Zooing it up a Notch

                Since we are still unemployed couch hobos we have to be productive, but we also have to get out of the flat once and awhile or else we will go crazy. What we tend to do is one day in and then one day out (for a few hours, at least). When we woke up today the sun was shining so we decided to visit the London Zoo (http://www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo). It ended up being the perfect day for it. The sun was out but it wasn’t too hot and a Wednesday in April means it’s not overly crowded.

                The zoo is massive and located inside Regent’s Park. We had taken the tube to Camden Town and got to walk through the area on our way to the entrance. There is so much to see at the zoo and we easily wasted several hours. We began with the aquarium, which I don’t really like because I am scared of fish. Then we moved on to the reptiles, which are awesome. Snakes are cool. It’s also where they shot the snake scene from Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone! After that we saw some gorillas, which apparently freak Sarah out because they too closely resemble humans. Then we backtracked and saw some giant (and I mean giant) tortoises and the coolest thing ever: komodo dragons. Then we stopped by their Outback exhibit, which has kangaroos and emus. There were two kangaroos that went inside and were sleeping. They were super cute and funny. One of them was sleeping like a drunk.

                After that we went to the tiger area but there was only one sleeping tiger in the whole exhibit. That is because the female tiger just had cubs this week, so obviously they aren’t going to be on display yet. We stopped and grabbed an early lunch because if we waited until actual lunchtime we’d have to fight with the school groups and children. From lunch we went to the penguins, who are major famewhores. They want your attention so badly. After that we checked out some bugs (yes, there is an exhibit on bugs) and a butterfly tent. We got to walk around an open enclosure with some monkeys. We saw some lions. Then we saw the llamas. One of the llamas had babies on April 16^th and the babies were out. They were adorable and so cute! It’s probably the only time I will ever see a baby llama.

                Having conquered the main part of the zoo we went through the tunnel to the last few exhibits. Up first was Africa. We saw pygmy hippos which are actually kind of cute because they are little. I couldn’t help but laugh thinking of the lurking hippos during the Calgary flood. The giraffes and zebras and okapi (?) were all outside because the day was nice. From there we went to the rainforest exhibit. Supposedly there are sloths in there but I didn’t see any, which was disappointing. The chinchillas were adorable, though.

                The last exhibit of the day contained the cutest otters in the world, fruit bats, reindeer and meercats. Fortunately, the meercats were not having a bloodbath like the last time I was at the zoo. Having finished for the day we decided to walk through Regent’s Park and grab the tube from Baker Street rather than Camden Town. It would have been a more enjoyable walk had I not walked my feet off at the zoo. I don’t think proper footwear exists for me.

Easter Weekend

It’s Easter weekend in London and I’m sure there are loads of things to do but Sarah and I were too scared to leave the flat, for the most part. If London is crowded on a normal weekend I don’t want to imagine what it’s like on Easter weekend. Not to mention London always does engineering work on the trains at the weekend so getting anywhere at all is a hassle.        

                On Friday we mostly just stayed in the flat, minus leaving in the afternoon to walk to a giant Sainsbury’s in Sydenham. The walk is over a mile and on the way back I had at least ten pounds of groceries. I think I’ve done more walking in just two weeks in London than I did all last year in Calgary. Involuntary healthy living, I suppose. The walk there was nice; the walk back, less so. I don’t like hills with groceries. It’s just not happening.

                That night Sandra made us chicken (with soy sauce – who knew that was a delicious combination?) along with some Chinese rice I picked up on our shopping trip. We watched Diana with Naomi Watts which was really slow and not very good. One of the characters actually says “I don’t perform heart surgery, heart surgery performs me.” I kid you not. We took a small break to watch UK Master Chef. We’ve watched just about every episode of it since we got here. It’s really addicting. And makes you very hungry. I don’t know how the episodes work in North America but here it’s three episodes a week. And the judges are really nice! They actually give this thing called constructive criticism instead of just swearing and telling people to get out of the kitchen. It’s surprising.  It’s an actual competition not a spectacle. That’s probably why I have no issue watching it.

                Saturday we decided to brave leaving the flat but it was a very calculated decision. I’d been saying for awhile that we should head to Canary Wharf and check it out. I find it really pretty. It’s all tall buildings and water and architecture. The only problem is that it’s where all the big office buildings are which makes it basically impossible to visit during the week. I once got stuck there at rush hour and it was a nightmare. So many people trying to get on the tube. So you basically have to go on a weekend to have a stress-free visit. We were initially going to see this British thriller called Locke, starring Tom Hardy, but ultimately decided against it. Not only did they not start showing it until 4:10pm, they also weren’t selling matinee tickets. Matinee tickets are the best. They are significantly cheaper. Oh well, it’s not like we have jobs. We can go during the week.

                We left around noon. There were no delays with the trains which was nice. Personally, I love Canary Wharf. It’s basically the definition of a concrete jungle. It’s all tall glass buildings and random water areas and the occasional park. I’m a city person so I love it. We walked down Isle of Dogs and came back to Jubilee Place near the tube station where we had lunch at – you guessed it – Nando’s. It’s just so delicious. We went back to the flat after and watched movies.

                For dinner that night we went out to Le Querce with Sandra and Imogen. That’s the Italian restaurant in the neighborhood Sarah and I ate at on Tuesday and absolutely loved. It was another lovely dinner this time around. We laughed and ate good Italian food. I had a seafood platter to start, made up of prawns, clams and mussels (!!!). As my main I once again had ravioli. No dessert this time, though.

                When we awoke Sunday morning (Easter Sunday) we found rain. And grey. I feel bad for everyone trying to do Easter egg hunts at Kensington Palace and stuff. As it stands, we weren’t planning on leaving the flat all day anyway. But some sun would have been nice. Overall this was only the second really rainy day. I don’t know why everyone thinks it rains 24/7 because it’s absolutely not true. Does it rain more than Calgary? Definitely. Do we forget what the sun looks like? No, we just saw it Saturday.

Easter Sunday was one hundred percent uneventful. We literally watched movies all day. I finished American Horror Story: Asylum which I’m happy about because it sucked and now I don’t have to watch it again. I made rice for supper. My cooking skills are unparalleled. I Skyped with my parental guidance for the first time since I left, which was nice.

Monday is a Bank Holiday (that’s what they call them here) so it meant another day of lots of people out and about – except not us. I would just rather do things on days with less crowds. On a sunny holiday Monday everyone is going to be everywhere and I just really hate walking behind slow, stupid people. So it was another indoor day. I watched the new Game of Thrones and Mad Men, which was the least monotonous part of my day. Because I’d never seen them before. I finally finished reading Divergent…just the first book…it took me awhile. Only two more to go, so I should be finished sometime next year.

