Her visiting me that is, I'm not here to spill her secrets or anything. This was an exciting week, as the blog title indicates I had my first visitor from the US! My friend Anna, who I worked with at Sheppard over the summer came out from Boston to visit me. Unfortunately she brought the terrible East Coast weather with her. But we didn't let it stop us from re-visiting pretty much every place she had been to on her previous trip (of two days) that I had not managed to make it to in my 2 months here in London. Other than her visit there isn't too much to report, I am super far behind on my reading but, and I know I said this last time, I'm actually really determined to get it under control this week. For reals this time. I honestly can't remember what I did with myself Monday or Tuesday, I'm pretty sure it wasn't school work, I assume I was training and going to class and that was enough.
On Wednesday night things got going. I went to a Tori Amos concert at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington. The hall is gorgeous.
I read in my new guidebook (thanks again parents!) that apparently it was absolutely the worst venue in Britain for concerts when it opened because the acoustics were terrible, but they retrofit it to improve the sound and it's now a suitable concert venue. We stood up on the "gallery level" that you can see at the top, it's standing only unless you decide to sit on the floor, which, for quite a bit of the concert is exactly what I did. And for lack of a better intro sentence, here's a picture of the people that I went with.
Unfortunately I kind of was thinking that Tori Amos
is the same as Fiona Apple (even though I knew they were different people I was kind of convinced I would like them the exact same amount), and Valerie thought she was going to see Tracy Chapman.
Also unfortunate was that I got home at midnight but had to wake up at 5:30 am to pick up Anna from Heathrow. I had no real idea what was the best way to get to Heathrow from my dorm so I went with the most straightforward, which is to ride the Tube all the way out there. It takes significantly longer than the website would suggest, and it doesn't include the mile or so that you wander through the bowels of Heathrow before you actually get to the terminal. I got there at exactly the right time to pick up Anna, it was SO exciting to see a familiar face. We rode the Tube back, stopping at Monument station to pick up some toiletries and coffee then walked across London Bridge and dropped everything off at my place before heading out for the day.
At this point it was noon, so we took the bus to Covent Garden for lunch. On the bus there was an absolutely adorable pitbull puppy that Anna fell in love with. The feeling was mutual.
We got food at "Food for Thought" a hole in the wall vegetarian restaurant with insanely filling food. Sated, we began our journey to the Tower of London. On the way we walked through the LSE campus, past the Royal Courts of Justice and St. Paul's to view the Occupy St. Paul's camp again. I also fulfilled my dream of having a lapel poppy - if you donate money to their veteran's group (the Poppy campaign) you get a paper poppy to pin to your jacket/lapel/whathaveyou. Everyone who's anyone in London seems to have one. And now so do I! We made it to the Tower just in time for the last guided tour. The tours are given by "Yeoman Warders," known as "Beefeaters." To be a Beefeater you have to have served in the British Armed Forces for over 20 years (possibly over 22 years?) and to have attained the rank of at least Master Sargent. There are also extremely limited numbers of positions, which seem to be essentially for life, so someone has to retire or die before a spot opens up. Our guide was great, I thought he was really engaged and funny, although he got a little too into the stories about all the botched beheadings.
And the Tower itself is magical. It's like an optical illusion is at work, because I've walked around the outside of the Tower many, many times, and it frankly doesn't seem like there could really even be that much in there. It just doesn't appear to take up that much space! And then you get inside, and it's like it's managed to warp the fabric of space itself and there are like four different palaces/churches, a little Tudor style village, cafes, huge lawns. It's incredible. Also, I actually learned a lot. For example, there is a legend that the kingdom and the Tower will fall if the six resident ravens ever leave the fortress. So they clipped their wings.
I also learned that the "Tower" is not just one specific tower of the four on the Norman castle that stands in the middle of the grounds. It's the whole thing!
I had always just assumed it was the one on the left in this picture because that's the biggest "tower" of the four but guess I was way off in my assumptions.
After the tour we saw the Crown Jewels exhibition, everything was so sparkley! But it also all looked like costume jewelry to me ... I think I just have no knowledge of gems so even though I know, because these are the "crown jewels" that they are real and therefore of incalculable worth, I would have been equally impressed if they were made of paste cause I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. We also saw the armour exhibit in the actual Tower. Henry the VIII had a ridiculous suit that exaggerated his physical assets to a laughable extent. There was also this:
a robotic dragon made with the weapons of fallen enemies. Apparently that's a classic victory celebratory thing to do.
