London, AGAIN.

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May 13/09

Nothing super interesting today. Woke up, bought Chinese chips (yes, Greek Lay's Chinese flavoured chips. tastes like ginger.), beached it, and said our goodbyes and we were off to London.

I definitely do miss Greece a lot! The nice weather, the culture of just easy-going socializing, and just pure relaxation!

Leaving the Greek sun, we fly into London, which of course, is cold, rainy and cloudy.
Michelle, still in Greece mode, runs to the nearest washroom to change out of her board shorts.
And our coats are then pulled out of backpacks, and quickly put on.

Our hostel, Shepard's Bush, is once again above a bar, but thank gosh this was a legit operation with hostels around Europe, and so the bar closed at 12pm. phew.

Michelle and I, completely exhausted from the travel, and the nights out, and the early rising, we decide to take it easy, and do our laundry. After 11 long days of sweating and smelling like smoke (cuz all Greek bars and restaurants, and airports, and daycares, allow you to smoke indoors..ew...) we definitely stank, and badly needed to do some washing.

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May 14/09

Wake up for breakfast, meet a guy from Kamloops, B.C., also named George.
He just had an interview for a Master's program in existential counselling (counslling ppl about the meaning of life and helping them answer questions like "Who am i?")
Therefore officially making him the most interesting person i have ever met thus far!
We had a long chat and then were off to a free London walking tour.
Unfortunately, i managed to lose both Michelle and George.
and without a cellphone, or enough change to call on the payphone (realllly expensive. 40 pence a minute!), we ended up missing the tour.

oh well - we did our own private sightsee again. and i impressed michelle with the lack of knowledge i have about the city i've been in for 4 months.
Michelle then bought a 40 pound ticket to see Wicked (which she loved of course!), and we met up with Matt England from my past 2 London jobs.

We hit up Wagamama's, a chain asian fast food restaurant. And with a mediocre meal in me (nowhere as good as Salad King!), Matt and I head to explore!
We hit up two different pubs, and having less than a pint and a half of Strongbow (London alcohol, apparently a lot stronger than Greek alcohol), i ended up tipping over a little.
It was definitely great catching up with Matt after 2 years, felt like no time at all!

Oh yea, while slightly tipsy and walking around in the dark, i walk into something squishy, i look down, and am absolutely mortified to see my right foot sitting nicely in a pile of horse crap.
Convincing myself that i can just walk it off, i head to the tube station, then walk into something slippery. I look down and, in disbelief see my left foot sitting nicely in a puddle of freshly dispensed vomit.

awesome socks.
i spend the tube ride back to the hostel debating on whether or not i should Purell my shoes.

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Tan watch:
no new tans, b/c London is perpetually grey and rainy.
Debatable whether or not i am happy about this.

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May 15/09
Today after another complementary breakfast of carbs (toast + cereal), I went to meet up with Stephanie LeNguyen and Alan Poon, both of whom i went to Queen's with and are now currently studying in the UK.
It was great seeing them after so long!
We walked around, (Michelle was at the free walking tour we missed yesterday), trying to find food, then we stumbled upon a hundred or so (my estimate - so probably wildly wrong) British guards in uniform.
They stood around, shuffling in lines, then marching with a marching band and horses in the bkgd.
In confusion, we just blindly took pictures and videos.
Following the procession, i asked a nearby cop what was going on, and it was apparently a practice for the Queen's Jubilee in June, where the Queen inspects them all! Cool!
and like the tourist i am, i proceeded to ask the cop to take a picture with me.
smiling slightly uncomfortably, he agreed.

We then ate at Leons, a specialty wrap store, and since i was almost running out of money (again), i am forced to give up the luxury of eating meat and settled for eating a clumpy cheese wrap.

Next, we head to Tate Modern (one of my fave. art galleries that houses Modern Art).
Here, alan got a tad bit more cultured by walking through and breathing in the air of modern art.
and being modern art, that meant that his culture-ing includes:
looking @ abstract paintings that look like something, but then are really something else, a video of a naked Mexican woman showering in blood then rolling around in feathers (thereby symbolizing a bird...apparently.), a room full of cows (by Andy Warhol), and a video of a naked man and naked woman dancing (rather energetically with parts a flailing) with a large rubber ball.
Alan is now forever changed for the better.

To further our day of culture, we head to Costa Coffee where we debate and discuss serious issues, such as why on Earth Costa Coffee would use as their sales pitch, "7 out of 10 coffee loves prefer Costa".
That's not even considered an Asian pass!
All 3 of us feel oh-so-much smarter after that coffee debate (for those wondering, i am not one of the 7).

We then decide that after a long day of culture, we deserved to let loose, so we head to The Maple Leaf Pub, "a small piece of Canada in London".
Since Steph and Alan had been away for so long, they giddily skip in, where they found that the walls are decorated as if it's a log cabin, there's a stuffed grizzly bear in a corner, hockey paraphernalia EVERYWHERE, and pictures of past Primer Ministers hanging proudly on the walls.

We immediately order 2 large poutines (or as Matt had told me - "The English call it, cheesy, gravy fries." - a much more literal name.) to share. The poutine was alright (no where as good as Bubba's that's for sure!) - steph points out that the cheese was not clumps, but in fact, merely shredded. SO not canadian.
We finished the meal with some Banoffee pie (Banana + toffee + graham crackers + custard). For "Love Actually" fans, that's what Keira Knightly offerred that dude in exchange for the wedding video! ooo, ahh.

After a Canadian meal, we followed that up by going to the Canada store. It was fun seeing what is strictly Canadian.
We found: Tim Horton's instant powders, Nibs, Doritos, All Dressed chips, Ketchup chips, pickles, Molson, jello, kool-aid, KD...etc..

Steph and I then went to meet mIchelle for a evening of more refinement (Alan was too exhausted from the afternoon's onslaught of culture to join in), and we went to see Les Miserables @ the Queen's Theatre in London's West End. The show wasn't bad. Good music, although the storyline for me was a bit of a letdown. It was a little too cheesy for me, and they attempted to mesh together too many plot lines and characters - so it ended up being slightly messy.
But hey! it's a classic, and now i can say i saw it! so i can't complain!

We all went back to the hostel bar (Alan and Steph joining us at the hostel for the night).
We got to the bar at 1130pm, the bar closed and we were shoo'd out at 12am.
Apparently many London bars close at 12am, and the tube stops working at that time also.
succkks.

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TAN WATCH:
due to the perpetually grey London weather, the disparity between the two halves of my face disappears.....slightly.

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