Despite our best intentions to stay inside we got restless and decided to walk up to the Horniman Museum (http://www.horniman.ac.uk/). It was much hotter out than expected and I was exhausted by the time we reached the museum. I dehydrate easily and was light-headed for most of our visit. The Horniman Museum, like many museums in London, is free. There are exhibits on animals, a temporary exhibit of photos of the arctic, and exhibits on music and Africa. If you pay you can get into the aquarium. It’s not the greatest museum of all time but it’s so close to where we are staying that it’s a nice way to waste a few hours. It also has gardens and a park. In the gardens they grow fruits and vegetables, which is cool. Most of them aren’t ready yet, though, so it just looks like trees. So, at the conclusion of Easter weekend we returned back to the flat like the cool people we are.

The Last Four Days

                This week we are going to start buckling down and stop our touring, for the most part. On Monday we stayed in the flat literally all day applying for jobs. We also did laundry which meant we had to buy laundry detergent and not break the machine. We didn’t and our clothes are okay. Hurray for adult life! We accomplished quite a bit amidst watching around six movies over the course of the day.

                The one other important thing I got done Monday was transfer my money to my UK bank account from my Canadian one. I was putting this off as long as possible because I thought it would be difficult, but it actually turned out to be quite easy. I used a company called CanadianForex (www.canadianforex.com). You tell them how much money you have to transfer and they give you a rate. Once you hit Okay, they prepare to transfer the money to you. In the meantime, you go on your Canadian bank account and pay them the money, essentially giving them money to give you money. Because I’m with RBC they actually show up as a Payee so it was relatively painless. It takes them about three days to get the money and about one day after that for me to receive the funds in my UK bank account, which is why I really wanted to do it at the beginning of the week. I did leave some money in my Canadian account, just in case. The only issue I ran into was minor. They have to call you to confirm the deal. Of course, they have my Canadian number. So they sent me this panicked email saying they had to get ahold of me before processing the transaction. So I gave them a call on my landline. The girl I spoke to, Hilary, dealt with everything swiftly and it was completely painless (I hate making phone calls). 

                Tuesday was another day at the flat spent watching movies and applying for jobs. The thing that nobody tells you is how hard it actually is to find a job. Your university degree is basically useless. Everybody wants experience – even entry level jobs. It’s a bit disheartening. And everyone is a telemarketer masquerading as an actual job. Sorry, but I know how my parents treat telemarketers and they are probably nicer than some people. Not happening. On the bright side, I received a phone call from Google to discuss future job opportunities. Not immediate, but maybe future ones. It at least broke the ice in terms of actually talking to a professional so no matter what it was a good thing.

                We decided to put pants on and go to dinner at a restaurant down the road called Le Querce (http://lequerce.co.uk/). It’s an Italian restaurant and not too expensive but what it ever delicious! I got the ravioli and some fries and Sarah got lasagna and we both were very satisfied with our meal. I also got some wine in a gracious amount, which is better than I’ve seen at most pubs. We got dessert. Sarah had ice cream and I had cheesecake. My cheesecake could have been better, to be honest. We definitely want to revisit this restaurant, and hopefully soon.  

                On Wednesday we took the train to Surrey Quays to see The Amazing Spider-Man 2, which we get a couple weeks before the USA. That doesn’t happen very often so we made the most of it. I loved it. Definitely better than the first and Dane DeHaan (who I love) was so good as Harry Osborn. A million times better than James Franco.

                Thursday we decided to actually go do something before our self-imposed isolation on Easter weekend. After we got up in the morning we went to Nando’s for lunch. I got the actual chicken this time instead of chicken wings and was not disappointed. I also had a caramel cheesecake for dessert which was just to die for! We then tried to visit the National Gallery (www.nationalgallery.org.uk). We wandered around for a little while looking at the art but it was quite crowded with tourists and school groups so we didn’t stay for very long. I’d really like to go back on a quiet day and spend the whole day there with an audio guide just completely nerding out.

                Side Note: I started watching American Horror Story because they have it on Netflix and I’m completely obsessed. I watched the entire first season in less than 24 hours. Evan Peters is amazing. That is all.  

The Day of Hiddles

"Oh, Hiddlesticks!" 

- Me, always

Today was one of my favorite days in London so far. Sarah woke up freakishly early but then passed out again but the damage was done – I was awake. So I took the time to find the season premiere episode of Game of Thrones, which was awesome, obviously. I forgot how much I can’t stand Jon Snow, though. How can anyone so pretty be so annoying…Anyways, getting off topic. Actually, much of this topic has to do with attractive men so maybe not so much. Getting there.

                At 12:15 we walked around the corner to eat at Babur (www.babur.info). It’s an Indian restaurant that offers a really nice Sunday buffet brunch. I ate there the last time I was in London and Sarah needed to taste some of that famous British Indian cuisine so there we were. It did not disappoint. I can’t possibly tell you what I ate but there was a lot of food. I grabbed a bit of everything to start and went back for more of what I really enjoyed. Overall it was delicious.

                After lunch we headed up to Covent Garden to see if we might be able to get spots on the red carpet for the Olivier Awards. Think of them as the British Tony Awards. We weren’t overly optimistic after Spider-Man on Tuesday but figured we should try anyway. If it was crowded we’d go home. It didn’t help that today was the London Marathon and the city was supposed to be mental. We needn’t have worried. We got number 186 and 187 and lined up for an hour before being led onto the red carpet. And we were not only right next to it, but also very close to the venue entrance and across from the international press. Specifically, Hello, so look for us.

                We waited around for another ninety minutes before things got started. We saw so many stars. We got autographs from Kristin Davis (Charlotte on Sex and the City), Bjorn from ABBA, Samantha Barks (Eponine in Les Miserables), Martin Freeman from The Hobbit and Sherlock and James McAvoy, to name a few. Some of the celebrities didn’t have time to stop as the red carpet was quite hurried but I did have brief conversations with Mark Strong and Ruth Wilson.

                Then there’s Hiddles. Oh, Tom Hiddleston, my future husband…he showed up late and had to give interviews so I did not get to speak to him. He did wave. He got pretty close. I can say he is actually even better looking in real life. The second I saw him down the carpet I absolutely freaked out. Like, people turned and looked. It was kind of funny. I was completely unaware of what I was doing. I just went to Crazy Town for a minute.

                Overall it was awesome. I love entertainment and stuff but I’ve never been on an award show red carpet before. There’s a lot you don’t see on TV, like the massive wave of people who enter at the beginning, as if just dropped off by a bus. They are non-celebrities who worked on the plays and musicals. I felt a little bad for them but also a little jealous. I just want to get dressed up and walk the red carpet once.