After the Tower it started to rain so we stopped in at a pub. We were pretty much the only females to make that decision.
Meandering back across the bridge we stopped to pick up some takeout falafel and made our way home for a nap, since Anna arrived that morning at 3:30 am Boston time. This would have been the perfect time for me to make some headway on my readings. Instead I watched Glee.
That night we got ready in my room and headed out to Leicester Square. This was a mistake. The last time I had been to the club I was taking us to it was a Monday, which apparently is "students night" so it gets really crowded. Thursday night, in contrast, attendance was sparse. We danced at Tiger Tiger for a while anyway before deciding to try our luck somewhere else. We ended up at One, which had more people in it, but not like people I would want to spend my time with. The highlight there was the man who decided the best way to impress Anna was to take off his shirt as he walked up to her. Once we left we were drawn into conversation with a promoter at Penthouse, which we declined to check out. I did, however, try to start a fist fight with a guy who entry stamped Anna against her will, I told him not to touch me and when he a few minutes later brushed up against my side I LOST IT. Not in a freaking out and yelling way, but a more "you just touched me. I told you never to touch me. What do you think you are doing?" It escalated from there with him making "you aren't from here" noises and me responding that "it doesn't matter where I'm from, since I'm here NOW and it is HERE that you are being unspeakably rude." The only reason the situation was diffused is because a very short man holding an umbrella walked deliberately in between us and there is no way to argue with someone through an umbrella without looking ridiculous.
We went back to Tiger Tiger for a bit, where things had livened up somewhat but the clientele remained stubbornly Euro-Trash. We grabbed the nightbus home and then I, in the hopes of finding somewhere to eat that was still open, made us walk like a mile out of the way, in the rain, barefoot. I once again ended up with a splinter in my foot (it's still there at this writing).
The next day we woke up late and went to Borough market for brunch. We bought our food and sat down only to be told by the proprietor that the place we were sitting was for customers only (we hadn't bought food from him). BUT because we were so nice about moving he gave us lollipops!
Then we walked along and across the river to grab the Tube to Camden Town. Camden is where I train so I spend a fair amount of time there but never really get a chance to spend any time in the markets or stores. I bought myself a neon pink tutu and then we spent ages trying on various hats and taking pictures of ourselves.
I think it was after we took this picture that the proprietor of the stand tried to say we owned him a pound for the picture. I pointed out you have to tell people that before hand if you hope to actually collect the money. Other than that little incident Camden was awesome. We explored parts of the market and found courtyards I didn't even know existed before.
After Camden we traveled to Waterloo to ride the London Eye. The Eye is a giant ferris wheel like thing on the Thames waterfront kitty-corner to the Parliament building across the water. It was a little on the expensive side, but it turned out to be worth every penny. You travel around the circle in these giant clear capsules, and the Eye reaches a height of 133 metres/400 something feet.
It really gives you an incredible view of London, and we got there as the sun set so Westminster Palace (the Parliament building) was already lit up for even prettier pictures. Of course, I'm actually really quite scared of heights. It's not the sort of thing that has ever stopped me from doing things that I want to do, but it means that I was dizzy and nauseous for most of the first part of the ride. I compensated by being chatty, refusing to look down, and taking lots of pictures. For example, this one of Westminster Palace with Westminster Abbey behind it.
After the Eye, we walked across the bridge to check out Westminster Abbey. It is SO BEAUTIFUL from the outside. We got there after it closed to visitors but we were able to walk around the outside and look at all the carvings.
It's normally something like 13 pounds for entrance but you can go inside for the evening services for free. We found this out from a couple of USC undergrads we met on the ground. They walked to the front with us and asked the priests standing outside if they could come in for "Mass." Since Westminster is an Anglican church the priest was like "are you looking for a Catholic service? Because we don't have "Mass"" After they went in I asked the priest if it was correct we could come in for the Evensong services. I think he was really fed up with answering stupid tourists' questions because he was all "well if you come in you should really stay for the full service which is an hour" and Anna turned to me and asked "do you want to sit in a church for an hour?" and he immediately jumps in "well we aren't twisting your ARMS!" and we were like "whoa, dude, calm down, private conversation over here, but I think we'll pass." Random note, the front of Westminster Abbey has a number of "martyrs" carved on the front. Including Martin Luther King, Jr.
After this we took off for Oxford Street to view the Christmas lights. They were turned on earlier than ever this year in the hopes that it would convince people to shop more (I'm guessing) although one thing Oxford street never seems to lack is shoppers.
