(Being the fun-filled events of:)
MARCH 7 - 13
Well! I don't even know where to begin! How does one start off recalling an entire week of fun-filled and exciting activities?!
I'll start with a quick recap of the day that Brittney SHOULD have originally arrived: Monday. Early class, studied and got some stuff done during the afternoon; vacuumed and got the place ready for Brittney's arrival! Brittney was supposed to arrive in London around 10pm, but there were some scary moments at the beginning of her flight - one of the engines was having problems so they had to turn around about an hour into the flight and head back to DC. It was scary watching the flight status changing just from my little London flat - I can't imagine what it was like on the plane. But in the end, everyone was fine and she had the catch the next flight that was going to get in around 6am. Ughhhh. Better get some sleep..
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Woke up Tuesday and caught the earliest train out around 5:40am still half-asleep. Got to Heathrow, dashed up the escalator, and went as far as I could go into the 'International Arrivals' section to wait for Brittney. A couple business-men and other newly-arrived passengers pass by, in on their early flights and looking just as groggy as me; but still no Brittney! I'm walking around, bouncing on my toes, looking for any sign of her little (recently-dyed!) redhead bouncing over towards me. I was just giving up hope (nah, not really) when I'm attacked from behind out of nowhere! And then the assailant placed a big wet one on me! So that's how Brittney arrived in London, and we started off a fun week at 6am on a Tuesday..
So we caught the tube back to my place, Brittney grabbed a quick shower, and we were off on day one of our adventures! Here's our first day in pictures (Brittney took several as well, some of which I'll steal, but these are mostly the ones I took):
Early morning coffee (hot chocolate for me!) and pastries! She's so cute..
Then we headed to Trafalgar Square for a fountain-side photo-op! It was such a beautiful day!
Obligatory picture with the lions!
Then we walked over towards Horseguards where we found this guy prancing around!
After that, walking down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, we found his friends!
Buckingham Palace!
Ah, to be London royalty..
Just me loving the awesome clocks around London
More walking around different parts of London, on our way to Green and Hyde Parks. Found this cool and random sculpture in one of the little grassy knolls.
A neat church with cool columns
More pretty shots of west London on a beautiful day
Finally looked this place up: Belgrave Square. Those flags all designate the different embassies: I think the nearest on the left is the German Embassy, but there were tons of others.
Then we decided to walk through Hyde Park on such a beautiful day!
A neat old and twisted tree
Me trying to be artsy with a cool little tree. 'Trying' is the key word here..
Hanging out along 'The Serpentine', the body of water in the middle of Hyde Park
Looking father down the pond. Very pretty here
Hooray!
Some swans
A neat little archway of plants and flowers. I bet it's beautiful in the Spring.
A fountain and some pink-flowered trees
Looking down Serpentine Road into the park (Hyde Park is HUGE) as we're leaving.
A statue of me. Wait, that's not me? Oh..
Note: there are lions and unicorns EVERYWHERE around London. What's that about?!?! According to a quick Wikipedia search, the lion and unicorn are symbols of the UK, with the lion being England the unicorn, Scotland. Still no idea what that's all about..
Anyway, we moved onto Green Park, but not before grabbing some sandwiches from a local Pret a' Manger for a little picnic! It was a beautiful day, so we found a nice spot of grass in the middle of the park and settled down for a little while! We munched on our sandwiches, chatted, and watched all of the different dogs running around the park, fetching balls and sticks for their casually walking or jogging owners. Eventually we continued through the park, passed Buckingham Palace again, and decided to head back through St. James' Park - it was just such a great park-strolling day!
The view of the London Eye and Horseguards from the park.
A random and kind old English man asked if we wanted our picture taken!
This is where we should have picnicked - so many people just laying around in the flowers!
Horseguards, so pretty from the park
Continuing on, the Supreme Court building
.. and Westminster Abbey, which never ceases to amaze me.
Just awesome
A view of the western tower
Methodist Central Hall, whatever that is. Neat building though
A nearby statue
A huge old tree inside the Dean's Yard behind Westminster Abbey
The western face of the Abbey
Picture with Big Ben, take one!
.. and take two!
Parliament
The big guy himself
A closer view. What an iconic structure
After that, we made our way back to my place so I could get to class and Brittney could take a nap! Then we made our way up to Haymarket Street and Her Majesty's Theatre, where we bought some cheap tickets to see Phantom of the Opera!
The inside of the theatre and the stage!
It was a great show - I'd never seen it before - and we both enjoyed it! The voices of the main cast were amazing, but the Phantom definitely was the best. Afterwards, we grabbed our first pint together at a local pub before heading home for the night! What a fun first day and night out!
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We woke up early on Wednesday to catch the tube up to King's Cross Station; from there, we caught an early train north up to the beautiful old town of York!
A view over the river in the early York sunlight!
We started off the day with some scones and coffee (hot chocolate for me, of course!) at a cute little cafe, then made our way through the town!
One of many neat old churches
A central shopping square
The entrance to Newgate Market!
Inside Newgate Market - a hub of all things food, clothing, and anything else random and sellable! What a fun little place!
