As I mentioned earlier, I made a friend, Emma, that invited me to go to London with her for the weekend. She is around my age, and we are interested in doing a lot of the same things during our time in the UK. Also, she is in the room next to me so it's very convenient to plan things and go out into Oxford together! I'm so thankful for her friendship!
We decided Friday morning to leave for London that afternoon. Her brother has also done a lot of traveling and has made lots of friends along the way. He put Emma in contact with his friend, Toby, who graciously allowed us to stay with him for the weekend. When I say "stay with him" I mean he took us around, gave us a bed, cooked us breakfast, and basically went above and beyond a normal host. I have a thing or two to learn in that department from him!
Our trip includes 9 days of travel on the British railways, so we have plenty of chances to traveling without worrying about the cost of getting there! This is also really nice because it covers the cost of traveling for the entire day. That means that we can go to multiple places in one day and only use one part of the pass. This is coming in handy in planning smaller trips during the week! Anyway, I digress...we caught the 4:30 train to London coming in at Paddington Station. I am lucky in that my phone works while I am here. Don't get me wrong, I'm not calling everyone and their mother, but I know that I can call someone if I have an emergency. It is especially nice, because I have a text messaging plan that is a bit cheaper. We arrived at the station and began looking for Toby, but we quickly realized that this station was HUGE and it might take a bit of effort and a phone call to find him in there. We decided to stop by the restrooms before attempting to look for him and lo and behold! He was right there! It was the luckiest thing! I really don't know how much time it would've taken for us to find him if that hadn't happened!
We immediately left the station and met 3 of his friends, Alexis, Andy, and Bobby, at a pub. Next, we went to an area of London called Shoreditch. We put our names on the list at a restaurant and went across the street to chat and grab another beer. The area was very new and hip. The place where we sat and waited was an open area on top of a small building. We ate dinner at a place called Pizza East. It was so good and I tried anchovies for the first time thanks to Emma! I actually enjoyed them! After we finished dinner, we walked around for a bit but decided to head back to Toby's flat. One thing I forget to mention about this whole evening is that Emma and I still had our weekend bags. So it was quite comical for me to lug my small rolling bag up and down stairs, down the street, in the tube, and so forth. I'm so awkward anyway so it was probably entertaining just to watch me carry it about!
One of Toby's flatmates was out of town for the weekend, so he let us sleep in her room. We had a cup of tea and went to bed. Emma and I woke up around 8:30 and read until Toby and his flatmate, Anna, woke up. Their flat is set up in multi-levels. Their's starts on the 2nd floor. One bedroom is on that floor along with the bathroom. The next room is up a smaller flight of stairs, this is also where the kitchen/sitting room is. The last room is up one flight of stairs. The flight of stairs leading up to their flat was SO steep! It was almost straight up and down (I liked to say 90º from the ground but opinions...). Toby made us eggs and soldiers, a traditional English breakfast! It was a soft-boiled egg and buttered toast cut into strips to dip into the egg. I had never had that, and I loved it! We also had scrambled eggs and toast. By the end of the meal, we were full!
We decided to go to a vintage market that afternoon. It was in a covered area with lots of natural light coming through glass in the ceiling. Some of the things were really cool and some were still a bit too vintage for me! We saw lots of old china patterns, clothes, glasses, and random items. None of us bought anything, but it was definitely to look around. We grabbed lunch at the market. They had a lot of permanent vendors that sold food out of little open doorways. It was delicious! While we were eating, some of Toby's friends joined us. First, his friend, Aamayna, came. She actually walked around the market and ate lunch with us. Another friend, Laura, joined just as we were finishing eating. Two other girls came along as well!
Our next stop was the British Museum, which is a lot of old artifacts from all over the world. We got coffee just before we got there and liquids are not allowed in. So we goofed off, took pictures, and acted silly outside so we could finish our drinks. Once we got in, we goofed off a bit more then went to the Egyptian area. We saw the Rosetta Stone, which helped historians decode hieroglyphics. We were look at different mummified animals and other artifacts when they announced the museum was closing! We had been inside museum for maybe 15-20 minutes. Our attempts to go further into the museum were thwarted, as they began closing doors. Eventually, we were herded down the stairs and out the doors. It was around 5:30 on a Saturday so I suppose that explained their early closing.
Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey were our next stop. At this point, it was just Toby, Aamayna, Laura, Emma and me. It was quite the journey between these sights and the British Museum. Aamayna is a London native and had the great idea that it would be lovely for us to take a bus! All of the national buses are the double-decker red ones! We start looking for the correct stop to get to our destination, and we were NO WHERE near it. We walked for quite a ways until we get to a bus stop that should take us to Waterloo, the stop we want. We stand there for 10 minutes, watching every bus come by but the one we need. Finally, we realize that that bus line doesn't run on Saturdays! So again we go! We make it onto a bus, and of course, we sat on the top. At some point, the driver announced that there was going to be a diversion that was going away from Waterloo! So off the bus and on to the next stop that goes to Waterloo. Eventually, we found a bus that was on diversion to Waterloo, and we made it straight there! We got off the bus and got ice cream. The ice cream we got was called Mr. Whippy, and it was more like a cold whipped cream but more solid and frozen like ice cream. Either way, it was delicious! While eating, we walked across the bridge to Big Ben.