The lights are pretty but Oxford Street was a zoo so we ducked into Soho Square (I think that's what the area is called) for dinner before returning to my residence to rest up for the night.
That night I had three friends of mine over to drink before we went out. We hung out in the kitchen and chatted and played drinking games. It was a really fun time, and then we had a strange incident with a flatmate of mine. He had been downstairs drinking and at some point he bursts into the kitchen and it's obvious he's completely blacked out. He's like literally drooling, he's asking for directions to the nearby club he obviously is in no state to go to, and he's banging on the table to get our attention and trying to steal our vodka. The last straw is when he looks at Anna and asks her one of the MOST INAPPROPRIATE questions I've ever heard anyone ask in my entire life. I literally shove him out the door and tell him not to come back. Unfortunately he does come back, while I'm in my room with Kenny and Sarah printing our tickets to the club he comes back to the kitchen and continues to be insanely out of this world inappropriate and awful. I find out when I come back in and have to kick him out again, at which point he curls up in the hallway because he can't find his keys to his room. I was furious, when you invite people over, you shouldn't have to worry that they will feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way while they are in your home and he betrayed that trust in the most crude way. I saw him the next morning and made it very clear that next time I'll call the sub-wardens or the police and make sure he wakes up in jail if at all possible and further that he should do his best to never speak in my presence again.
Anyways, after that incident we packed up and left for Fabric, an electronic music club, we black cabbed it to the club and made our way inside. This picture says it all I think
At some point we lost Anna, she had gone outside to sit on the steps and we were afraid to leave the dancefloor in case she came looking for us, but luckily she was immediately outside the door so we found her as soon as we went looking. The bad news is that on our way to the next part of the club she lost her footing and fell backwards down a couple of stairs leaving her with a gnarly bruise/scrape combination on her leg for the rest of her visit.
Although Kenny and Sarah left earlier Anna and I stayed out for quite a while before trying to find a night bus home. We failed, miserably, but not before wandering through the city forever until we caught a black cab. The cabbie was super weird and refused to acknowledge my question regarding why he had chosen to take one bridge over another and then left the meter running while I counted my money. I wasn't a fan but without him I think we would probably still be wandering around London looking for a bus home.
The next day was Anna's last full day in London. We slept through a large part of it. Grabbed breakfast at Borough Market again and then tried to go tour the Shakespeare Globe theatre. However, it turns out it costs almost twice what my guidebook suggested it would so we decided to keep walking. Next we tried to see the "Dali Universe" exhibition because there were signs for it everywhere in Waterloo. Alas, the exhibit was apparently closed suddenly in April 2011 and moved to Venice, Italy. Our one success was finding a very large coffee that Anna needed desperately.
We hung out at Costa until it was time to board the Thames river cruise (we got discounted tickets when we signed up for the Eye). The cruise was fun, we sat inside so we were warm, took lots of pictures, and listened to the guide. He was a good tour guide, but completely obsessed with weddings. A majority of the sites, including the top of Tower Bridge were described historically and then he would end by saying "a popular site for weddings as well."
Once the cruise ended we hopped a bus home and got ready for Bonfire Night celebrations. November 5th is basically the Fourth of July for the British. Known as Guy Fawkes day or Bonfire Night they celebrate the survival of King James I after the discovery of an assassination attempt that would have blown up Parliament while he was visiting so that a Catholic kind could be installed in his stead. To celebrate they have burn effigies called "Guys" and have bonfires and fireworks shows. We went to Battersea park with my flatmate Marissa and Anna's friend Sayra.
I wasn't sure exactly what to expect. How big a bonfire was this going to be given that there were going to be thousands of people there? Would we be able to see it? Were there going to be a bunch of little bonfires scattered around? I shouldn't have worried. IT WAS THE BIGGEST BONFIRE I HAVE EVER SEEN. It was the size of a small house. It was an awesome sight. You can't really tell from this picture, but it's 1) in the distance 2) still leaping overhead. The fireworks show was also really well done. It had a soundtrack. Fire themed songtrack. They started with Nelly "It's getting hot in here" and went on to play Johnny Cash "Ring of Fire," "Fireflies," "Set Fire to the Rain" etc. It made it so much more fun! Once the fireworks ended though, the real work began. We had to get out of the park. The mess was awful. We ended up at the edge of the park, and Marissa and I joined many others in leaping over an approximately 5 or 6 ft tall spiked fence to get out without waiting in the crush. There was a block on the park side of the fence you could use to get to the top, then you just had to jump down.
