Pip pip cheerio!

Written 7/19

July 16

As you know, I took the Eurostar to London. But what I didn't tell you is how I went to the wrong train station at first. I bought my ticket at Montparnasse, since that is where the Mont St. Michel train leaves from and that was my initial reason for going to the train station. But the train to London left from Gare Nord. And when I got to Montparnasse at 10:31 so proud to be so early (my train was at 11:13) I looked at the departures board to find my gate but did not see my train. I immediately knew that I have went to the wrong station. I just hoped that I could get to the other side of the city in time. Amazingly, thanks to Paris's awesome metro system, I made it to Gare Nord by 10:47. Just in time for the 30 minutes prior to boarding that Eurostar requested. And I found out the rationale behind this request. There are all sorts of check in procedures and customs to go through. I hadn't even thought of customs since I have just been walking over all sorts of EU borders. England is so their own land.

Once I got to London, I took the underground to my hostel and checked in. On my trip to the hostel I realized that the euros I had in my pocket were worthless to me now and that I should find an atm. I googled BNP Paribas (Bank of America's partner in Europe) and found one. Rather than hop on the "tube" (because it becomes very expensive), I decided to walk and take in some of the sites. The hostel was very close to Primrose Hill, which has some great views of the city. I climbed that and then walked through Regents Park. I ended up wandering around Marylebone Road for a while until I saw a BNP sign. As I walked towards it, I was distracted by a sandwich board boasting the best burgers in London. *see upcoming post "Burger Queen"* I decided that once I got some money I would have dinner there. It turns out that the BNP sign did not lead to an ATM but an investment building. There are no BNP ATMs in London (like Geneva). But there are Barclay's which have the same deal with BOA and the Barclay's wasn't that far. I got cash and returned to the burger place for late lunch/early dinner.

After I ate, I had no further destination. Since it was a nice day (despite the fact that it was a bit cloudy and much cooler than I had gotten used to), I walked to Hyde Park and strolled around. London parks are different. There is just lots of grass. And it's not the well manicured green grass. Some of it is that tall, wheat-looking, brown stuff. Then there are some trees, a lake or two and some fountains. But mainly, it's just wild grass. I kinda like it. I ended up sitting at Princess Diana's fountain for quite some time watching the sun begin to set. I did want to visit Buckingham Palace since I was so close at this point, and I did. And after snapping some pictures, I got on the tube and returned to the hostel. I played on the interweb a bit and then called it a night. I wanted to wake up early to go to Portobello Market Saturday morning.

July 17

And I did. I planned to do the free walking tour at 11am so I wanted to get to the market by 9:00/9:30. It didn't happen quite like this. I got my first taste of the inefficiency of the tube. The Jubilee Line, the one my hostel was on, was shut down that morning because a train broke down. So I had to take the bus. But I got to see a bit of the city and also ride on a double-decker like a real Londoner. I finally got to the market around 10 and made a quick look around before I got on the tube and went to meet the tour group.

The tour was OK. Not as good as the Paris one (but really, how can anyone compare to Alex). I did meet a Black girl on the tour. *gasp!* She wasn't the type of person I would hang out with in real life but I invited her to join me that night. I wanted to go to a club that a guy I met in Nice worked at. After the tour, I was starving. We went to a restaurant with most of the tour group to get fish and chips. Yum! Then I went to Starbucks with the Black girl and made plans to meet at 9.

I went to the National Gallery and Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus after I left Starbucks. Then back to the hostel. I asked the hostel staff about the club and they said it was really posh. I underestimated the amount of time it would take me to get ready to go to such a posh place with my backpacker's wardrobe and ended up getting to our meeting place late. It is yet to be told whether she left or if she ever went. I wrote her an email but I never heard back from her. It wasn't meant to be.

I returned to the hostel and the guy I had spoken to earlier about the club suggested that I go out with "them." "They" were going out around midnight. Well, I had nothing else to do. So while I'm sitting outside socializing with who I think is "them," I realize that these people are going to the Ministry of Sound (some famous London club) and that that is not what I signed up for. So I go to the hostel bar for a drink with hostel worker guy and it turns out that no one else is going. :-/ Oh well. We head out to Camden Town anyway. It was a relatively fun night. At least it didn't turn out to be a total loss and I still got to dance.

July 18

I woke up later than I would have liked since I was out late. I had a list of places to visited starting with Hampstead Heath. I got breakfast and packed up since I was checking out. I ended up leaving the hostel around 11. I plotted out my underground trip and in true London form, the station I needed to transfer at was closed. I walked towards the bus stop for the replacement bus but saw a restaurant with lunch specials for 3 pounds. It was noon and Hampstead Heath is pretty much a the huge park. I figured getting lunch now was a good idea. Once I had my second fish and chips of the trip, I proceeded to the bus.

I walked through fields and woods for quite some time, just wondering around, enjoying the nice weather and beautiful surroundings of Hampstead Heath. Then I finally made it to the Kenwood House where I viewed the exhibits. There was a table in the middle of one of the rooms with books on it. I sat down to rest and flipped through. Turns out they were about slavery and this lady named Dido. She was "of mixed ancestry" and was raised in the Kenwood House as a member of the family (because she was). The head of the Kenwood house was a judge and made made a significant ruling on slavery in England. Some even interpreted it to make slavery in England illegal. Once I finished reading up on Dido, I went to find a bus to bring me to the Tate Modern Museum and The City part of the city. I only had an hour in Tate Modern but I enjoyed seeing some modern art. My favorite was a room filled with pictures on the New York subway from the 80's. Great pictures! Here are a couple.

After the museum closed down around me, I went out to see the original London, what they call The City. I walked through the financial section, past The Monument, towards Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. I didn't see the crowned jewels. They cost to much to visit. But I walked around the Tower a bit (did you know the Tower isn't actually a tower? It's a medieval castle.) Hunger hit and I decided to get dinner in Camden Town.

I took the tube to Camden Town and searched a bit for something that I was interested in eating. I came upon this cabaret bar/restaurant. I like shows. And it's a good thing that I like gay men because they were in full force in that restaurant. I got a sausage sandwich with onion chutney and chips. Tasty. After dinner, I returned to the hostel, got my bags and made my way to the bus station to take an overnight to Edinburgh, Scotland.

I made my reservation in the morning but it became clear at the bus station that it had not gone through. I ended up paying 40 pounds to buy a ticket to Edinburgh on site. The roundtrip ticket I "booked" that morning was 53! Needless to say, I was blown, and I had a rather horrendous night sleep on the bus.