This last week has been fun.   Went out with some coworkers on Tuesday, saw Billy Elliot on Wednesday (so so good, much better than I expected, can’t wai to get home and download the soundtrack), had one last fun Thursday, and yesterday after a couple meetings, the program threw us a pizza lunch.  I spent an awesome couple of hours reading in St. James’ Park, then it was pub dinner and Phantom of the Opera.  We had “restricted view” seats, but they were having some major sound problems, so it wasn’t as wonderful as I was expecting.  Still glad I’ve seen it, and in London to boot.

Cheers!  Catch ya on the flip side.

After a nice Fun Thursday (park time and taking pictures), 5 or 6 of us went over the the Cabinet War Rooms for a personal guided tour (thanks to Daniel).  We got to go in a couple of the rooms the regular public doesn’t (including the cabinet room; I touched Winston Churchill’s chair!), plus we didn’t have to pay the 9 GBP admission fee.  Afterwards, Daniel and I walked around the city a bit trying to find some art school for one of his friends back home and had lunch in an adorable little English pub.  Friday night, after a few detours, ended up at the Zoo bar and club.

On Saturday, I, on a whim, decided to head over to the British Library.  Although the reading rooms all require a pass, they had some excellent exhibits open to the public.  “Sacred” was this really interesting one about Holy Texts from Christianotyy, Judaism, and Islam.  I got to see a bunch of really really old texts, included a Dead Sea Scroll!  The other exhibit was just a collection of all sorts of cool stuff the library had, including hand written Beatles lyrics, a Gutenberg bible, 2 copies of the Magna Carta, original works by Austen, Wilde, Shakespeare and a ton of other writers.  It seemed every time I thougt of something cool that would be intersting to see, I found it 2 exhibit cases away.  I then wandered around that area, and the area over by University College London, before making my way over to my favorite market, Borough Market, for a late lunch with Daniel.  This entire weekend was unfortunately marred by severe Tube closures, which made things a bit difficult to get around. At Borough Market, I had an amazing sausage sandwich (German, not British, interestingly enough) and some really good spiced cider.   Later on, after a few misadventures and complications, a bunch of us ended up with some half-priced cocktails at a nearby pub.

This morning, I dragged Daniel over to The Monument, built by Christopher Wren to commerate the Great Fire of 1666. For 2 GBP, you get the privilege of climbing 300 odd steps to get a great view of the city and a certificate saying you climbed it!  Then it was over to Spitafield’s for yet another one of those amazing brownies and a lunch on Brick Lane.  I love Indian food now and am really going to miss it!  I found what looks like a decent Indian place in Raleigh though, so that’s a small comfort.

On Wednesday, Sarah (my roommate), Christina, and I got dressed up to go see “In Celebration” with Orlando Bloom.  He was good (looking, his acting left room to be desired), but I’m not sure if I got the play.  I never quite figured out what the plot was about, but at least Orlando Bloom looked hot.  Thursday, I spent most of the day packing up the two offices at work (in a skirt, mind you!), only to be told at 3:30 that Simon had gotten the dates wrong and we weren’t going to be moving until next Wednesday.  I imagine I’ll be unpacking a fair amount of boxes tomorrow, oh boy.

I’ve spent the evening starting to plan out my trip to Paris.  I’ve got a relatively long list of things it would be cool to see (including a lot of parks and old churches, which thankfully are free in Paris), so Kate and I are getting together tomorrow to combine plans.  It’s so crazy that this is my last week in London.  I have no idea where the time went; it just now seems like I’ve gotten it figured out enough so that it feels like I live here.

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Definitely not dealing with the boxes at work.  Kate and I are dealing with Paris plans, that should be fun.  It’s our last Monday meeting, which is sad, but there is always good snacks.        Lesson #12 I’ve Learned in London:  Tube closures do make things complicated, even though the stations are much closer than they appear.

Today was summer.  It was nice, with a high of 72 I think, and blue sky.  It shouldn’t be horrible this weekend, but wouldn’t you know it, next week, when we’re all getting ready to leave, it’s clearing up.  Five days in a row, supposedly, with little to no rain and lots of sun!   