Getting out of the park was only step one. For some reason, they had closed the bridge to cars, then closed the street to people. Then once they opened the street the bridge we had to cross had been narrowed so that it was only as wide as a regular sidewalk, which took all the advantage of closing the bridge to cars away! We walked through Chelsea to the Tube station, and saw pretty Christmas decorations on the way.
We took the Tube to Waterloo and got a late dinner (thanks again for treating me Anna!). While we were there my flatmate Daniel and his friend Gabriela came to meet us. We walked from there to a pub to meet Sayra's friend, and got there the minute they rang the last call for drinks bell. We sweettalked them into serving us and then had to chug our drinks since they closed ten minutes later. From there Daniel, Gabriela, Anna and I walked to the Blue Eyed Maid for karaoke. We performed an epic rendition of Cee Lo Green's Forget You.
Today was Anna's last day. Like the rest of the trip we slept through most of it. We had enough time to grab food before it was time to go to the airport. The trip there was even more epic than when she arrived. We took the Tube to Paddington. Got to Paddington and found out the Heathrow Express is 18 pounds! Outraged we asked the information desk how else we could get there. We settled on the Heathrow Connect but because it was a weekend engineering work had disrupted the trains so we had to transfer halfway there. What he didn't mention to us was that there would be a half an hour wait to transfer. We got to the airport exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes before Anna's flight was scheduled to leave, pelted down corridors, up stairs, through terminals and luckily got her there on time. It took me the rest of the afternoon to get home. I had to wait 35 minutes for the next Connect, another 15 or 20 minutes to transfer and then factor in the time for the trains and the Tube and it was 4pm before I was home.
Having post-visit blues I spent the rest of the day chatting on the phone with my darling sister for about an hour and then I skyped with my friend Christa for another 3 hours. And ended the night blogging for you for the next 2 hours. You're welcome :)
xoxo,
Shosh
On Wednesday night things got going. I went to a Tori Amos concert at the Royal Albert Hall in Kensington. The hall is gorgeous.
Unfortunately I kind of was thinking that Tori Amos
is the same as Fiona Apple (even though I knew they were different people I was kind of convinced I would like them the exact same amount), and Valerie thought she was going to see Tracy Chapman.
Also unfortunate was that I got home at midnight but had to wake up at 5:30 am to pick up Anna from Heathrow. I had no real idea what was the best way to get to Heathrow from my dorm so I went with the most straightforward, which is to ride the Tube all the way out there. It takes significantly longer than the website would suggest, and it doesn't include the mile or so that you wander through the bowels of Heathrow before you actually get to the terminal. I got there at exactly the right time to pick up Anna, it was SO exciting to see a familiar face. We rode the Tube back, stopping at Monument station to pick up some toiletries and coffee then walked across London Bridge and dropped everything off at my place before heading out for the day.
At this point it was noon, so we took the bus to Covent Garden for lunch. On the bus there was an absolutely adorable pitbull puppy that Anna fell in love with. The feeling was mutual.
We got food at "Food for Thought" a hole in the wall vegetarian restaurant with insanely filling food. Sated, we began our journey to the Tower of London. On the way we walked through the LSE campus, past the Royal Courts of Justice and St. Paul's to view the Occupy St. Paul's camp again. I also fulfilled my dream of having a lapel poppy - if you donate money to their veteran's group (the Poppy campaign) you get a paper poppy to pin to your jacket/lapel/whathaveyou. Everyone who's anyone in London seems to have one. And now so do I! We made it to the Tower just in time for the last guided tour. The tours are given by "Yeoman Warders," known as "Beefeaters." To be a Beefeater you have to have served in the British Armed Forces for over 20 years (possibly over 22 years?) and to have attained the rank of at least Master Sargent. There are also extremely limited numbers of positions, which seem to be essentially for life, so someone has to retire or die before a spot opens up. Our guide was great, I thought he was really engaged and funny, although he got a little too into the stories about all the botched beheadings.
And the Tower itself is magical. It's like an optical illusion is at work, because I've walked around the outside of the Tower many, many times, and it frankly doesn't seem like there could really even be that much in there. It just doesn't appear to take up that much space! And then you get inside, and it's like it's managed to warp the fabric of space itself and there are like four different palaces/churches, a little Tudor style village, cafes, huge lawns. It's incredible. Also, I actually learned a lot. For example, there is a legend that the kingdom and the Tower will fall if the six resident ravens ever leave the fortress. So they clipped their wings.
I also learned that the "Tower" is not just one specific tower of the four on the Norman castle that stands in the middle of the grounds. It's the whole thing!
