London Day 1-5

[ sorry about the delay on my adventures in london, better late than never!]

London Day 1 - Thursday, October 16th
to start our london trip out right, becky and i painted our nails a green mermaid-ish color. we took the train to london: 2 hours for the first one, then transfer trains in Brussles...
we got a few more stamps on our passports!!
when we go into london, we made our way to "Elephant and Castle". it was a main stop and eventually we got quite accoustom to it.
we ended up staying with a friend of a friend...of a friend...of a friend.

anyway, Red and Richmond were WAY too nice to us gals. after comming and finding us at Elephant and Castle, Red walked us to their apartment. a short distance, but with a purse, and a [extremly] heavy duffle i was dragging my feet! they had a room all ready for us, a queen size bed and a bunch of blankets.. also they had some muffins for the morning(YUM!)

after we dropped our stuff, we decided to dash to Club KOKO, which is were Of Montreal (on of my favorites!) was playing. we already had tickets, so we were determind to make it to see them! when we walked in they just started playing... i was so excited! i have only seen them once in vegas, so i was looking forward to this so much!!! although there were a lot of [tall] people, it was a great show... it was weird though, they came back to do the encore, which is always nice, and instead of doing one of their songs, they did Nirvana's "Smells like Teen Spirit"... a bit of a let down, if you know Of Montreal, you will see why i was a bit confused at this song.. ohh well.. the concert was really good though!!

after the concert we found a little burger place, just enough to hold our tummies till morning.. then it was back to the apartment for a good nights sleep...

it was a squishy sleep though: tess spoke the floor, so that left a queen size bed for me, becky and laura. we three took turns sleeping the "upsidedown way".. first becky, then laura, then me.. i found it most comfortable, so i took the last night too...


London Day 2 - Friday, October 17th
we slept in a bit, got ready for the day, and then made our way to Big Ben. being that i have issues with reading time from clocks with hands, i decided there would be no better challange than big ben him self... and yes, it was tricky for me... i think it was about 11:43... if im not mistaken. we took a few pictures then made our way to Buckingham Palace.
we saw the change of the guard, caught a glimpse of some fancified olda folk leaving the palace, im only guessing, but im sure they were just leaving after a lovely tea luncheon... i didnt get too much of a chance to make a guard laugh, but i did wave at a guard, and i am certain the weight shift he made was his way of waving at me! also, i was hoping to see the queen, but i did not. i kept my eye out though. we went to the Queens Gallery next, a lot of pictures and artwork, and some of her bling blingin' jewlerys. a nice security guard at the gallery pointed us in the direction of a quant little cafe. i had a tasty tomato basil mozzerella on foccia. yum! we planned on seeing the Royal Mews, but it was closed on fridays. i must say, im not too sure what it is, but i was looking forward to seeing a lot of Royal Kittens(HAHA, im funny! see.. a joke... Mews..Kittens..Mews.. funny!).
we decided to make our way to the Noel Coward Theater to see Avenue Q.. it was perfect! being a fan of the soundtrack for almost 4 years now, i was so excited to finally see it! i would definatly go again!!!
for dinner after the show we ate at Foxtrot Oscar, a Gordon Ramsay creation. it was quite tasty and ever so fancy!!! i ordered a 9oz rib eye steak with bernase sauce and a side of green beans. yum yum! i felt a bit under-dressed there, but we made reservations in advance, so we were put in the more quiet basement.

London Day 3 - Saturday, October 18th
we started the day by visiting the London Tower Bridge. with our London Pass we were able to go for a self-guided tour on the top of the towers. we took an elevator to the top then walked in an enclosed hallway to the other side of the bridge, then the elevator back down. this bridge was not so bad at all!
we went right across the way to a yummy Asian inspired meal Wagamama, it was very very good. with our London Pass we got 2 of our meals for free! nice! i ordered the Ginger Chicken Udon. so good! the seating there was a cafatera style, long tables. i guess the Wagamama chains are all over, there are even some in amsterdam! definatly something to remember for next time!
after lunch we visited the Tower of London. it was a castle from way back when. we spent a lot of time there. we found a great view of the London Tower Bridge, and watched the bridge raise and lower for a passing ship. perfect timing too!
we ventured over to the Tate Modern Art museum. i really enjoyed this one! it was so much more interesting to me. out of all the museums and gallerys and castles and palaces.. the Tate was my favorite! we were there for quite a long time... but it was good.
it took us a L O N G time to find a bus to get home, but we finally got one. a double decker too! how exciting! at this point we were starving, so we found a decent priced place and filled our bellies with yummy bar food.


London Day 4 - Sunday, October 19th
we started the day off at the Camden Market. there were so many people there! i bought a cute little dress at the market. i started freaking out over so many people but the part that really got to me was the food part. there was a section for all the food vendors, and when you walked down they would all offer their food samples, and people were talking loud, it was so overwhelming! i couldnt decide what to eat so i just decided to wait for a while for lunch. the girls all got food but i just couldnt do it. i picked up a blueberry muffin though from starbucks later on. so i didnt starve..hehe.
we visited Shakespears Globe. with our london pass it was free!
we went to the Picadilly area where we could watch a movie for free thanks again to our london pass! the movie theater was called Curzon Soho. it lookes a bit sketchy, but it was really scene. we watched "Burn after Reading" .. loved it!
after the movie we wandered around looking for some fish and chips... we decided to go into The Stockpot, a little place tess's host parents recomended us. i wasnt as pleased with my fish and chips like i was hoping for, but i think i had really high expecations.

London Day 5 - Monday, October 20th
our last day in London was a sucess! it was a bit rushed, but it was great! after packing and getting things all ready, we headed over to Picadilly again, this time to meet a friend of Beckys. we went to Harrods, a huge shopping center. Harrods reminded me of a Dillards meets Ikea. being our last day in London(and being a bit short on cash) we decided to eat in a cafe right outside Harrods. Richmond met us there and we chipped in on his meal to thank him for letting us stay at his place! we met up with Becky again, then hurried to Richmonds house to get our luggage. then we Rushed to Kings Crossand made it there right in time, about 5 min to spare!

Final views of London:
london was great! after a few days of using their transportation i feel confident. the london fashion was so glam/ casual= either not too much to look at or so cute and posh! everything we did seemed a bit closer, almost more realistic. for me london was a lot more enjoyable than paris, london was a bit more modern... not so focused on history, musuems, art, and buildings. i would love to go back to visit and explore more of london.

SIDE NOTE:
there were quite a few adds all about Londons transportation, magazines, and newspapers about their new emergency numbers. richmond works at the police station call line and said that they just recently made a new addition to their emergency numbers. richmond says that both numbers essentially go to the same place, but 999 gets there faster.
here is a ad i saw in a newspaper:
---------------------------------------
Call 999: if your car is bein stolen
Call 0300 123 1212: if your car has been stolen
----------------------------------------
when i saw these ads all over the place i imediatly thought of The IT Crowd... take a look at this little snippet i found on youtube to share with you:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBuo41qYOgw

enjoy.