The Great Adventures of Helen & Lynn. Vol. 1.

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The Adventure begins.

LONDON, 20-26.06.2006

In the beginning of June we decided to take a trip to London, UK. We bought plane tickets for 5000 EEK (Estonian Kroon), which is about 160 € per face (including airport taxes). Thanks to a very popular website www.orkut.com we found ourselves accomodation. There are some communities in orkut for Estonians who live in foreign countries. Lynn decided to contact some Estonian girls, who live in London and we paid them just for water and gas. Altogether we paid them 1000 EEK (60 €) for 6 nights. The cheapest hostel I could find in London was 2500 EEK (160 €) per person for 6 nights. So we were quite lucky.


Day number one

At 8 am our trip started from Tallinn Ülemiste Airport. Our flight was Tallinn - Prague - London with Czech Airlines. One of our friends, Henri, joined our flight to Prague. He went to Luxembourg from there.
When we arrived to London it took awhile before we understood what was going on. Heathrow Airport is a relatively big place, so we got lost a couple of times😊 Finally we went by tube from Terminal 2 to London, to Piccadilly Circus. It costed about £5 (~115 EEK) and lasted for 25 minutes. We also bought an Oyster Card, which is very useful if you're planning to stay in London for some time. I can't remember exactly right now how much it costed. I have to find my card and get back at you on that one. We walked with our big suitcases from Piccadilly to Tottenham Court Road bus station, cause Oxford Street bus traffic was shut down due to some repair works. Just our luck! After an exhausting walk we took a bus to Bethnal Green, the place where we were suppose to live. Luckily, we found the right house quite fast.
The appartment had 4 rooms and during our stay, there were 3 Estonian girls and 1 Italian guy living there. We immediately conquered the living room on the first floor, took a shower and ate something.

After awhile we went to explore the city. In the evening of course, which for me is the best time to discover London. We walked around mainly in Soho. Just when we thought that we'll go home to get some sleep, one guy gave us couple of flyers to a party called PANIC! @ the roxy. I first thought that it was a new version of a 70's punk club called the Roxy. Maybe it was. I'm not sure. The entry was FREE before 10.30 / £3 with the flyer / £5 without. The PANIC! party takes place every Tuesday. I thought that we should go. First night and everything. Plus there are nightbuses. Plus we are party animals😉 So we went. Although Lynn was very tired. The party was awesome! A lot of good music. It was an indie, electro and punk party. Couple of drinks and we weren't so tired anymore. Although if I remember correctly Lynn fell asleep after some time...
At about 2 am we were back home, ate some noodles and went to sleep.

We were in London during FIFA World Cup. Madhouse.

Day number two

We slept for a long time. This was our first shopping day😊 And where else should two poor students shop if not in Camden. We went to Camden Market. If we saw all those clothes, we .. at least I thought I'll buy everything. Almost everything. There are so many clothes, shoes, accessories etc. And for all tastes. I finally got my leopard Draven slip-ons and some clothes from there. And Lynn got a load of clothes + her new favourite dwarf shoes:D
We hung around in Camden all day.
By the time we arrived home, everyone was gone. Soon Kristiina came home and we managed to drag her out. She took us to Spread Eagle bar/pub/club. I don't know if it costed something or not. Even if it did, we didn't pay anything. The party was again great. We had so much fun. Especially when they played the Clash😉
And then we went back home, I drank some beer, we ate some noodles and went to bed.

Day number three

I don't remember what we did on day three. I think it was the day when we went to shop on Oxford Street😊 I know it sounds like we didn't do anything else but shopping, but it's not quite true. This time it was more like window shopping. We walked around Soho, went to Carnaby Street and to Trafalgar Square. Lynn wanted to taste Burger King's burger. On our way back home we saw a Burger King and had our lunch in Leicester Square. She threw away the burger, because she thought it was disgusting. I agreed. Next time she went for McDonald's😊
In the evening we again went to a party. This time in the basement of a club called 333. This time it was a serious underground party. On stage there were bands like The Violets, These New Puritans, The Boys of Brazil & Wretched Replica. I liked it. So did Lynn. A lot of Mods there. Different from the other parties we went to in London.
Then again, we went home, ate noodles and went to sleep.