After the tour we saw the Crown Jewels exhibition, everything was so sparkley! But it also all looked like costume jewelry to me ... I think I just have no knowledge of gems so even though I know, because these are the "crown jewels" that they are real and therefore of incalculable worth, I would have been equally impressed if they were made of paste cause I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference. We also saw the armour exhibit in the actual Tower. Henry the VIII had a ridiculous suit that exaggerated his physical assets to a laughable extent. There was also this:
After the Tower it started to rain so we stopped in at a pub. We were pretty much the only females to make that decision.
That night we got ready in my room and headed out to Leicester Square. This was a mistake. The last time I had been to the club I was taking us to it was a Monday, which apparently is "students night" so it gets really crowded. Thursday night, in contrast, attendance was sparse. We danced at Tiger Tiger for a while anyway before deciding to try our luck somewhere else. We ended up at One, which had more people in it, but not like people I would want to spend my time with. The highlight there was the man who decided the best way to impress Anna was to take off his shirt as he walked up to her. Once we left we were drawn into conversation with a promoter at Penthouse, which we declined to check out. I did, however, try to start a fist fight with a guy who entry stamped Anna against her will, I told him not to touch me and when he a few minutes later brushed up against my side I LOST IT. Not in a freaking out and yelling way, but a more "you just touched me. I told you never to touch me. What do you think you are doing?" It escalated from there with him making "you aren't from here" noises and me responding that "it doesn't matter where I'm from, since I'm here NOW and it is HERE that you are being unspeakably rude." The only reason the situation was diffused is because a very short man holding an umbrella walked deliberately in between us and there is no way to argue with someone through an umbrella without looking ridiculous.
We went back to Tiger Tiger for a bit, where things had livened up somewhat but the clientele remained stubbornly Euro-Trash. We grabbed the nightbus home and then I, in the hopes of finding somewhere to eat that was still open, made us walk like a mile out of the way, in the rain, barefoot. I once again ended up with a splinter in my foot (it's still there at this writing).
The next day we woke up late and went to Borough market for brunch. We bought our food and sat down only to be told by the proprietor that the place we were sitting was for customers only (we hadn't bought food from him). BUT because we were so nice about moving he gave us lollipops!
Then we walked along and across the river to grab the Tube to Camden Town. Camden is where I train so I spend a fair amount of time there but never really get a chance to spend any time in the markets or stores. I bought myself a neon pink tutu and then we spent ages trying on various hats and taking pictures of ourselves.
After Camden we traveled to Waterloo to ride the London Eye. The Eye is a giant ferris wheel like thing on the Thames waterfront kitty-corner to the Parliament building across the water. It was a little on the expensive side, but it turned out to be worth every penny. You travel around the circle in these giant clear capsules, and the Eye reaches a height of 133 metres/400 something feet.
It really gives you an incredible view of London, and we got there as the sun set so Westminster Palace (the Parliament building) was already lit up for even prettier pictures. Of course, I'm actually really quite scared of heights. It's not the sort of thing that has ever stopped me from doing things that I want to do, but it means that I was dizzy and nauseous for most of the first part of the ride. I compensated by being chatty, refusing to look down, and taking lots of pictures. For example, this one of Westminster Palace with Westminster Abbey behind it.
It's normally something like 13 pounds for entrance but you can go inside for the evening services for free. We found this out from a couple of USC undergrads we met on the ground. They walked to the front with us and asked the priests standing outside if they could come in for "Mass." Since Westminster is an Anglican church the priest was like "are you looking for a Catholic service? Because we don't have "Mass"" After they went in I asked the priest if it was correct we could come in for the Evensong services. I think he was really fed up with answering stupid tourists' questions because he was all "well if you come in you should really stay for the full service which is an hour" and Anna turned to me and asked "do you want to sit in a church for an hour?" and he immediately jumps in "well we aren't twisting your ARMS!" and we were like "whoa, dude, calm down, private conversation over here, but I think we'll pass." Random note, the front of Westminster Abbey has a number of "martyrs" carved on the front. Including Martin Luther King, Jr.
After this we took off for Oxford Street to view the Christmas lights. They were turned on earlier than ever this year in the hopes that it would convince people to shop more (I'm guessing) although one thing Oxford street never seems to lack is shoppers.
