Tuesday, May 8, 2012

London Calling

Have been too tired to blog up until now, but I finally have some time taking the train to Paris. We arrived in London safe and sound with no hitches… aside from me and my heavy pink suitcase being very jealous of Lisa’s backpack! Our hostel was decent, though we did the owners a favour by switching rooms which resulted in a rude maid kicking us out of bed after loud partying from the bar downstairs kept us awake until past 4am. Still, we eventually managed to sleep it off and see the sights of London.
Our first night in London, we went to see Train in concert. We were so tired that I didn’t think we would make it through the show, especially when the opening act was Matt Nathanson, who was excellent but his music was very slow and almost put me to sleep..zzz... But Train finally came on stage, and they definitely woke me up. Energetic and fun show for sure. Not to mention the very drunk, very hilarious mid-thirties male fans in front of us who belted out every lyric and took turns embarrassing each other with their antics.
As I try to think about the rest of the visit to the UK, it becomes painfully clear that we spent a good deal of the time shopping. But with Primark, Top Shop, and gigantic 4-storey versions of the stores from home, we can’t really be blamed, right? Don’t answer. Highlights include ridiculous jewellery from Top Shop and a little owl pillow which will never fit in my suitcase. That night we got the most delicious burgers from beside a pub. Everything is beside a pub. Or above a pub.
The following day we decided to start taking advantage of London’s free museums and visit the British Museum for our dose of artifacts. However, getting off the tube I realized that I accidentally snuck on, and the ticket-checker came over to me to deal with the problem. Luckily for me, he decided he would use the most ridiculous pick-up line I have ever heard, telling me the only thing wrong with my transit pass was that it “didn’t have my number” so how was he supposed to call me? A few eye-rolls later we escaped un-ticketed and laughed our way to the British Museum. I’ve been before, but it’s impossible to see it all. Highlights once we finally arrived were probably the Greek items – especially the pottery, as lame as that sounds. I just feel like it is some of the most impressive stuff to have survived from antiquity. I bought the obligatory souvenirs relating to Glaukon, Athena’s owl.
That night, we finally went for legit fish and chips… I decided to spring for sole, which I didn’t expect would come with the ENTIRE SKELETON STILL INSIDE THE FISH. My first bite had 6 bones in it. The chips were mercifully bone-less, however, and I managed to find a few morsels of fish from between the bones.
On the last day, we realized that we had done almost none of our sightseeing and our wallets were disturbingly light, so we decided a walking-tour of London was in order. First, we walked to the Millennium Bridge. You know, the one that gets destroyed in Harry Potter. It’s right beside the Tate Modern, which is a huge Modern Art Gallery built inside an old power station. It’s sort of creepy looking inside and out, and full of somewhat creepy modern art as well. There was a special exhibit on of Damien Hirst’s work… you know, the guy who pickled a big ol’ shark and named it “The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”? I think he’s done some sheep too, and possibly even some non-dead stuff but I’m not entirely sure. Anyway, we had to pay to get inside that part and we figured that almost 40 Canadian dollars to see a bunch of dead stuff made by a pretentious Englishman probably wasn’t worth it. We were able to view his other most famous work, however. After waiting about 10 minutes in a line, we were allowed into a tiny, dark room, with about 10 other people to see “For the Love of God”. This is a platinum cast of a skull, which is completely covered in diamonds and then fitted with the original skull’s teeth. Apparently it is meant to combine the ultimate symbol of death with the ultimate symbol of luxury and extravagance. Sort of an insult to death, I guess. I’m not sure, but I do know that it was a lot of diamonds.
Only a few minutes away is Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. We couldn’t go in without tickets, but it was cool to see. We then walked across the Millennium Bridge, which is a footbridge, over to St. Paul’s Cathedral. A pretty impressive Cathedral, though we couldn’t really go inside as it was a Sunday. Our walk then took us along the river to Trafalgar Square, home of the National Gallery. What’s cool about the National Gallery is it’s span: Giotto to van Gogh, which is pre-Renaissance to (as far as art goes) fairly modern. Any art nerd will appreciate the stud earrings I bought in the gift shop.

Our walk wasn’t over yet, and we walked all the way to Westminster Abbey and Parliament. We hung out in the park which has a view of the London Eye and the Thames. THEN we walked to Buckingham Palace, by which time our feet were dead. Even my favourite European popsicle didn’t help (much..).

We then collapsed on a bench and decided to take the underground home and promptly passed out. In the morning, we had a big English breakfast in the hostel bar, where Lisa bravely tried blood pudding. I was tired.
Which brings us to right now, under the English Channel! A man is currently trying to explain air pressure to his darling little girls who have the cutest accents, saying that it’s all about “how squashed together the air is”. Adorable. I’ll try not to make the next blog quite so long! Cheerio for now!

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