                We may have stood for over four hours but it was most definitely worth it, even if I didn’t meet Tom Hiddleston or Gemma Arterton (who is also breathtakingly gorgeous in person). Oh, and Hayley Atwell.  I’m making Sarah have a Hiddles marathon with me now.

Escape From the Science Museum

         “Crowds prevent you to see the infinite horizons; get rid of the crowds and open your horizons.” - Mehmet Murat Ildan 

       Saturday was meant to be museum day but it turned out to be more of a ‘let’s hide inside’ day. We had the best intentions. We were going to visit the Science Museum and Victoria & Albert Museum before spending the evening doing the usual (watching movies). It took us awhile to actually put pants on this morning and get moving and by that point we were starving, so we walked to Wetherspoon’s and had another one of those delicious veggie burgers. And some badly mixed purple drank.

                We hopped on the train after lunch and made our way to Kensington to go to the Science Museum (http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/). This was more a visit for Sarah rather than me, because she loves science and I dropped that subject the second I had a chance. I had heard, however, that the Science Museum was supposed to be amazing and a must-see London attraction. We were both very, very disappointed.

                To begin (and this part is our fault), we didn’t really think about the fact that it was a weekend and that would mean loads of tourists and locals and children until we were already on the train. They were a pain in the butt. We both were very murderous by the end of the day. People stopping their strollers in the middle of busy walkways, people trying to figure out which ticket reader to go through (hint: it’s any of the ones with the green lights, like the one RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOU), screaming babies who’s mothers are ignoring them and our personal favorite: the giant family complete with stroller who wouldn’t let us get off before they got on and we almost were trapped on the train forever. Seriously, that was really annoying. Letting people off before you get on is A) common sense and B) there are signs. But yeah, the crowds of stupid people were pretty much our fault. We should have known better.

                The Science Museum has no excuse, though. I could understand me not liking it, because I really don’t like science. But Sarah? This should have been her museum and she was arguably more disappointed than me. First, they say the museum is free but they make you walk by these people who look like ticket sellers and ask you if you want to donate money (as if all the Suggested Donation £5 signs didn’t give us a hint). I don’t mind donation boxes but they should really be done better. At some of the art galleries they just leave boxes in some of the rooms so it’s entirely up to you whether you donate. This felt forced and judged. We really didn’t want to give £5 but we each gave £2 and even that felt like a ripoff. The whole museum was just blah. It’s sad when I’ll admit the engineering gallery was the most interesting. There’s also space. That’s the first floor. There are three more but it’s really like Science for Dummies. There’s some interactive stations we couldn’t even get close to because of the massive amount of children but even the exhibits were just so lacking. We probably spent less than an hour inside. We want our donation back. The most exciting part of the entire experience was trying to escape, which took forever because of the people and the fact there’s only one real exit and we didn’t want to set off an alarm.

                Our initial plan was to head to the Victoria & Albert Museum but we knew it would be crowded and even if it wasn’t, there were signs all around the tube station cautioning that it gets crazy once the museums close. Riding a crowded train for an hour? I’ll pass. So we ultimately decided to check it out during the week when everyone is gone and headed back to the flat where we watched movies and ate pizza. We are super exciting people.

‘We are, by the sufferance of God, King of England; and the Kings of England in times past never had any superior but God’ – Henry VIII

Today we did what we had meant to do last weekend, which was go to Hampton Court Palace (http://www.hrp.org.uk/HamptonCourtPalace/). You want to do it on a nice day and last weekend it rained so we put it off for a few days. The day began overcast but gradually got nicer so it all worked out. We took the train for an hour into the countryside before arriving at the palace. Because of our Historic Royal Palaces membership we got right in. I cannot stress enough how awesome the membership is. It has already paid for itself and then some. Like Kensington Palace, several of the exhibits were closed because they are redoing them. Unlike Kensington Palace, there’s enough to see that two or three closed sections doesn’t make a whole lot of difference.

                We first visited the exhibit on young Henry VIII, which traces the beginning years of his reign, along with Katharine of Aragon and Thomas Wolseley. We then visited the King’s Apartments, which is in the Baroque part of the palace. These are set up as if King William III (I think it’s the third) still lived there. We had learned about him and his wife, Mary II at Kensington Palace. Then we went to an area dedicated to King Henry VIII and his six wives. I love the Tudors so I will visit any exhibit dealing with them. They are soon opening an exhibit on George I I believe, and are currently changing around the Queen’s Apartments.

                We then headed out into the gardens, which are beautiful. The best gardens are obviously at Versailles but these are pretty good. We first went left outside of the palace and walked along the side wall. We made a pit stop to visit the Royal Tennis Courts. We left the palace grounds and went into the section you don’t need a ticket to get into, where we had lunch outside (with a 10% discount courtesy of our membership card). We then attempted to visit the famous Maze but it cost £4.50 to go in, which is ridiculous. You already paid to go to the palace, why charge for the maze? So we headed back to the grounds and walked to the Privy Gardens, which are my favorite. They are well-sculpted and colorful and have a fountain filled with terrifying fish. I have an irrational fear of fish. They also have the Great Vine, which is the Guinness World Record holder for longest vine. I guess it’s pretty big.

                We took a few pictures and headed back to the train, where we ran into our first train drama since we arrived. There was something happening at the stop we were supposed to transfer at so we ended up having to go all the way into the city to get back to the flat. Three trains. Sigh. We were doing so well before that. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and watching movies (Lawless and Snow White and the Huntsman). Later, Sandra, Imogen, Sarah and I all ordered Chinese food. There was some sort of set menu meal deal that was meant for three people to share and we decided to stretch it to four. Firstly, there was definitely enough food for four people. We even had multiple helpings. Secondly, it was DELICIOUS. I don’t know where they ordered from but it was the best Chinese food I’ve ever had. Everything was so good! We watched British MasterChef and Great Expectations before heading to bed.

Back to Reality

Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. ~Philip K. Dick

So the fun is over (ish). On Tuesday we had our orientation meeting to start actually settling in London. We woke up and headed to a building in Shepherd’s Bush, not knowing what to expect. We got there early (this will be a theme over the next few days). We were first escorted to a small office that already had a handful of people in it. The number quadrupled over the next few minutes as more people joined in. It was then that BritBound ran into some trouble. While we are heading into the season of bigger groups of people, they typically have a bigger room available. That wasn’t the case today, and instead about twenty of us were crammed into a very small room. Because of the large group/small room size, they decided to do a shortened version of their usual orientation meeting. And this meant a lot less information and one-on-one time. It was very general which got a bit frustrating. We were attending in order to find out seemingly crucial information about living in London and as it turned out we learn more from Sandra and Imogen than the people we are supposed to. It’s not entirely their fault, but there definitely could have been a better plan in place.

