A Weekend in London.

London was very different than what I expected just because I hadn't realized that the city was so VAST and full of things to see and things to do! Not that this is necessarily a bad thing, but when you are walking everywhere and have a time limit, then it becomes a problem.

We stayed at a hostel called Clink 78 which was pretty decent and it was very close to King's Cross, which was the most important thing. Our room was BRIGHT ORANGE no joke and shall we say, very intimate. On Saturday we took a tip based walking tour that lasted about 2 and a half hours and was very informative. We hit a lot of the buildings such as Big Ben, The Houses of Parliament, etc. but I would like to go back to see more of the Changing of the Guards ceremony at Buckingham Palace. For a late lunch we went to a restaurant called The Verve where I had fish and chips with mushy peas. We also went to the National Galley, which made me so happy because there is a room literally filled with Monet paintings, such as "The Thames Under Westminster", which was absolutely gorgeous. Also, I had never been a fan of Pissaro before but a couple of his paintings changed my mind. That night we had dinner at a random English pub and then we were off to the Absolut Ice Bar which was AMAZING. The drink containers were made of ice, the seats were made of ice, EVERYTHING! We had to leave a bit early because the tube stopped running at 12:30 and we had to go back to King's Cross station. When we got back to the hostel, nobody was particularly tired but this random Frenchman named Phil chatted us up because he couldn't sleep and was bored so my friends did that while I went out with a couple other friends for late night food and some bonding chat.

Sunday we woke up early (well I did at least to shower) for the free breakfast aka toast and cereal provided by the hostel. Then we were off to find Abbey Road before the traffic got too bad, but stopped to pose with pictures at Platform 9 & 3/4. The Harry Potter geek in me rejoiced. Oh and by the way? Platform 9 & 3/4 is not actually between 9 and 10. Abbey Road is actually pretty far away and is in a residential neighborhood. We stopped by the studios but of course we are not allowed in so we opted to reenact The Beatles cover of Abbey Road. It was quite fun because there were lots of cars whizzing by and we would have to run out into the road. After, we stopped for lunch at a Thai restaurant and did some good ol' shopping. Then it was off to the NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM. We honestly did not have enough time there. The line for the dinosaur exhibit is gigantic, but worth it! I like to think about the world when dinosaurs ruled the lands. But I spent most of my time in the Aquatic mammal section, learning about how whales get beached and how there are Narwhals can be born with two tusks and that happens in about 1 out of 500. Neat eh? I also saw the Commerson dolphin, but recognized it as so before I even read the sign. Oh. Yeah. Hardcore sea creature fan right here! After we went to Piccadilly Circus to do some souvenir shopping and some of the group wanted to eat at Hard Rock Cafe but I personally had to finish my essay for my Criminology midterm (whoops) so I headed back early with the boys. We picked up some Chinese food from a little hole in the wall restaurant that was so yummy. I miss Asian food. I think I will probably go crazy when I go back. Actually, I know I will.

So...that was the extent of my weekend in London, give or take a few details and stories.