That night I had three friends of mine over to drink before we went out. We hung out in the kitchen and chatted and played drinking games. It was a really fun time, and then we had a strange incident with a flatmate of mine. He had been downstairs drinking and at some point he bursts into the kitchen and it's obvious he's completely blacked out. He's like literally drooling, he's asking for directions to the nearby club he obviously is in no state to go to, and he's banging on the table to get our attention and trying to steal our vodka. The last straw is when he looks at Anna and asks her one of the MOST INAPPROPRIATE questions I've ever heard anyone ask in my entire life. I literally shove him out the door and tell him not to come back. Unfortunately he does come back, while I'm in my room with Kenny and Sarah printing our tickets to the club he comes back to the kitchen and continues to be insanely out of this world inappropriate and awful. I find out when I come back in and have to kick him out again, at which point he curls up in the hallway because he can't find his keys to his room. I was furious, when you invite people over, you shouldn't have to worry that they will feel uncomfortable or unsafe in any way while they are in your home and he betrayed that trust in the most crude way. I saw him the next morning and made it very clear that next time I'll call the sub-wardens or the police and make sure he wakes up in jail if at all possible and further that he should do his best to never speak in my presence again.
Anyways, after that incident we packed up and left for Fabric, an electronic music club, we black cabbed it to the club and made our way inside. This picture says it all I think
Although Kenny and Sarah left earlier Anna and I stayed out for quite a while before trying to find a night bus home. We failed, miserably, but not before wandering through the city forever until we caught a black cab. The cabbie was super weird and refused to acknowledge my question regarding why he had chosen to take one bridge over another and then left the meter running while I counted my money. I wasn't a fan but without him I think we would probably still be wandering around London looking for a bus home.
The next day was Anna's last full day in London. We slept through a large part of it. Grabbed breakfast at Borough Market again and then tried to go tour the Shakespeare Globe theatre. However, it turns out it costs almost twice what my guidebook suggested it would so we decided to keep walking. Next we tried to see the "Dali Universe" exhibition because there were signs for it everywhere in Waterloo. Alas, the exhibit was apparently closed suddenly in April 2011 and moved to Venice, Italy. Our one success was finding a very large coffee that Anna needed desperately.
We hung out at Costa until it was time to board the Thames river cruise (we got discounted tickets when we signed up for the Eye). The cruise was fun, we sat inside so we were warm, took lots of pictures, and listened to the guide. He was a good tour guide, but completely obsessed with weddings. A majority of the sites, including the top of Tower Bridge were described historically and then he would end by saying "a popular site for weddings as well."
Once the cruise ended we hopped a bus home and got ready for Bonfire Night celebrations. November 5th is basically the Fourth of July for the British. Known as Guy Fawkes day or Bonfire Night they celebrate the survival of King James I after the discovery of an assassination attempt that would have blown up Parliament while he was visiting so that a Catholic kind could be installed in his stead. To celebrate they have burn effigies called "Guys" and have bonfires and fireworks shows. We went to Battersea park with my flatmate Marissa and Anna's friend Sayra.
We took the Tube to Waterloo and got a late dinner (thanks again for treating me Anna!). While we were there my flatmate Daniel and his friend Gabriela came to meet us. We walked from there to a pub to meet Sayra's friend, and got there the minute they rang the last call for drinks bell. We sweettalked them into serving us and then had to chug our drinks since they closed ten minutes later. From there Daniel, Gabriela, Anna and I walked to the Blue Eyed Maid for karaoke. We performed an epic rendition of Cee Lo Green's Forget You.
Today was Anna's last day. Like the rest of the trip we slept through most of it. We had enough time to grab food before it was time to go to the airport. The trip there was even more epic than when she arrived. We took the Tube to Paddington. Got to Paddington and found out the Heathrow Express is 18 pounds! Outraged we asked the information desk how else we could get there. We settled on the Heathrow Connect but because it was a weekend engineering work had disrupted the trains so we had to transfer halfway there. What he didn't mention to us was that there would be a half an hour wait to transfer. We got to the airport exactly 1 hour and 10 minutes before Anna's flight was scheduled to leave, pelted down corridors, up stairs, through terminals and luckily got her there on time. It took me the rest of the afternoon to get home. I had to wait 35 minutes for the next Connect, another 15 or 20 minutes to transfer and then factor in the time for the trains and the Tube and it was 4pm before I was home.
Having post-visit blues I spent the rest of the day chatting on the phone with my darling sister for about an hour and then I skyped with my friend Christa for another 3 hours. And ended the night blogging for you for the next 2 hours. You're welcome :)
xoxo,
Shosh
I need suggestions on the tourist stuff! What to do again? What to skip?
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