Day number four

This was our sightseeing day, so we got up quite early. I think.
Our walking tour started from Piccadilly Circus. From there we went to Trafalgar Square. Unfortunately Nelson's Column was under construction. We took a long walk through St. James's Park and went to Buckingham Palace, where we saw an exhibition dedicated to the Queen's Mother. After seeing this exhibition we went to the Houses of Parliament. We were hoping to get on the London Eye, but the queues were too long. So we thought f*ck it.
And walked a bit more until we spotted some skateboarders. It was really hot out and we were quite tired, so we sat down, took some pictures and watched the skaters doing their thing.
After an hour or so, we walked to the Tower of London. It was a long walk. We were so exhausted when we finally got there.
Then we wanted to get the bus back home, but we accidentally got on the wrong bus and ended up in some jewish ghetto. It was a bit scary. But funny at the same time😊
When we finally got home we were really really tired. We probably got some drinks on the way and drank them at home. The Italian guy cooked his famous pasta for us. I'm quite sure we went to some pub later on. To the Old Blue Last most likely. And then we walked around Soho, to Leicester Square and to Covent Garden. We wanted to go to a place called Rock Garden, but when we saw the prices....we didn't. So we walked back to Tottenham Court Road, went on a bus, bought some beer and stayed at home.

Day number five

Our feet hurt really bad from all the walking we had done on day four. We woke up quite late. Around noon. Lynn wanted to go shopping again. She had some stuff she wanted to buy for herself and people back in Estonia. We went back to Camden and to Oxford Street. She bought what she needed, we got some pizza and went home.
In the evening we went back to Camden to a club called Purple Turtle. There was a party. Of course. The party is known as Buttoned Down Disco. I found information about it in Google😊 The playlist consists mainly of eclectic pop, indie, punk, electro, funk and disco. They organize parties quite often and in different places in London. And you get into those parties only if you have the invitation. Which basically means that you go to their website www.buttoneddowndisco.com/invite and write down your e-mail. They will send you information about next party or parties. It's easy. The party was awesome. We went there early. So there weren't a lot of people. When we left the place was full. So many different people (some of them a bit weird, but aren't we all) and music styles. Really cool party!
After the party we went home, ate some noodles and went to sleep.

How many packs of noodles did we bring?

Day number six

I don't remember much about day number six. We probably got up, ate some noodles and packed our stuff in our enormous bags. We had so much stuff. Fortunately we got rid of most of the food we took with us from Estonia.
In the evening we had a small adventure in Bethnal Green. We wanted to go to Brick Lane Beach. Our Estonian flatmates recommended the place. We walked around Brick Lane for about an hour or more and we just couldn't find the place. Then I called to one of the girls and asked her for directions, but we still couldn't find it. After an hour or two we finally saw the place. Great idea to create a beach in a place like this (parking lot). We sat there, drank some alcoholic drinks, talked to some guys. There were five or more guys playing drums under a purple neon sign that said Execution. That was pretty funny😊
A lot of stoned people there also. And a Vespa shop. I took many pictures of that shop..
Since we were tired we stayed there for only an hour or so. Afterwards I bought some beer and we went home. No noodles this time. Just sleeping.

Day number seven

We got up, ate something, said goodbye to the girls, took our bags and went to the bus. From Piccadilly Circus to the airport. Our flight took off at 14.40. Again it was London - Prague - Tallinn. In Prague we met our friend Henri again and went together on the flight to Tallinn.


Home sweet home

We got home and probably went to sleep. Or not. I guess I went home, took a shower, changed my clothes and went to party:D Maybe had some noodles. I'm not sure what Lynn did. She claims we got together later in the evening. Maybe.

We have some sweet memories from that trip filled with walking, sightseeing, laughter, alcohol, parties and noodles.

When we got back home we didn't know just yet that even a bigger adventure was ahead of us in the end of August. Stay tuned for the Great Adventures of Helen & Lynn, Vol. 2.!

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