                After the orientation meeting we all headed to what was referred to as a Traditional Pub Lunch (included in our package). Ironically, we ended up at Wetherspoon’s, which is where we went on our first day in London. Also, when I think traditional pub lunch, I think fish and chips. Not that I wanted to have that, but I figured that would be an option. Instead you could only have these £4 burgers or 2-in-1 meals for £8. And only soft drinks to drink. Sarah and I both got veggie burgers. We sat with an Australian girl who had just gotten in the night before and a New Zealander who was heading up North the next day. I can’t help but feel that in a smaller group we would have met more people, and maybe some that weren’t leaving for jobs elsewhere. They were nice to talk to and the veggie burgers were delicious, but overall the whole day seemed lacking. You barely saw the actual people that worked there and they seemed to only want to sell you things at really high prices. I wonder what it would be like with a smaller group. Better, most definitely.

                After lunch we headed to Waterloo. It was there we did our first ‘nesting’ action. We had thought, originally, that it would be the actual orientation meeting. That didn’t pan out so it ended up being something as simple as buying tickets. You see, Sarah and I are both die-hard Kevin Spacey fans. Like, I’m not kidding, if you got between me and him I would probably cut you. Anyways, he was doing a one-man play at The Old Vic called Clarence Darrow (http://www.oldvictheatre.com/whats-on/2014/clarence-darrow/) and tickets went on sale that day so we went to grab some. His theater sells tickets to people under 25 for £12 so we grabbed a few of those. The date of that show is May 28^th, which means we are officially making longish-term plans. Because Kevin Spacey.

                We grabbed some pizza to make for supper at Sainsbury’s and got home nice and early and spent the rest of the day finishing Gone With the Wind, watching The Five-Year Engagement and getting halfway through West Side Story. On Wednesday, Sarah had her bank appointment. We were warned that we should be on time or else we may never be allowed to register with the bank at all, which nhad chosen to register with Lloyd’s, through Britbound, and were briefly stressed out when they couldn’t find Sarah’s appointment. They still got her in, though, and would have gotten me in too but I didn’t think to bring my passport. Oops.

                After the appointment we took the tube to Victoria where we visited Sandra at her work. Once she had finished (and we learned a lot about what they do from her boss, which was actually pretty interesting) the three of us went to lunch at a pizza/pasta place in Victoria station, which had an all-you-can-eat buffet special. It was pretty good, especially the pepperoni pizza. Then Sandra went back to work and Sarah and I took the train back to the flat, where we once again watched some movies (and applied for like twenty jobs between the two of us). We finished West Side Story, Blades of Glory and Never Been Kissed, so clearly it was a productive day. We also made chicken. I know our cooking skills sound impressive but you literally take the food out of the package, put the food in the oven and take it out eventually. So don’t be thinking I learned anything.

                With Thursday came my own bank appointment, also at Lloyd’s. It was actually the same guy who did Sarah’s and he let her come in with us. I waited politely outside, reading my book. She came in and read Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit or something like a weirdo. Taking friendbians to a whole new level at the bank. The entire process went quite smoothly. I didn’t need to prove my address or anything and I just needed a passport. It took maybe twenty minutes. After my appointment we took the tube up to Abbey Road, where we saw Abbey Road Studios, wrote on the wall outside and each took pictures crossing the iconic street. We technically crossed it multiple times, but there’s only pictures of one crossing each.

                We then boarded a bus that took us to Trafalgar Square. We got a little lost and ended up in St. James’ Park. We ended up having lunch at some American-Italian restaurant I visited several years ago, on the way to Westminster from the National Gallery. They had a pretty decent lunch special on and the macaroni carbonara with bacon I had was awesome, though the portion was quite large. We then headed up to Leicester Square. We had talked about attending the The Amazing Spider-Man 2 premiere. Originally, our plan had been the scope the place out, head to the National Gallery and return around 5:00pm. I had attended The Dark Knight premiere several years ago and showed up at that time and ended up three people back from the gate. This time, they gave numbers to the first five hundred people and the rest of us had to cue in the square. When the put us in the barricades we were down by the TKTS booth. We would be able to see the photos taken with the Spider-Man logo but I highly doubted the actors would come down as far as we were. Ultimately we decided to leave. Had we had a better spot, it would have been worth standing for three hours. But it wasn’t the case and we weren’t dying to go anyway. Although I really really really wanted to see Dane DeHaan (probably the only person there who was but whatever, I’m like freakishly obsessed with him).

                We ended up going to Surrey Quays to see The Quiet Ones, which came out in theaters today but you North Americans won’t get for another few weeks. Ha. It was a half-decent horror film and it killed some time. It was basically what we expected it to be. We wouldn’t have even thought about it but we’ve seen adverts for it on literally every third bus. You did a good job, Mad Men. We headed back home after the movie and spent the rest of the night eating chicken nuggets (with Nando’s Peri-Peri sauce I found at the corner store) and watching Kill Your Darlings and Lawless. If I can’t see Dane DeHaan in person you can bet your ass I am going to have a marathon a 

A Day of Art and Shake Shack (Which is Basically Food Art)

"A sincere artist is not one who makes a faithful attempt to put on to canvas what is in front of him, but one who tries to create something which is, in itself, a living thing." - Giorgio Morandi

                Today was another rainy day. It was technically our last day of ‘freedom’ (since tomorrow is our orientation meeting which means we will actually have to do stuff after that, like get a bank account and a job) but the weather put a bit of a damper on it. To begin, we went to Leicester Square to get some show tickets for the night. There is a booth that sells discounted tickets called TKTS. I know it because they have it in Times Square in New York City, as well. Fortunately, the line is much smaller in London, and they open at 10:00am. We got there around 11:00am and, after a short wait, got tickets to War Horse. I’ve seen it twice at Lincoln Center in New York but never in London and Sarah has never seen it period. Our tickets are in the tenth row and should have cost us £62.50 but because we used TKTS they only cost us £26. We had budgeted for £30 so we saved some money! Yay! If there hadn’t been tickets to War Horse we were going to look at Once and Wicked. Not all shows are available at the booth. Some, like The Lion King, you have to buy at the box office because they don’t need to sell discounted tickets: everyone goes anyway.

                After getting our tickets we walked to Covent Garden so Sarah could finally try Shake Shack! And it was delicious! It tastes just like it does in New York. We had burgers, fries and milkshakes. If there was any reason to complain about Shake Shack it’s that they don’t adjust the prices for being in pounds, so it’s a bit pricey for fast food. Oh well. Totally worth it.