On Sunday, I went to another two markets, Spitafields and then one I found randomly, Brick Lane market.  I didn’t get anything (aside from another awesome brownie!), but I enjoyed the atmosphere of these markets.  There both were more of a combination of higher end designers (people there with their own clothes and bags and jewelry) and really good smelling food.  Spitafields has more leather products, while Brick Lane had a lot more food.  I then went in a few vintage clothing shops, got a little “misplaced,” and then had this amazing chicken curry, with nan (amazing fluffy bread sort of like a pita but a million times better) and a chicken marsala appetizer.  I’m going to miss Indian food. 

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Seeign Orlando Bloom pretend to act in “Celebration.” And then college night at the Zoo.                                                             Lesson #11 I’ve Learned in London:  It’s not that what I’m doing at work is boring because my boss is hiding all the good stuff, it’s that Parliament casework itself is often boring.

I will say that it was certainly an experience waiting in line at Waterstone’s in Piccadilly Circus last night. Waterstone’s, with its six floors of beautiful books, is the biggest bookstore in London, and so was, I think, the centerpiece of the UK’s queue party celebrations. We got there 7:00, 7:30, and there were already easily 1000 ahead of us. I have absolutely no idea how many people ended up walking through the bookstore to purchase their book by the time everything was done with, but it must have been a lot. It was total craziness before midnight and all very exciting. What was not exciting, however, was how Waterstone’s “organized” the queue. The queue of people waiting went randomly from one side of the road to the other, and they didn’t even think to bring out barricades to control people queue-jumping until 1am. We didn’t get our books till 1:42am, but I was back at Vandon reading by 2:20. I managed to hang in there until 3:30, when I decided to go to sleep so I could enjoy the story better in the morning. Today, I finished the book sitting in St. James Park with music from the Royal Guards (or some other marching band) playing in the background. It was sweet. Hope everyone else who is reading it enjoyed/enjoys it as much as me!

What was not as much fun, however, was the trip to Brighton yesterday. Thinking we had gotten a good deal for coach ticekts, the three of us (me, Angela, and Daniel) booked our tickets a month in advance. This was, in hindsight, a bad idea since the chances of there being a clear weekend this summer seem to be about .01%. Needless to say, it cold and overcast when we got on the bus at 8am (after Angela forgot her tube pass and Daniel his ticket, it was an eventful morning). We then sat in traffic to get out of London for awhile, and as soon as that was finished, it started down pouring. At some point, we had to switch buses because the driver was going to run out of driving hours. That actually was nice, since we got a better driver, even if the bus itself felt like the Arctic. The DJ on the radio at some point referred to Friday as something along the lines of one of the darkest, rainest days Britain had seen in awhile. And we wanted to go to the beach.

We got into Brighton a bit after 10:30, about half an hour late. Once there, we saw the very strange rock beach, stuck our feet feet in the surprisingly not freezing water, had delightful fish n chips, walked up and down the “famous” Brighton Pier, and had cheap and delicious ice cream overlooking the ocean.

This posed a problem, as it was 1pm, and our super cheap coach tickets were for a 6:00 return bus. We went to the bus station, where we just missed the 1pm bus, bought new 10 GBP tickets, went and saw some palace that looked vaguely Indian and whose name I can’t remember, read the review of the Harry Potter book, and went back to the bus stop to catch the 2pm bus. Just before 2, however, the site supervisor announced that there was bad flooding all across Southern England and parts of London, and that everything would be extremely delayed. Around 2:30, a coach going to Gatwick (airport) showed up and it was decided that all the London bound would get on that coach and change at Gatwick. However, once we got to Gatwick, National Express informed us that there weren’t any coaches on their way to London, so they were going to put us on the 30 minute Gatwick Express. Angela and I got really excited about this, but alas, it obviously didn’t go as planned. For about 45 minutes, every 5 or 10 minutes or so, someone would announce over the PA system that a train to Victoria was delayed or canceled.

