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Published: April 8th 2008
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I arrived in London on March 19th, still without much of a plan or a definite place to stay. The flight from Dublin wasn't too bad, Gatwick International on the other hand...a disaster! ahaha. The place is HUGE and the signs are not the most helpful. I had such a hard time trying to find the bus to Central London that I ended up just taking the Express train (twice the price...but, twice as fast).
While on the train I tried to solidify a place to lay my head for the night. Before I left Dublin I had sent out a request through www.couchsufing.com to be hosted by Carolina. She had since been in touch and told me that she might have room for me if I couldn't find anything else. -------This is probably a good opportunity to explain The CouchSurfing Project a little. On the surface The CouchSurfing Project is an internationally recognized non-profit organization dedicated to helping people explore the world without having to pay for lodging, in reality it is SO much more. It gives you the opportunity to meet new, like-minded people and really get a genuine insider view of what life is truly like in
Carolina!
This is her imitation of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. ahaha! the place you're visiting. This is a priceless gift that you just can't get at a hostel or a hotel. Basically, in case you can't tell, I'm a big fan! ------ SO. I ended up getting in touch with Carolina and she graciously invited me to crash for the one night (she had another guest coming to stay after that). She directed me to her place via text message and I slowly made my way there through the London Underground, 'The Tube' (I was pretty pleased with myself at figuring out all the transfers without ANY help!). After I arrived Carolina's flat mate Vander came home from work bearing gifts-a-plenty in the way of leftovers from the swanky restaurant he works at! - Free food and a Free place to stay! What could be better, life is GOOD! But wait...there's more...Vander then tells me that he's planning on heading out to Cornwall for most of the weekend and that I was more than welcome to stay in his room while he's away! YES!! This meant that I had found a place to stay for free for my entire time in London.
The next day I spent the morning just
Me & Sis!
Riding in the top of a Double-decker Bus. wondering around the South Bank area…The CLOUDS are beautiful here, they make every picture a work of art! I made a stop through the Salvador Dali exhibit before heading to Covent Gardens to the Coliseum to see my sister, Mary-Liz performing with the New York City Ballet. The ballet was great, and it was SO wonderful to see my sister. We went out for dinner at a place called Shakespeare's Head then called it a night. I walked her back to her hotel then I went home and called Amy at midnight to wish her a happy LONDON birthday. Fun with time differences!
Since the 21st was Good Friday, Carolina had the day off and graciously offered to show me around her city for the day. We started out at Hyde Park (made my pose with Peter Pan - The corner of Hyde Park near Bayswater is where J.M. Barrie lived!) then made our way to Buckingham Palace. That night we met up with some other CouchSurfing people for a couple of pints near Parliament and Westminster Abbey. By the way…everything closes SO early in London they were kicking us out of the bar at 12:30am. Boo.
The
Trafalgar Square
This was a med-evac helicopter that landed right in the middle of Trafalgar square when i went to the National Gallery there. next day I made an attempt to visit the British Museum, but after getting incredibly lost and the line being around the block when I finally got there, I decided to just go back another day. I made my way over to Leicester Square where there was a HUGE pillow fight scheduled for 3:03, and after the “T Minus 10” countdown, all hell broke loose! It was absolute mayhem. From the outside it looked somewhat violent, but once you got into the thick of it you notice that everyone is laughing uncontrollably. It was all in good fun and no one took it too far…then a feather pillow EXPLODED ahahahaha! It was “snowing” for the next 30 minutes.
Sunday was Easter, and Carolina’s friend Aga invited a whole group of people over to her flat for a traditional Polish Easter brunch. After that Carolina took a couple of us that had never been to Abbey Road! - we took lots of pictures crossing the road and I went barefoot like Paul!
Singing Beatles songs the entire way through Regents Park, we made our way to the Camden Market area of town via Little Venice. The marketplace was PACKED
Abbey Road
You can see the studio back to the left and my boots back to the right! haahaha! and sold just about anything you could imagine - think Haight Street mixed with St. Mark’s. That night we all hung out near Brick Lane and tried out a few more London bars.
Monday I managed somehow to get up and out pretty early and went straight to South Bank to see the Globe and the Tate Modern. I will say, the Globe was a bit disappointing, they charge 15 pounds for the tour (that’s $30!) when EVERY other museum in town is free AND wasn’t the point of the Globe to provide entertainment for the working people of London?? Anyway, I won’t start on that. So, after peeking inside and promptly being shooed away, I made my way over to the Tate Modern where I spent the rest of the day walking around (for free!) and enjoy the works of Picasso, Pollack, Warhol among others. After spending 5 hours there, I walked to the Tower Bridge and watched the sunset over Thames and through the clouds of South Bank. A good day.
Finally made it to the British Museum the following day. I was there from 11am-5:30pm. It was GREAT! I loved seeing all of the Ancient
The boy who wouldn't grow-up...
standing next to a statue of Peter Pan! ahaha! Egyptian sculptures and, of course, the mummies! But y far the most amazing exhibit they have there right now is one called “Living and Dying” tracking, in a moving and poetic way, how we as humans deal with the inevitable. The museum is HUGE and I had to see it all faster than I would have like…that being said, if I never see another piece of pottery till the day I die, it will be too soon! I’m joking, but I did have to pass by some things quicker than others to ensure I made it through the whole place before they locked me in for the night. I also had to hurry because I was going to the National Theatre - The Olivier to see a production of Shakespeare’s “Much Ado About Nothing” The production was A+! YAY theatre in London!
My last day in the UK I got up early and made it out to Greenwich to take a few pictures of myself sitting on the Prime Meridian. After that I booked it to Pancras International Station, got my Eurostar ticket and kissed the English speaking world goodbye. Next stop, PARIS!!
One Big happy family.
This was at Carolina's flat, with Mary-Liz & Patrick Carolina's other 'surfer'.
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AMY
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Brian hearts London!
And London Hearts you back. I am so glad that city got to meet you. Yay Life, Love! Yay Life!