                When we finished our lunch we headed to Trafalgar Square. The original plan was to visit the National Gallery and the National Portrait Gallery, but we ended up just visiting the latter. The National Portrait Gallery (www.npg.ork.uk) was the first attraction I ever visited in London. I really like it. We spent almost two hours there. It’s basically portraits from the last five hundred years. Sarah and I laughed at all the self-portraits, because they are the original selfies. My favorite gallery is actually the first gallery you see: The Tudor Gallery. It has portraits of Henry VIII and most of his wives and his three children. I love that period of English history so it’s really cool seeing their pictures. Sarah had remarked earlier that it was too bad people didn’t do portraits anymore…and then we found one of Kate Middleton. Oops. The last exhibit, which is always changing, was on Vivien Leigh. I love Vivien Leigh so I definitely looked and read every single thing in that room. I just love her so much.

                As I mentioned, our initial plan was to then visit the National Gallery, but we felt a little too museumed out and wouldn’t appreciate the art enough. It’s free so it’s not like we can’t go back another day. Originally I had thought if we didn’t feel up to another museum we could use our Historic Royal Palaces membership card to get into Banqueting House, located down the road, then wander around Green Park and up to Buckingham Palace before grabbing some supper and heading to War Horse, but when we got out of the National Portrait Gallery it was raining and pretty miserable out. We had six hours to kill so we ultimately decided to head back to the flat. We had been saying for a few days that we wanted to organize our suitcases better (instead of the panic packing gong-show they all currently were) and we wouldn’t feel like it tonight, since we wouldn’t be back until after 11:00pm. So we took the train back and did just that, while watching Gone With the Wind (inspired by the Vivien Leigh exhibit, of course). Sarah’s never seen it before now. We couldn’t get through the whole thing, of course, because that movie is four hours long and we did not have that long, but we will finish it tomorrow.

                After some research, I decided the quickest way to the theater was by bus, and even that was going to take an hour. Somehow we managed to get on and off at the right stop. Yay us. We had an hour before the show so we stopped in at a pub next door and had some chips and garlic cheese bread. Supper of champions right there. It got freakishly busy at one point but then they all realized there was an upstairs section and disappeared. Afterwards we headed to the show (well, walked past it, technically). After buying some overpriced wine we went in to sit down. We had row K, on the right hand side of the stage. The theater is an almost semi-circle so there’s no actual bad seat. The show was great. There were a few small changes from the New York performances I had seen, which was interesting. The show originated in London (with Kit Harington aka Jon Snow as the main character) so I guess they know best. One thing I didn’t like was that they didn’t give out any programs. I’m so used to perusing through Playbills when I see Broadway shows that I really noticed their absence. The show lasted two hours and forty minutes and at the end you could hear everyone sniffling in the audience and I guess the lady next to Sarah was absolutely freaking out and her husband had to hold her down. I’m sad I missed that. All I got was some American lady who thought clouds were smoke from an explosion.

                After the show we went to get the bus back…but the road only went one way. So we went to look for a bus stop going in the right direction. We walked for a bit and eventually realized we were walking over Waterloo Bridge. Oops. Fortunately, we did find the bus in the end. After a bit of a wander. We didn’t get in until around 11:30pm so there went our plans for being well-rested for our orientation meeting tomorrow…

 

Up at the O2

“If I had my life to live over again, I would have made a rule to read some poetry and listen to some music at least once every week.”  - Charles Darwin, The Autobiography of Charles Darwin, 1809-82 

                Today we had planned to use our Historic Royal Palaces membership cards again and visit Hampton Court Palace. Unfortunately, when we woke up we got our first look at that famous English weather: overcast and rainy. Obviously, it is still possible to visit Hampton Court on a day like today (the palace itself is all indoors) but did we really want to spend ninety minutes on a train there and back and walk through rainy gardens? Not really. And it’s not like we can’t go again literally next weekend (which is currently the plan). So we decided to stay closer to London and Sarah got to sleep some more.

                Once we got going we headed to the O2 (www.o2.co.uk) in North Greenwich. It’s primarily known for being a concert arena but it actually has a lot of restaurants and other things in it. Our first stop was the British Music Experience (www.britishmusicexperience.com) which is literally an interactive museum about British music. There is an overwhelming amount of information in it and if you try to see/do/read everything your head will probably explode. You learn early on to just focus on things you really like. For me, that’s the stuff on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and Joy Division (and One Direction…). There are different rooms organized by decade. Inside them are different costumes, memorabilia and even instruments belonging to various music acts from England. There are usually interviews or live recordings in each decade, along with different news clippings of important events from each year. This is where you have to pick and choose, because some years have twenty-five clippings to see. In the center of the museum are things like maps of England showing different artists hometowns, and a dance machine. Somehow Sarah and I did not go in the dance machine. In another room they have lots of instruments you can play on. If you know how to play, that’s cool. If you’ve always wanted to give the drums a go, they have monitors you watch that teach you how to play popular songs – at Beginner, Intermediate, and Master levels.

                After we finished at the museum (and ran away from their ‘special’ Taylor Swift exhibit) we went to Wasabi for lunch. It’s a cool sushi place at the O2 where the food comes by you on conveyer belts and the plate colors determine the cost. I had some delicious crab rolls, some avocado rolls and ordered some chicken satay. It was a very nice lunch. There wasn’t much else to do so we went to see Captain America: The Winter Soldier and then headed back to the flat. When we left the theater and re-entered the O2 to leave, the peaceful setting we had left had been transformed into thousands of people lined up for the restaurants. Like I mentioned, it’s a concert arena and some guy named Gary Barlow was performing. I guess he is or was a judge on The X-Factor and also used to be a member of Take That (if you’re not English you probably don’t know who they are but they are like the most popular thing ever in England. It’s actually scary.) We got out of there as fast as humanly possible. Note to selves: if we ever see a concert at the O2 (looking at you, Ed Sheeran in October), do not eat before the concert.

A Day of Wandering and Accidental Pub Crawls

“I wandered everywhere, through cities and countries wide. And everywhere I went, the world was on my side.”  

- Roman Payne, Rooftop Soliloquy  

                Our day began very late. We always mean to wake up by 9:00am and get the day started but it rarely plays out that way. It actually turned out to be a good thing we slept in and got a late start to the day, since we aren’t very good at killing time (pub, the solution is always a pub). We ran into some confusion trying to find the correct tube stop and got off a little early. It shouldn’t have been a big deal since we were in the general area but we did end up walking for awhile until we finally found our first destination: Kensington Palace.             