A non-express train bound for Victoria eventually arrived, and National Express decided we could ride on it, so we shoved ourselves onto the standing room train. We then stood like that for 2 hours (the train was scheduled for about 50 minutes) as we crawled at 2 miles an hour through what seemed like every single train station between Gatwick and Victoria Station. We sat in a queue waiting to get into Victoria (since all sorts of other trains were also delayed) for about 20 minutes within site of the station; we could have walked faster. Seriously, no lie. Anyway, after finally getting back at 6, five hours after we had wanted to leave, I was not overly thrilled with Brighton. I’m sure it is fantastic and cute and all sorts of other adjectives, but it was so totally not worth the maybe 3 hours we were there. As we kept saying, however, “at least it will make a good travel story.” Thus, why I’m telling you here. By the end of of the train trip, saying “remember that time we went to Brighton” was good for a good five minutes of laughter.

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow: More Indian food from out on Brick Lane after I go to (yet another) market, Spitafields. Lesson #9 I’ve Learned in London: The British transportation system, although better than the states, is not always as wonderful as I thought it was.

G’night, cheers! It’s 11:30 and I’m exhausted. Catch you stateside shortly!

Simon and I hauled three boxes (holding almost 5000 flyers, I never knew paper could be so heavy!) on the tube across London to meet up with a group of Labour and Barry faithful. There were a few older members of the Party and the local Council, Barry’s daughter, a couple former/current/future members of Barry’s staff, five or six local high school kids, and me. We split up into a few groups and headed out. We then went around putting these folded leaflets (you wouldn’t believe how many different ways I can tri-fold paper now, I wonder if that counts as a skill I can put on my resume) in people’s mail slots. I couldn’t believe that you were actually allowed to slide them into the mail slots on people’s doors, instead of having to stick them around the flag on mailboxes. Different rules, I suppose. Afterwards, Barry took the whole bunch of us out for Indian curry. All the food I tried was so amazing! I’m not sure if I’d know what to order if I went again, but still, so good. Some was a bit spicy, but I managed. Even the spinach thing was good.

On Tuesday, a group of 6 Vandon kids went out to Wimbolden for greyhound racing. I wasn’t sure if I would enjoy it, but it ended up being entertaining enough for a couple hours. The whole thing — right down to the ugly carpet — had a very bowling alley feel, if that makes sense. It was free admission night (plus a free drink coupon!), so Eric gave us £5 for “food money” (which I used to bet and upgrade my drink, plus walk away with a pound or two). I bet on my first thing ever — Ginger Ninja to win in the hurdles. She didn’t, but she did come in second, so I was proud of her. “Ginger” is sort of a derogatory term Brits call redheads, but since I’d never heard of it before, it really doesn’t bother me. I think it’s kind of amusing actually.

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Um, let me think? Could it possibly be HARRY POTTER COMES OUT AT 12:01?!??!? Yeah, I think that’s it. Also, to make it the best Friday ever, I’m going to Brighton. It is supposed to rain, but hey, I’m used to that by now. Mostly, it’s all about Harry Potter.                                                                                    Lesson #9 I’ve Learned in London: British fruit is shaped funny.

Friday, Daniel and I started off by going to St. Paul’s Cathedral. After handing over even more of my money to the Church of England, we looked around at the prettiness and climbed an assload of stairs. The first gallery, the Whispering Gallery, looked out over the inside of the cathedral, but the two outside galleries gave you this amazing view of the the city. It was rainy and cloudy (hey, it’s London….) but still a great experience. After that, we went to the British Musuem. I got to see parts of the Parthenon, the Rosetta Stone, and Egyptian Mummies, which was all I wanted to see. Needless to say, the British have managed to “borrow” some really cool stuff from around the world. We weren’t there too long until we went back to my favorite museum, the Imperial War Museum. I went through a WWII exhibit with so many cool artifacts, saw the really well displayed exhibit on wars since 1945, and got to play in the Children’s Exhibt on WWII. So much was interactive, which I love. Mostly because I feel like I’m five sometimes. That night, we went to “Club Verve,” this bar/club thing and paid too much for drinks while dancing to really random music.

