeteries. And they make you sign the back of your credit cards before they'll touch it. Also, random pubs will not serve you drinks if you don't have a "Pass Mark" on your ID. That is, if you aren't British, you get no cider. (Ok, it was just one random lil pub, but seriously wtf?)

Hardly one thing, but I do believe they are all equally interesting observations.

This is where you ask the questions you want answered. Or to make a random comment. Whatever the fuck you want to say.

London, Day 5 of 12

So it's Tuesday.

We had trouble uploading photos onto facebook last night, but rest assured, it has been remedied.

Today, we went to the Natural History Museum and the Science Museum and Harrod's. My camera wasn't working, so nothing much to post on here or facebook. Check out Walt's. He took hundreds. Mostly of stuffed animals.

The Natural History Museums was huge, and we spent most of the day there, but not horribly impressive. Their taxidermy animals were all faded. The panda bear was seriously white and beige. wtf?

But yes, it was a great day. We also saw the Hubble IMAX 3D movie. It was so cool.

Just before it, Walt and I bought tickets, went to a corner store, bought a 2-litre of Dr. Pepper, and chugged most of it, then met Beckie and Matt in the museum theatre. It was a blast.

The Science Museums was AMAZING. And we got very little done, and are definitely going back. It is free, after all!

Then we went to Harrod's. Not my thing. I felt really claustrophobic and uncomfortable. So much crazy expensive designer stuff and dumbass people willing to pay hundreds of dollars for it. Seriously. An umbrella was over 100 pounds. What the fuck?

We came home and have been uploading photos and eating dinner and watching youtube videos.

It is now 11:15pm. I'm exhausted. Off to bed.

London, Day 4 of 12

Today was great. Very tiring, but great.

This morning, Walt and I got up to go to the Tower of London. But on the way to the tube, we stopped to get waffles for breakfast. Mmmm MM!

We took the tube to the Tower of London. It was rather magnificent. I mean, it cost us a solid $44 to get in, but it was AMAZING. We spent the entire day there, had a bitchin' tour by Yeoman Warder Ken McGrath, saw the Crown Jewels, saw where lotsa people were held and tortured (yes, including Lady Jane Grey and Guy Fawkes) and did a shit ton of walking. It was great weather. Didn't even rain until later.

After the tower, we texted Beckie so she'd meet us at St. Paul and give us a nighttime tour of Westminster. But first, we ate at Subway. Honestly, American food is still cheaper than European food. And we'd just dropped a cool wad of cash on the tourist attraction of the day, so why not seal the deal with some good ol' 'Merican food. (PS YAY HEALTH CARE!!!!)

Then we walked around. Walked down Fleet Street, and went to this bitchin pub called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese. It was basically in a wine cellar. It was really cool. Walt was drunk. Far too easily. Especially for just after having eaten a whole twelve inches of bread and meat. (not a penis reference)

After our pub stop and our tour around St. James gardens and typical tourist sightseeing, we walked to another pub to meet Matt, who had just gotten off work. We had another half pint and chips then caught the tube home, where we got 2 pizzas and watched Hot Fuzz.

Needless to say, we're fucking pooped. It is nearly 1am here. Time for photo uploading, as I promised, and some sleeps.

Tomorrow: FREE museums and IMAX 3D!!!!!

Oh, and more pubs.

Cheers!

Spring Break: London -- Day 1, 2, & 3

So. We left Ohio on March 18.

We arrived March 19.

The flight wasn't really that bad. There were 4 babies on our long flight from Detroit to Amsterdam (and no, we didn't smoke anything. stop asking) but it wasn't that bad. All but one were relatively quiet.

My cousin Beckie met us at the airport, and we took the tube back to her place.

We napped then met up with her husband Matt later for our first London pub experience.

It was a good day.

Saturday, Walt and I met up with my friend Zena, whom I'd met in Lebanon. It was loads of fun. We went to Camden Market, which is this MASSIVE outdoor market that was extremely fun and ridiculously amazing. There was this one really cool store called Cyberdog that was totally bitchin'. It was a raver's place and really loud music and blacklights and lots of dancing...but a store. You could buy trinkets and then the whole downstairs was fun clothes. It was hilarious. Walt loved it. He paid 5 pounds for a dancing robot toy. Ohhh dear....

We stopped by a shop on the way home. We bought toothbrushes (since I packed ours up then left them on the sink in Columbus... naturally.) and disposable razors and a 2-liter of Strongbow. Then we came back to the flat, took a short nap, and had dinner. Then off for a Saturday night of tequila, tequila, tequila!

My cousins are friends with someone here who works at a tequila bar, and I had never had a Margarita, so we went there and were fed free drinks all damn night long. It was glorious. Then we left a massive tip and went to try to catch Matt's friend's gig, but we got there too late and the pub was closing. Then we took the tube as far as we could before it closed, then waited an hour for the Night Bus, aka the Drunk Bus. By the time we got home, it was 2.30am. The tube closed at 12.30am. That's how long it took. Yes, things close really early here. But whatever. Then we're over our hangovers early enough to get stuff done, haha.

Today is just a hang out day. We may go for a walk later, but right now, we're all on our computers. Walt and I hadn't fully recovered from the trip yet, so we slept REALLY late, and by really late I mean 3.30pm. So we'll probably head out for a walk soon. Then I think we're having a nice day in and watching movies with the cousins all day. I do believe we'll be heading out for meat pies and minty mushy peas for dinner and a few drinks. Woot!

Alright. Time to hop to it!

This is a fence we walk past a lot. It's so cool. :)