                I’ve been to Kensington Palace (www.hrp.org.uk/kensingtonPalace) once before and it was definitely better then. Fortunately, because of our Historic Royal Palaces membership cards we didn’t have to pay, because I would have been annoyed if that was the case. The biggest exhibit, the Kings Apartments, is currently closed for renovations. The Queen’s Apartments has literally the most morbid exhibit I have ever seen. The entire thing is about King William and Queens Mary and Anne…and Anne’s eighteen dead babies. It started out alright enough. In a room of authentic furniture Sarah got guilted in to sticking around for a lecture by someone that works there. It was on fashion, technically, but actually really interesting. Hannah, the lecturer, was probably the best part of the whole exhibit. Sarah and I were saying afterwards that listening to people talk about something they are passionate in is always interesting, and this was the perfect example: take a topic neither one of us are really interested in, but we gladly listen because they make it fascinating. The exhibit went downhill from there, however. It was, like I said, all about Queen Anne’s eighteen dead babies. She had something like thirteen miscarriages, five stillbirths and one child who died at eleven. There was literally a room with eighteen dead baby memorials. It was super creepy and morbid and we just really did not like it. The only part of Kensington Palace that remained from the last time I visited was the Fashion exhibit. They show dresses the royals wore from the 1950’s to 1980’s. Queen Elizabeth II in the 1950’s was actually pretty stylish, not going to lie. They were both our favorite dresses of the exhibit. They also had dresses worn by Princess Margaret and, of course, Princess Diana. 1980’s dresses are so bad. There was one Diana dress that everybody was oohing and ahhing over that seriously looked like Molly Ringwald’s Pretty in Pink dress. Overall, Kensington Palace took a lot less time than we thought it would and I’m really glad I didn’t have to pay because right now, it’s not worth it. I would be willing to go once the Kings Apartments are reopened. It’s not like it will cost me anything. The membership card is so far the best thing I have purchased.

                We walked down to The Orangery to see if we wanted to eat there but it was expensive, even with our 10% discount, so we grabbed a quick snack at the café at Kensington Palace. The guy at the till was really nice and asked if I wanted a glass with ice for my diet Pepsi. Little things impress me, okay? After our snack/lunch we started to explore Hyde Park. It involved a lot of walking. Hyde Park is massive and you will never cover it in a day, but we had fun. Every time we got to a fork in the road we would pick a direction. We actually ended up seeing a great deal of the park: the Peter Pan statue, the Italian Gardens, the Serpentine – we even saw the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain across the lake. After walking for over an hour we reached Marble Arch, which meant we had essentially walked from High Street Kensington (think the top left hand corner of a map of Hyde Park) to Marble Arch (bottom right corner).

                After sitting for a few minutes to rest our legs we discussed what to do next. If we wanted to walk more we could have gone to Harrods or one of the museums in South Kensington, but our legs were exhausted. We couldn’t take the tube anywhere because Central Line between Marble Arch and Liverpool Street was closed. It was a weekend in London, after all. Do the tubes ever all work on the weekend? In the end we decided to go on a random bus adventure. So we picked a route on a double decker (that would eventually put us at a tube station since we had to meet Sandra at 7:00pm down at Westminster) and got the front row of the top of the bus. We picked a pretty good route, too. It went through Oxford Circus, the British Library and Tottenham Court Road. After about thirty minutes of people watching we arrived at King’s Cross Station. I didn’t tell Sarah where our end destination would be and It was fun when she finally figured out why I had brought her to a random train station.

                We were there to see Platform 9 ¾, of course. We both like Harry Potter. Neither one of us have seen the attraction before. It seemed like a perfect way to kill time. I must admit, I was a little concerned we weren’t going to find it. I didn’t need to be worried, though, because there was a massive line. It was around this time we realized they were charging for pictures. We just took sneaky ones so we aren’t in them. Later we complained about how stupid it is to take something silly like platform 9 ¾ and actually charge people to take their pictures at it. Why can’t it just be a fun little free thing?

                We were still way ahead of schedule so we had a couple drinks at a pub at King’s Cross Station (along with some very good fries – I mean, chips) and eventually took the tube to Westminster…where we were still thirty minutes early. So we went to another pub. I don’t quite know how our afternoon turned into a pub crawl but it did. We met Sandra under Big Ben shortly after seven, and met up with her friend Laura shortly thereafter. From Westminster we walked to Garfunkel’s Restaurant in Covent Garden. There was a closer one in Leicester Square but I wanted Sarah to see Covent Garden on a Saturday night. On our way there we passed Number 10 Downing Street, the Horse Guards Parade (sans horses), and Trafalgar Square. Then we went to eat. I have loved Garfunkel’s Restaurant (www.garfunkels.co.uk) since I first tried it. Their pepperoni pizza is great, because the pepperonis are spicy and the crust is super thin. After our supper we went up to Covent Garden. It is a pretty cool spot. Also, perhaps the highlight of my day, we found a Shake Shack. That’s right, like New York Shake Shack! I am so pumped. We already know we’re going on Monday for lunch. This is how we make plans, because we will now schedule our entire day around eating lunch at Shake Shack. We’re so cool.

Adventures in South Bank

"Good wine is a good familiar creature, if it be well used." - Othello: Act 2, Scene 3 

Today was our third day in London and we decided to focus our efforts on one area: Southbank. We went to bed lateish last night (for jetlag people) and getting up this morning was difficult difficult lemon difficult. We meant to get down to London Bridge by 10:00am but it ended up being closer to 11:00am. It didn’t really matter, though. We had plenty of time. We started our day by walking along the Thames to Shakespeare’s Globe (www.shakespearesglobe.com). I am a huge Shakespeare nerd so I was super excited. There is an exhibit detailing Shakespeare’s work, the Globe itself, and costuming and stage fighting of the time. We were overrun by a lot of French school kids and were worried they would be on our tour but fortunately that was not the case.

                After thirty minutes in the exhibit we met our tour guide. She was hilarious, mostly because she decided everyone was foreign (they pretty much were) and decided to mime everything she was saying. It was a pretty interesting tour. She took us right into the theater, which is reconstructed as accurately as possible, right down to the thatched roof. It was a Silent Tour, which means the guide talks quietly over a microphone, because there are rehearsals in progress. The last time I was here they were rehearsing for The Tempest. This time it was some actors preparing scenes from Shakespeare’s plays for schoolchildren that are visiting in a week or two. We watched them rehearse one scene from The Taming of the Shrew and one from Julius Caesar. It was pretty cool. Our guide wasn’t holding anything back and afterwards said it wasn’t a big deal we were taking pictures of the inside of the theater “because it’s not like those actors were going to be famous one day anyway.” Tell us how you really feel, tour guide. Overall it was really interesting and educational and I got out of the gift shop without buying anything, unlike last time. There was a Romeo & Juliet tote I really wanted, though.