Saturday, I just wanted to spend some time in the city by myself. I got up pretty early (by Saturday standards at least) and headed over to Portobello Road Market. I got a little misplaced on the way there, but I ended up walking around in this really posh area of South Kensington/Notthing Hill which was sweet. Then, I walked up and down a lot more of the market then I had before, just taking it all in. Since it wasn’t raining, I didn’t even mind the tourists. Then I decided to head over to St. Bartholmews the Great, this really old church Shaughn the walking tour guide had told me about. I got a little “misplaced” again, since the tube stop I wanted was closed. However, I ended up finding the remains of the London Wall, the original wall the Romans built when they took over England before it was called England so very long ago. St. Bart’s was awesome; I am seriously in love with old stone churches. Walking around the area, I then found St. Bartholmews the Less. Weird. Unfortunately, they were doing construction on the inside, so I couldn’t see much.

I then made my way over to Borough Market, which is what I’m pretty sure heaven will look like. It was an entire market – two or three actually – filled with all sorts of food. Everything smelled so good and most booths had samples out. I had this amazing lamb burger, and I bought this huge chocolate fudge brownie of awesomness and some nectarines (5 for £1, since it was near the end of the day!) for later. I then went over to Waterstone’s in Piccadilly Circus to reserve Anne’s copy of Harry Potter. That ten minute stop turned into an hour since I just sat in one of their comfy leather coaches reading. There were six (!) floors full of books on every possible topic imaginable. Since the tube was kind of crowded, I then just decided to walk back to Vandon. I found this cute little church market, and then walked back through St. James park eating my brownie and nectarine. Before Daniel and I left for the London Eye, I had the rest of my brownie and a nectarine for dinner (fruit, Mum, so it was okay!). London Eye is this giant enclosed ferris wheel for tourists. It was obviously touristy, and pretty expensive, but still, the view was unbelievable. I took about 549082946 slightly blurry pictures of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We ended the day at Wetherspoon’s, this chain of bars/restaurants that is incredibly cheap. I only wish I’d discovered it sooner.

Sunday, I got up early again and headed back to Camden Market. I wandered around a bit and looked at the locks. I found this cute stall/store selling really interesting (and unbelievably cheap) Indian-like goods. I later bought a dress, although I unfortunately got buyers remorse about 20 minutes later. Meh, I guess the dress at the very least will always remind me of this weekend. I then met Daniel at Primark, where I hardly spent any money, I was so proud of myself. We then had a picnic in Hyde Park (premade sandwiches, chips, my leftover nectarines, and wine from the bottle. I felt so classy. Not). I then saw the infamous Speaker’s Corner, and decided to walk through Hyde Park to Harrods. Unfortunately, these 20 minutes turned out to be the only 20 minutes this weekend it wanted to rain in London. Oh well, Hyde Park was still pretty.

I made a quick pit stop in H&M, where I found this green and white seersucker halter dress for only £8 that I most definitely do not have buyer’s remorse about. I was in Harrod’s for 45 minutes or so. I went up this Egyptian themed staircase, used the “luxery” bathroom, saw the pet store and food halls (including a Krispy Kreme, it smelt like NC), and generally felt incredibly out of place, even with all the tourists. I kept thinking “my jeans cost $30 at American Eagle, I SO do not belong here.” I bet Harrod’s does a lot of by appointment shopping, just so people who can afford $300 polo shirts don’t have to deal with the sweaty gross tourists.

So, in short, I loved my weekend. Today at work wasn’t great, but Simon and I had “tea” (he had a cappuccino and bought me a Diet Coke) and talked about our weekends, and his hometown, and working in Parliament, which was really nice of him. Tomorrow, Sarah and I have our tour of Big Ben, and then Central is paying for us to go see Greyhound racing. I’m not sure if I’m going to enjoy that, but it’s a chance to experience part of the culture I think. Then Wednesday, Barry (my MP) is doing this free curry dinner thing, so I’ll be up in the constituency Wednesday night. Thursday after work it is Platform 9 ¾, hopefully a Wetherspoon’s night, and then Friday, it’s Brighton (and sun! and water!) and then HARRY POTTER!!! *Insert Sarah Martin squeal of happiness*

Cheers! Sorry this is so long. Mad props to anyone who actually finished reading it.