After that adventure, Laura went home and we went back to Clapham, where Toby lives. We stopped and got groceries for breakfast the next morning. After dropping them off, we went to a nice fish and chips restaurant called the Fish Club. They had more fish than an average fish and chips place and was just a bit more upscale. They even had sweet potato chips that were delicious! We were so silly and hyper the entire meal. I'm so glad that our waiter found us entertaining and not annoying! We laughed and joked and talked throughout. I think we were just so deliriously tired that everything was funny. We had tea again before bed and chatted. We also watched TV and the shows on there were ridiculous. I won't scar you with details but they are allowed to show a lot more things on TV in the UK than in the US. Just know that it was crazy.
I'm going to post Sunday's events tomorrow as it is almost midnight here. I'm also going to post some of the funny pictures from Big Ben and there on. ALSO, I had a question about Big Ben and the renaming of the Clock Tower. The bell is still called Big Ben but the clock tower is Elizabeth's Tower. Most people still call it Big Ben though and there were not a lot of signs that advertised its renaming.
My new British friends thought it would be hilarious if I signed my blog with a certain saying but know that it is only meant out of hilarity, not seriousness. Also I just want to add, I don't think that I've expressed how much fun and how sweet Toby, Aamayna, Laura, and Anna were to us! We had the best time and really hit it off with them! I cannot get over what a great weekend this was!
"don't hate me coz you ain't me"
We decided to go to a vintage market that afternoon. It was in a covered area with lots of natural light coming through glass in the ceiling. Some of the things were really cool and some were still a bit too vintage for me! We saw lots of old china patterns, clothes, glasses, and random items. None of us bought anything, but it was definitely to look around. We grabbed lunch at the market. They had a lot of permanent vendors that sold food out of little open doorways. It was delicious! While we were eating, some of Toby's friends joined us. First, his friend, Aamayna, came. She actually walked around the market and ate lunch with us. Another friend, Laura, joined just as we were finishing eating. Two other girls came along as well!
Our next stop was the British Museum, which is a lot of old artifacts from all over the world. We got coffee just before we got there and liquids are not allowed in. So we goofed off, took pictures, and acted silly outside so we could finish our drinks. Once we got in, we goofed off a bit more then went to the Egyptian area. We saw the Rosetta Stone, which helped historians decode hieroglyphics. We were look at different mummified animals and other artifacts when they announced the museum was closing! We had been inside museum for maybe 15-20 minutes. Our attempts to go further into the museum were thwarted, as they began closing doors. Eventually, we were herded down the stairs and out the doors. It was around 5:30 on a Saturday so I suppose that explained their early closing.
Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey were our next stop. At this point, it was just Toby, Aamayna, Laura, Emma and me. It was quite the journey between these sights and the British Museum. Aamayna is a London native and had the great idea that it would be lovely for us to take a bus! All of the national buses are the double-decker red ones! We start looking for the correct stop to get to our destination, and we were NO WHERE near it. We walked for quite a ways until we get to a bus stop that should take us to Waterloo, the stop we want. We stand there for 10 minutes, watching every bus come by but the one we need. Finally, we realize that that bus line doesn't run on Saturdays! So again we go! We make it onto a bus, and of course, we sat on the top. At some point, the driver announced that there was going to be a diversion that was going away from Waterloo! So off the bus and on to the next stop that goes to Waterloo. Eventually, we found a bus that was on diversion to Waterloo, and we made it straight there! We got off the bus and got ice cream. The ice cream we got was called Mr. Whippy, and it was more like a cold whipped cream but more solid and frozen like ice cream. Either way, it was delicious! While eating, we walked across the bridge to Big Ben.
After that adventure, Laura went home and we went back to Clapham, where Toby lives. We stopped and got groceries for breakfast the next morning. After dropping them off, we went to a nice fish and chips restaurant called the Fish Club. They had more fish than an average fish and chips place and was just a bit more upscale. They even had sweet potato chips that were delicious! We were so silly and hyper the entire meal. I'm so glad that our waiter found us entertaining and not annoying! We laughed and joked and talked throughout. I think we were just so deliriously tired that everything was funny. We had tea again before bed and chatted. We also watched TV and the shows on there were ridiculous. I won't scar you with details but they are allowed to show a lot more things on TV in the UK than in the US. Just know that it was crazy.
I'm going to post Sunday's events tomorrow as it is almost midnight here. I'm also going to post some of the funny pictures from Big Ben and there on. ALSO, I had a question about Big Ben and the renaming of the Clock Tower. The bell is still called Big Ben but the clock tower is Elizabeth's Tower. Most people still call it Big Ben though and there were not a lot of signs that advertised its renaming.
My new British friends thought it would be hilarious if I signed my blog with a certain saying but know that it is only meant out of hilarity, not seriousness. Also I just want to add, I don't think that I've expressed how much fun and how sweet Toby, Aamayna, Laura, and Anna were to us! We had the best time and really hit it off with them! I cannot get over what a great weekend this was!
"don't hate me coz you ain't me"
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