Had such an amazing weekend in London with Ryan and Eve! We did SO many things and saw so much!
Last week was somewhat meh since I got back on Monday afternoon and had to leave again on Thursday night. In the meantime I had to write two papers. Somewhat stressful, but I got through it.
First, let's have a small chat about Ryan Air. WORST AIRLINE EVER. I will never use them again after my flight to Paris (that I already booked...and only paid €20 for). You're only allowed to bring ONE carry one bag (not even a purse or backpack or anything). On top of that, you have to walk out onto the tarmac to get to the plane, and then it's a complete free-for-all. All of this would be worth it if you got to your destination on time and at a really cheap rate. But to be honest, they only use the airports that are really far from the city, so you end up paying another €30 just to get to and from the airport.
I went to the bank and took out some money (since they don't use the euro). My favorite thing about London: Adam Smith is on their £20 note! How exciting no?! Once we got into London though, it was wonderful...except all the restaurants close...at 11. After finding some sandwiches at a convenience shop, we went to bed, since it was going to be a long day on Friday.
After waking up, Eve and I registered for classes (woo class registration day), and then we set out for a fun-filled afternoon at the British Museum. The British Museum was definitely one of my favorite things in London, since it's one of the few places you can see things from Ancient Egypt, Greece & Rome. The funny thing - all of it is stolen. British Empire 1, Rest of the World 0. While we were in the museum, a very nice gentleman offered to take a picture, and we noticed a small poppy on his coat. He then explained to us how it has to do with remembering the fallen from World War I (and veterans in general), and you can buy them at restaurants etc! Of course, we set on a mission to find them, but not until after we ate lunch!
The British are famous for many things; food is not one of them. Eve and I grabbed some steak and ale pie with cider for lunch (of course, much later than British lunch, since we were still on Spanish time) and headed over to the National Gallery. Boyko met up with us there, and we spent maybe half an hour in total in the museum. We saw the famous stuff but didn't want to waste the afternoon. Outside, it was starting to rain, but we walked by Parliament and Buckingham Palace. London is meant to be seen in the rain anyways. The pubs are somewhat of an interesting experience and very different than Madrid. Since British food isn't necessarily...good...we decided Indian food would be a better option (since London is supposed to have awesome Indian). This is where the day got interesting.
While waiting for our food a nice, older man asks us to watch something (I'm still not sure what it was) while he went to have a cigarette. He sounded Scottish maybe. He was also properly intoxicated (as they would most likely say in Britain). When he came back he realized from our accents we were American. He then began to thank us, to thank us for all that America did for the UK during the war (yes...he was referring to World War II). For the next twenty minutes, he went on about how much he loved America, how great the special relationship is for Britain & the US, and continued to repeatedly thank us. All in all, I laughed quite a bit. We talked about Presidents and Prime Ministers and all sorts of interesting stuff. Then he fell off his chair and almost knocked our table over. The first thing he says: "I'm not drunk! I'm not drunk! I was just off-balance." Yes. That was the quote of the weekend. For sure. On his way out he decided to do a round of "God Bless America." I had no clue what he was singing, but it was not "God Bless America." We did a quick shout of "God Save the Queen," and off they went!
We went down to Soho to explore a little bit and then headed home for the night. Such a cool neighborhood! Afterwards, we headed home for the evening and met some of the kids staying in our room, and they were from Holland. We chatted about Amsterdam and then went to bed!
Saturday was much nicer weather - NO RAIN! Such luck for London! We went to the Science Museum, Kensington Gardens, and saw Buckingham Palace by day before lunch. At lunch we got bangers and mash - since it was necessary to try SOME British foods while we were there. After lunch, we went down to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, both of which were absolutely beautiful. The city is so interesting in the contrast between the modern, new buildings of the financial districts and the old, English architecture.
The one thing I wanted to do was go to Harrods - just to see it. After we got our coats from the hostel, we found our way over to Harrods by walking through some back streets in Kensington, very pretty. Harrods was cool to see, but I didn't buy anything obviously (since I'm not rolling in it).
Ryan knew a good place to get Fish and Chips (since that's what we all agreed we wanted for dinner) near his apartment, which is north of the central city. On the way, we got off the tube and stopped at Abbey Road to take a picture. It'll be on my London photo album, but it didn't come out very good. Oh well! The place we went for dinner was in Hampstead, which is a really cute old neighborhood - reminded me a lot of Massachusetts. After Fish and Chips we said our goodbyes.
Our flight left at 10:10am, so we had to leave the hostel around 7am to get to the airport on time. The train ride was beautiful through the English countryside. London was my favorite city that I've visited so far, but I still have Paris coming up in two weeks! The traveling is starting to get exhausting, but it is so worth every minute of it! I'll post my pictures a little later on (some are up on Facebook already).
*Explanation of the title: Proper is an adjective that English people use more often than Americans. When I was getting out of the tube Friday morning, it was raining harder than before. The woman behind me said "It's raining properly." Pret also sells "Pret's Proper Porridge." "Mind the Gap" is what the tube says every time you get to a station. They are essentially telling you to be careful of the gap between the train and the platform, but it is somewhat of a signature phrase.
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