Advertisement
Hello friends,
Well, to say that the past three and-a-half days in London have been a whirlwhind is an understatement! I can't possibly tell you everything I've seen, done, and drank so far, but I'll do my best to share some highlights:
- Three and-a-half days, six different beers tried thus far
- Wine on the Thames
- Wine at the top of Tate Modern
- Afternoon champagne at Kettner's in Soho
(see a pattern happening so far?!)
- Hanging with the freaks and disenfranchised punks in Camden
- Being propisitioned by a bus guide to stay in London a few extra days so he could take me out (. . . this after having talked to me for about 47 seconds)
- Watching a cat attack and eat a pigeon
- Watching football with some nice lads (very poor teeth) at a pub in Camden
Thanks to everybody who gave me tips on how to have a good snooze on the plane . . . unfortunately, none of them worked! And not because they weren't great suggestions (I liked Rob's toonie/rye idea best), but it's kind of hard to sleep when (a) the guy beside you
Sweet pants in Camden
One of the many unique shops in Camden is hanging on your armrest, (b) the person behind you is kneeing the chair, (c) the cabin lights are left on for at least half the flight, (d) when you do finally fall asleep the stewardess wakes you up to eat breakfast, (e) your headrest falls completely off . . . yes, the last one really did happen. I had a broken headrest . . . way to go, Air Canada!!!
I wasn't going to let a lost night of sleep take away from any of my time in London, so after meeting up with Nat and a quick snooze & shower, the three of us made our way to a pub (go figure . . . Georgia's in London not even five hours and goes to a pub!), had some food and a nice, stiff drink and called it a night. I did provide some entertainment for Jeff & Nat though while waiting for the bus. I was looking to the left for about five minutes wondering where our bus was . . . yeah, you guessed it; it was coming from the right. I still am totally disorineted with that and happy to see that London has
Posh, posh, posh!!!
Afternoon champagne in Soho created the city for people like me in mind . . . writing on the street which way to look at crosswalks!
After a 10-hour sleep on Thursday night, the three of us headed for Borough Market, bought some great dried fruit and then made our way to . . . oh, guess what, a pub! After the pub we walked down Southwark along the Thames to Tate Modern, known as one of the premiere modern art gallery in the world. I can honestly say I love modern art, but I don't for a minute pretend to understand it. My motto is don't try to understand it, because you never, ever will, but just look at a piece of modern art and try to play out in your own mind what the hell was going on in the artist's head at that time . . . (having a pint or two before hitting an art gallery helps as well!) For example, as we left the Tate Modern, Jeff asked me what I will remember most of the gallery. Besides the amazing view of London from the bar on the top floor of the gallery, my answer was quite simple
. . . "the can of poo." Yup, a can of poo. Not only was it a can of poo, it was very rare, one of only about 120 in the world, numbered with a certificate, and encased in glass . . . I'm assuming so nobody would be tempted to steal it and encase it in glass within their home as a private art collection. Another thing about modern art . . . everything has to do with sex (yes, even the can of poo had a sexual spin on it . . . something to do with submission). So next time somebody wants to take you to see some modern art, you can just think of sex and human excretment, and that should get you by.
Dinner was at a fab cafeteria-style Asian fusion place called Wagamama's . . . which, if any of you know me, I liked it just for the name! We had tickets to see the opening night of Othello at the Globe Theatre, which was a fantastic experience, but because it is outdoors, to put it bluntly, we froze our asses off. So at intermission, Nat and I felt it would be
in our best interests to tell the others in our group that, yes, Othello dies, as do most other major characters in the play, so the two of us instead would sit in the bar, with an amazing view of the Thames at night, and drink wine. It was a fine choice, if I do say so myself . . . and the fact that the play was 3 hrs. 45 min. long made our decision that much easier!
Jeff managed to get our asses home that night safely, and the beef jerky I brought over was a lifesaver at 2:00 in the morning.
Yesterday while Jeff went to a football match with his brother & dad, Nat and I made our way to Camden, which has thus far been the highlight of London for me. Camden is where the punks, goths, and rave kids hang with us boring people in harmony. There is a massive, massive market that I'm sure we didn't even see half of, that sells tons of vintage wear, ethnic food, music, et cetera. Although the goods I purchased were pretty tame (a couple of scarves, hat, purse), I was somewhat tempted to purchase
Houses of Parliament
a.k.a Georgia's mothership!!!! the crotchless pants made out of foam that were being sold at a place that was half store/half live rave . . . oh, and they glowed in the dark!!!!!!! My plan was to head to the Highgate Cemetary after Camden, but we accidentally tripped over a pub, and ended up there for a couple of hours, whereupon we watched football with our new mates, Carl & Bill . . . imagine their surprise to meet an Aussie AND a Canadian in one day!!! Although we're certain that they would have probably bought us drinks all night, Nat and I had a date (well, not really, it was very spur of the moment) at Kettner's in Soho to drink champagne in the middle of the afternoon! What a treat . . . and we had a fab time. Quite a mix of people, though, from the very casual (us), to the very posh (most everybody else), to the very middle-aged man and very middle-teened girl sitting across from us making out . . . our take on the situation? Mail-order Russian bride.
Winding our way through Soho, Chinatown, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Oxford Street, we eventually made our
Underwhelming!!
Buckingham Palace . . . quite boring, quite plain, quite unextraordinary! way home, but not before stopping to buy six bottles of wine . . . yup, there's still some left today!!!
Nat & Jeff were pretty knackered today, so I ventured on my own and hopped a tour bus around the city to get myself a bit more oriented and see some of the major "tourist" sites along the way. I have three days left in London, and still so much I want to see. Who would have thought that London has seven Abbey Roads?!!!! Gotta nail that one down at some point and make my way there! I'm sure there's so much I'm leaving out at this point, but need to wrap this up and get back to the flat . . . I think it's high time that Jeff had some proper drinks with me!!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.095s; Tpl: 0.012s; cc: 6; qc: 45; dbt: 0.0697s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Frenchie :)
non-member comment
One word...
THAT HURTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :( Hope you have a great time Georgia ;) Don't forget about dixie's chicken :) Take care! xxxxxxxxx Matt