A cool and busy side street full of shoppers
Another church down the way
The main event itself - York Minster! It was so HUGE and gorgeous!
Just loving the architecture
Awesome towers
I didn't take many photos inside, to be reverent, but I liked these huge stained glass windows
Just an awe-inspiring array of architecture and decor
A beautiful ceiling in a side chapel area
It really was an amazing structure. Tons of history (stretching back to 612, when the first church was built on the spot), and just a supreme example of what religion meant to the people who built it. Mind-boggling how they even built such a huge building as well - it's one of the largest of its kind in Northern Europe and is the seat of the Archbishop of York, the second highest office in the Church of England.
Another cool old church!
Clifford's Tower
View of the Castle Museum from atop the hill of Clifford's Tower!
View towards the river
More cool buildings
Then we decided to walk along the old city walls! Very cool
Just outside the city walls, another really old church - almost abandoned-looking even. Creepy!
The main entrance to inside the old castle walls!
After that, we did some more wandering around the town, perusing through old bookshops and other shops, eventually settling down in a coffee shop to beat the cold for a bit!
Hooray for cool clocks! This is while we were searching around for a cool pub for some good ol' fish n' chips!
Eventually we found one and had a delicious and classic British meal, with a couple of good English pints to complement! After hopping to another pub for a final pint of the night, we caught the long train back to London, falling asleep as the dark countryside passed quietly outside the window and the moonlight flittered amongst the clouds of another great night in England!
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I had class 10am - 1pm on Thursday morning, while Brittney got to sleep in! After meeting up again, we made our way eastwards towards Borough Market for some fresh lunch and tasty free samples from the local vendors! Yum!
After taking our time winding among the stalls, smelling the combined scent of fresh fish and meat with bread and cheese, trying mulled wine (basically, hot wine with spices - not too bad!), and settling down at a little table for lunch, we eventually caught the tube up to busy Oxford Circus to do some window-shopping ( and perhaps some real shopping here and there as well!).
We skipped down Oxford Circus, hand in hand, dodging frantic shoppers and glazed-eyed tourists, hopping into shops here and there to look at the various shoe and clothing sales (well, one of us was anyway..). Primark was insane, as usual - everyone running around, holding up jeans, shirts, jumpers (sweaters, in British-speak), then tossing them haphazardly back onto the rack, shelf, or even floor. Primark, if I haven't explained it already, is basically like a HUGE department store with all sorts of cheap clothing and household items. And it gets pretty hectic with shoppers looking for the best deal. The line for the dressing room was like half a mile (0.8 km to my British readers..) long, so Brittney basically decided to just cross her fingers with the couple of items she picked out and go with it. I purchased a checkered jumper for an event coming up next week, but I'll get to that later..
We made our way back down the street and onto Regent's Street, heading towards Piccadilly Circus. A quick stop in the National Geographic store (there are stores?!? AWESOME! my only question is where is there one in the US?!), then Piccadilly Circus!
Obligatory cute couple picture in Piccadilly Circus. Aww
Nothing we haven't seen before - on to finding dinner! I have to admit, I originally had a perfect place in mind: romantic, cozy, super British, near Piccadilly Circus in the Soho area. We had just passed our two-year last month, so I thought I'd take her out for something nice. As it turns out, the place I had my eyes on was pretty small and apparently you needed to set reservations a couple days in advance. Whoops! Oh well, we'll find something good! After walking around the Soho area for a while, we eventually decided on a nice little place with good food and a cozy atmosphere!
After spending a while eating, drinking, and just hanging out, we eventually headed back to my flat. We decided to watch 'A Clockwork Orange' before we hit the sack, which I enjoyed and Brittney fell asleep to (no surprise there though! :p). It also went along with my recent Kubrick binge, so I was happy! It was real good. Very interesting. Goodnight!
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Friday was pretty lame for the majority of the day: it was class/exam day, so there wasn't much fun until later that night. Went to class in the morning, studied most of the afternoon, took my exam (which actually kind of sucked, but I didn't end up doing terribly - still 20 points above the average. Yikes!), one more class, then finally time to relax!
Once I picked up Brittney from the coffee shop where she hung out while I was in class, we made our way to Iceland to pick up some pasta and chicken for dinner! Yum!
After dinner, we went out on the town to three different pubs! One in Covent Garden which was fun, but a little loud; one in Leicester Square which was really fun and pretty nice (bought Brittney a beer for the first time ever! Strongbow, of course!); finally, one near Trafalgar Square that was packed with younger people and was a lot of fun!
Last call - better head home for the night; more fun coming up tomorrow!
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We slept in on Saturday, eventually rolling out of bed to eat a bit of lunch before hopping on the tube to Notting Hill and Portobello Road Market!
Hooray!
Only open on Saturdays, the market gets pretty hectic with people looking for interesting items and tourists looking for anything fun and cheap!
One-third antiques, one-third food, and one-third anything else you'd want (clothing, art, etc!). Here, a great picture (I think I stole this from Brittney - thanks babe teehee!) of some neat old cameras.
Tons of people!