                After our tour we went to the Tate Modern next door to kill time (www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern). I really enjoy art but I just don’t get modern art. One day I would like to buy an audio guide and actually listen to their explanations. But not today. Fortunately Sarah felt the same way. We just kind of wandered around for an hour, occasionally remarking how a piece of art was cool-looking or, as was more often the case, speculating as to whether or not they were a serial killer.

                After our brief visit to the Tate Modern we went for lunch at Nandos (www.nandos.co.uk . This was exciting for us because we are One Direction fans and Ed Sheeran fans and they are always talking about it. There was technically one in Calgary but it was in the North East and we don’t go there. So finally, two years after we first heard about it, we got to try it. It’s a sit-down restaurant and we had to wait to be seated but you place your order at the front, like in a pub. Sarah and I both had identical conversations with our cashiers.

                Them: Do you have a Nandos card?
                Us: No.
                Them: Do you want one?
                Us: Not right now.
                Them: Are you sure?
                Us: Is it free?
                Them: Yes.
                Us: Okay.

                It was pretty funny. The card actually seems like a pretty good deal. After three visits we are entitled to a free ¼ chicken, which is awesome. I’ll probably hoard mine until I have no money. The food itself was pretty good. I had chicken wings with peri peri sauce. They were very spicy. I liked it. I think next time I will get a ¼ chicken because the girls at the table next to us had that and it looked really good. Overall a very satisfactory meal.

                Up next was Vinopolis (www.vinopolis.co.uk). It is basically an interactive wine museum. You purchase tokens and use them to taste different wines. The exhibits discuss everything from growing techniques to storing temperatures. It was very informative. Unfortunately, Sarah and I didn’t really like the wines. We had gotten the highest token package, thinking the wines would cost 2-3 tokens each. No. They cost 1, for the most part. Apparently we are very set in our wine ways and this was not going to change them. This was also the day we tried sherry, which will henceforth be known as the Devil’s Drink. It is disgusting. We wanted to die. It basically ruined the last half of the experience for us because it was so gross. And we both tried a different kind. So obviously it wasn’t that we chose wrong, it’s that it is evil. It was pretty fun, overall. If you ever thought about doing it I would probably get the middle group of tokens. The first level is too little but the third (the one we got) you suffer through trying to finish. We caved and got a 4 token wine and we still had 6 tokens left. It was brutal.

                And that was pretty much it for the day. It was only our third day in London, after all, so there’s no point cramming the entire day full of activities. Even then, we still didn’t get back to the flat until about 5:30. We did stop at Sainsbury’s to grab some groceries. We’re going to be here awhile so it’s not like we can afford to eat out every night. Of course, our groceries probably don’t resemble your groceries, but we are working on it. We even bought items on sale! Snaps for us!

My Very First London Birthday

Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.

Sammy Hagar

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_birthday.html#LWf0DMqZKbRt8bSp.99

Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.

Sammy Hagar

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_birthday.html#LWf0DMqZKbRt8bSp.99

Every year on your birthday, you get a chance to start new.

Sammy Hagar

Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/topics/topic_birthday.html#LWf0DMqZKbRt8bSp.99

"Every year on your birthday you get a chance to start new" - Sammy Hagar

                By some miracle I wasn’t jetlagged today. I definitely thought I would be because I went to bed at 7:30pm last night. I woke up and it was a little light out and I felt well-rested and I could hear people in the flat. Then I looked at my phone: it was 10:30pm. I woke up again at 1:00am wide awake. It did not look good. I ended up playing around on my phone for an hour until I got tired again. When I checked the phone next it was 8:20, ten minutes before we wanted to get up in the first place.

                We headed out around 9:30am. We went down to the shop to pick up Oyster cards to get around on public transit, then headed to the train station. It’s amazing how much I can kind of remember in terms of getting around. It was after rush hour when we boarded the train so there weren’t many people on it. When we got to London Bridge we headed to the Tower of London. It’s my favorite attraction in London, our first day in the city, and my birthday, so it made the most sense to spend the day there.

                Instead of buying tickets we actually bought an annual membership. For a joint card it’s only £69 – which is only £34.50 each – and it gets you into the Tower of London, Kensington Palace, Hampton Court Palace, Banqueting House and Kew Palace. It’s a pretty good deal and we are already happy we did it. We’re seeing three of those five things in the next four days. We’ll have already saved more money than it cost us. Besides unlimited access to those five palaces for a year, we also get 10% off of gift shop and café purchases and invitations to membership events, such as access to a private room at Hampton Court Palace and rooftop tours. Totally worth it! Check out http://www.hrp.org.uk/SupportUs/Membership/ if you’re interested. Even if you’re just visiting, if you plan on visiting more than one of those you’re actually saving money (to put things in perspective: a one day ticket to the Tower of London would have cost us £23).

                We spent half a day at the Tower of London. A lot of people literally go and see the Crown Jewels, the White Tower and take a Beefeater Tour then leave but I never like doing that. I check out each and every exhibit. By all means, check out the Beefeater Tours – they are absolutely hilarious and a highlight of my visits to the Tower – but there’s so many cool little things to check out. I’m a nerd. Whatever. They play the Laurence Olivier version of Richard III IN AN EXHIBIT ON RICHARD III. Why would I not like this?

                After a solid several hours of touring we remembered we were jetlagged. We had a few hours until our dinner reservations so we headed back to the flat. Sarah had a nap. I don’t nap. But we were glad we were able to rest a bit. At 5:00pm we headed to dinner. Our reservations were for 6:45 but I had no clue where we were going so we left early. We ended up finding an easier way to get there literally as we were waiting for our train and arrived around 6:00pm. Not a big deal. I’d rather be early than rushing.

                At 6:30pm the doors to the restaurant opened. We had chosen to have my birthday dinner at Dans Le Noir (www.danslenoir.com). This is a restaurant that originated in France but has expanded to several countries around the world. Basically, you eat in the dark. It’s cool. To begin, you check in for your reservation. You can either get a cocktail from their menu or a surprise cocktail. Sarah and I both ordered the surprise cocktails. They were absolutely delicious, and I can be quite picky with cocktails and martinis. We sat at a table in the lounge where one of the welcome guys came over and explained the menus. You have four choices: Meat, Fish, Vegetarian or Surprise. That’s all you know. We each picked the three course surprise menu along with a surprise wine pairing for each course. After you lock up all your personal belongings in a locker the manager introduces you to your waiter. Your waiter is blind and teaches you how to maneuver in the dark. You grab his shoulder and he leads you into the restaurant, which is pitch black. And I mean 100% black. I definitely walked into a chair. I was concerned it would be unsettling but it was actually fine. I actually found myself behaving as I normally do in restaurants, including facial and hand gestures, despite the fact Sarah couldn’t see me. I also somehow managed to not spill anything on myself. In fact, the most unnerving part was walking to and from the table. You’re supposed to use your other senses. I didn’t really get that, though I did feel like Daredevil does when he gets pictures from his other senses. They are dead serious about the light, though. One guy snuck a cellphone in and took a call and he actually got kicked out.