Hummingbird Bakery! Home to probably one of the best cupcakes I've ever had. And it was only vanilla with chocolate sprinkles! But ohhh the texture, the flavors, the pure deliciousness! Yum! The excitingly-decorated cupcakes are probably good, but even the simple ones are awesome here!
Inside a clothing store - all the walls covered in old sewing machines. Really cool!
Brittney got some fun stuff for herself and pals back home, I bought a neat little pocket watch with the Tower Bridge engraved on it for only 5-quid, and I got Brittney a cute necklace. It was a ton of fun just walking around and seeing everything!
We eventually squeezed our way back out of the packed market and decided to walk through a bit of north London on our way to Regent's Park and Primrose Hill for the sunset!
Passing by Westminster College
A cool building
Regent's Park! Very pretty, and huge!
The front gates of The Queen's Gardens (I think..?) in Regent's Park
A pretty fountain
Very pretty!
After strolling through the park, we stomped up Primrose Hill for a great view of the central London skyline!
Aww!
There wasn't much of a sunset because of the clouds, but it was a great view! We eventually made our way back to my place to finish off the leftovers from yesterday's dinner, before heading out on another night of pubs and fun! Three more pubs: one near my campus that was more chill with some good Sam Smith's pints; a different one in Covent Garden that was fun; and a really nice and fun pub that I think was somewhere else in Covent Garden..? or maybe Soho..? It didn't matter, it was fun! And I had a great pint of Guinness (Brittney had her Strongbow!)
Another great day/night, with the final day of fun on the horizon!
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Another morning to sleep in before getting ready and finding a fun pub for Sunday Roast! We found a good one near Traflagar Square that was busy and made a delicious roast: a HUGE hunk of roasted chicken, potatoes, peas, carrots, bread, and some stuffing-like stuff. Yum! Oh and did I mention the pint that came with it? Yup, I enjoyed a Carlsberg with my lunch at 1230pm on a Sunday. Now I'm officially British!
Outside the pub, the sound of approaching bagpipes and the cheers of thousands of Irish people could be heard: the St. Patrick's Day parade and festivities were about to begin! We finished up our delicious meal and made our way outside for the fun!
Bagpipes!
I swear the great majority of the people there were actually Irish people living in London, rather than English people.
Ahh so cool, I want one!
A giant rugby jersey!
I HAVE A FEVER, AND THE ONLY CURE IS MORE BAGPIPES!!
Now things start getting trippy..
Woahhh whattttt? Yeah, no idea.
Gotta love bearded Irish cows. That's what they all look like in that country, right?
One of the several buses laden with Irish dancers and trad (tradtional Irish) musicians. So fun!
St. Patrick himself even made an appearance!
Such elaborate costumes!
A giant St. Patrick costume. A little creepy, not going to lie.
Nice hat dude!
Shout out to all the O'Malley's back in the 'burgh!
Oh hey, I'm Irish! Top o' th' mornin' to ya!
As the parade was disbanding, we joined up with a couple of my pals who were also there and made our way through the crowd to the center of Trafalgar Square where they had set up a stage.
One of the first acts that we saw were an Irish dancing school - very fun!
This was a group of like 20 musicians, all different ages, playing guitars, flutes, accordions, and tons of other stuff!
How cute!
Soo many people. So much fun!
This group of five musicians were great!
If you can get past all of the screaming, you can get a feel for what it was like up near the front where we squeezed ourselves to. Plus the band was good and kept everyone excited and dancing to some great trad music!
After grabbing a couple necessary pints of Guinness (a must at any St. Patty's Day celebrations..), we moseyed on back to my flat to change and gather up Brittney's things. For dinner, we went down along the river, to the Southbank area where there's a ton of neat little places, and found a cool place that made some delicious burgers! Then we took our time and strolled along the riverside..
A saxophonist plays into the night under Waterloo Bridge as the towering London Eye and the distant Big Ben shine on.
As I explained to Brittney, I don't care if it's blurry, I like the colors!
When the winds rising up from the river became a little too chilly for us, we strolled back along the river until the sounds of all of the street performers' music faded into the night and the sleepy city began shutting down for the evening.
After getting Brittney all packed and ready for her flight home, we curled up in my room and watched the 2004 movie version of 'Phantom of the Opera' just to stay with the theme (plus Brittney highly recommended it!). With an early morning flight looming, we called it a night..
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Ahh what a fun week! It really was like being on a bit of a vacation (minus the Friday school stuff..), with a mix of much-needed relaxation, exciting activity, travel, and general sight-seeing! I'm so glad Brittney came to visit and we had a ton of fun together! It was a nice little taste of home when I was just beginning to loosen my hold of it - such a long time being so far away can do that.. I even almost let slip calling my flat 'home' sometimes. Although, being almost three months in at this point, it might as well be. I'm having an amazing time over here, but I do miss everyone back home. I need the best of both worlds - how about all of you come visit next! Pleeeeeaaasssseee?!?
Good music to walk around London parks to:
Angus & Julia Stone - 'Hush', off their album 'Down The Way'
I know I just used these guys, but their stuff is just too good!
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Whew, big post! And oh no, I've fallen even farther behind! Oh well, looks like I've got to play a bit of catch up over the next couple of days.
Cheers!