                As for the food, like I said we got the surprise menus, which could be anything. You don’t find out what you ate until after dinner, when you’re led back to the lobby. Our starter ended up being some kind of crab, with a rose wine which was delicious. Our main was springbok, ostrich and crocodile paired with red wine. Obviously I would never so much as touch those if I saw them on a normal menu. But I didn’t have a choice and it was actually quite good, especially the herbs on one of them (I think the ostrich). Dessert was cheesecake. You can’t go wrong with cheesecake. And dessert wine.

                We finished up quite early (it only took an hour and fifteen minutes) so we had a quick drink at the pub and headed back to the flat. We’re still jetlagged so exhausted. But it was a pretty damn good first birthday and first day in London.

London Day Zero

“If you were born without wings, do nothing to prevent them from growing.” - Coco Chanel 

    So I’m writing this from London! I made it at long last! I left on Tuesday, April 1^st. Of course, I had a mad dash with my luggage. Everything suddenly became overweight. I ended up leaving some stuff behind – pants, a jacket, a hoodie, etc. I also ended up forgetting some stuff, like my computer mouse, camera, and a pair of shoes. Oh well. It happens. I got to the airport three hours early. It wasn’t necessary because the entire airport was totally dead. Sarah and I hung out with our families and friends and at 8:30 (our flight left at 10:00) we went through security. It was pretty sad saying goodbye. Sarah and I were both travelling with lots of medication so we figured one of us would get dinged at security. Sure enough, Sarah was, but it was because she didn’t separate her laptop from the rest of her stuff. I love random ironies like that.

                We grabbed some drinks and spinach dip at Chili’s while we waited for our flight to board, which occurred shortly after 9:00pm. We were flying British Airways (www.britishairways.com) and if you ever fly them you should totally get their rewards card. We got 4300 points each for our flight from Calgary to London. We can pretty much fly anywhere in Europe for free. A few flights more like that and we can actually fly home for free. It’s awesome. Anyways, I had a carry on suitcase but I guess it was too big (it wasn’t). It wasn’t really a big deal. At that point they couldn’t charge me to check it and I was allowed to take my medication and laptop out before they took it.

                On the plane Sarah and I were at the back of the bus. There was a lot of empty seats which was nice. I hate crowded flights. It was a weekday flight so it was mostly businessmen and one family. Apparently the back is where they put the young ones because it was the two of us, and a guy who looked like Opie from Sons of Anarchy across the aisle. The male flight attendant decided to have fun with us. Sarah and I are both children on airplanes and we were both hyper so of course we were being super obnoxious. When the drinks cart came around I asked for a glass of wine. I don’t sleep well on planes and on my last flight to England I found it helped. Well, they don’t serve glasses they serve quarter-bottles. Sarah gets the same. A few minutes later the flight attendant sets down another set of bottles, saying nothing. We found this amusing. We drank one of our quarter-bottles and saved the other one for dinner. He chastised us for taking so long. Unbeknownst to us he was doing the same thing with the guy across the aisle, except with Heineken. Dinner was served – along with a third bottle. Before we finished dinner he brought us another one. Then it was midnight and I guess they can’t serve alcohol after then. Probably for the best. We both slept good, at least. The meal was decent, for plane food. I had some penne which was pretty tasty and a roll which was less so. Sarah had beef and something that we think is potato. We both watched The Hunger Games: Catching Fire and then went to sleep. I only slept for about two hours so I put on Rush and dozed in and out for awhile. British Airways has an awesome entertainment system. Basically every new release for the last two months. I didn’t see a lot of the television choices but they seemed equally extensive. I watched a couple episodes of Modern Family and embarrassed Sarah by laughing out loud. Sorry but that show is hilarious.

                After a nine hour flight we landed at Heathrow airport a little early. There was a bit of a lineup at customs but not too bad – maybe fifteen minutes. We were surprised to find we were supposed to go through customs together because we were travelling together. In the past when I’ve travelled elsewhere you’ve always gone up with anyone you’re related to. It ended up being a good thing because at this point Sarah was not looking/feeling too hot so I was able to answer most of the questions. It was pretty simple, surprisingly. She asked what visa we were on, how long we were staying, if this was our first entry and what type of work were we hoping to find. She also asked Sarah if she was feeling okay. Oops. Getting our luggage was no problem and within moments we were officially in London.

                We are spending the next few weeks at my aunt’s flat which is quite far from Heathrow – about ninety minutes by train. We both had two suitcases and a carry-on so taking the train was just not going to happen. A few days before we flew out a booked a minicab on www.greentomatocars.com. They give you the price outright and are apparently cheaper than black cabs as they do not run on a meter. They even come in to the airport to meet you with a sign. Our flight was early so we weren’t sure what that meant. I had originally requested the cab pick us up sixty minutes after landing, which would have been 3:00pm. As soon as we left the luggage area, however, I received a text message saying they had dispatched the driver. Five minutes later they said the car had arrived. They even gave us the driver’s mobile number! We had a bit of difficulty finding him but that’s just because we’re stupid. He was really nice and took our five million suitcases to his car. It was a very long drive but there was free wifi which was so handy! I have an iphone so I was able to text my family and friends that I had arrived safely, as well as check Facebook and just diddle around on the internet. Sarah slept.

                When we arrived at my aunt’s flat she gave us the tour. We were both feeling better and the three of us walked to a pub called Wetherspoon (www.jdwetherspoons.co.uk). I love their Caesar salad. You can add bacon to it now. I also got their garlic ciabatta bread with cheese (flying makes me hungry, ok?). Sarah decided to go full English and get bangers and mash. Apparently they were just ok, but I would never eat that anyway. The three of us split the greatest thing on the menu: a pitcher of purple rain. Sandra and I discovered it three years ago and were obsessed with it. It’s Sourz Cherry, blue curaco or whatever that stuff is called, and lemonade. It’s delicious.

                We got back to the flat around 7:30 around which time my exhaustion kicked in and I died. And thus, my first day in London was over.