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Touring Big Ben. Yay, more stairs!                                                                                                                                                        Lesson #9 I’ve Learned in London: I didn’t realize how much I’d missed having my iPod until I was using my Mum’s shuffle she sent me this weekend. Sometimes silence is nice to just take it all in, but gosh, my thoughts get boring sometimes.

PS. Speaking of music players, any thoughts on what I should get to replace Bill, my sadly departed iPod? I’m not sure if I really need a full iPod, I’ve been thinking about either an iPod Nano or the iRiver Clix. Thoughts? Suggestions?

PPS. I’m just printing this off and using it as my journal entry for this weekend that I’m required to keep. Does that make me a bad person?

Less than 120 hours till Harry Potter!!

Anyway, I’m going to stop thinking about that now. The last couple days have been fun. At work, besides spending way too much time with the copier, I’ve actually been getting to do some real casework on a consistent basis. Mostly because Alex is so far behind he figures I can’t screw it up that bad, but hey, I’ll take it. I haven’t been getting off early, though, which kind of sucks. But, yesterday Alex bought me a beer after work and gave me a crash course in Labour politics. Pretty much fantastic, for a dork like me. Speaking of being a dork, on Saturday, I might be going to a taping of a tv show where the British equivalent of the Iraq Study Group present their findings to Gordan Brown and other politicians. I got a call saying I had the tickets, but they haven’t been emailed to me, so I have to call and find out. Plus, they overbook, so depending on how long I have to wait in line, I might not end up staying.

Tuesday, Daniel made this amazing Mexican meal for just about all of our group. Cheese enchiladas, rice, carne guisada (beef tips in a really good sauce), guacamole, and then for dessert, cream cheese brownies, chocolate cake, and this fruit layer cake. AMAZING!!! And since Daniel doesn’t like beans either, I didn’t even have to eat around those. Walnuts, you’re going to have to step it up this semester if you want to compete!

Yesterday, we went on another one of those walking tours with Shaughn. This one was around St. Paul’s and part of London south of the Thames. It was enjoyable, but not quite as good as his others, I think, mostly because it was a lot of “here is where old building or theatre once stood” and I’d spent a fair amount of time in that area over the weekend. Still, we ended up at The George, one of the oldest pubs in England (16something, I think), where we stayed for a bit for “historical research purposes.”

This weekend, I’m going to try and fit in just about all the touristy things I’ve been meaning to do. St. Paul’s, British Museum, London Eye, back to the Imperial War Museum, Portobello Market again, Hyde Park, maybe going to a service at the really old church I found on that other London Walk and seeing Avenue Q. Plus, I’ve going out for Indian food tonight, which should be good, and my favorite, cheap.

Cheers!

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Going to St. Paul’s. I’m beginning to fall in love with old churches.

Lesson #7 I’ve Learned in London: London “summers” are cold. Like Gainesville in late February/early March cold.

Saturday, after shopping a bit, Jess showed up.  We watched some of the Tour de France go by outside Vandon (actually the warmup to the actual Tour, but who is counting), then headed out to meet up with some of her friends.  After getting stuck in Tour traffic, we just wandered around the city for a few hours.  We spent a bunch of the time south of the Thames, an area I hadn’t spent much time in, which was interesting.  We had dinner in Chinatown (where Daniel and I later found a great and cheap Chinese bakery) and then Jess and her friends went to go see a play.  I met up with her later at the Cock Tavern, which was dissapointingly not so good.

Today we went to the Tate Modern in the morning.  There was a really good exhibit on Global Cities that I enjoyed, but other than that, I didn’t really understand a lot of the art.  Still, new experiences and all that.  After talking a long walk over, which included a stop at a pub that served Thai food (and good Thai food at that), we went to the Imperial War Musuem.  It’s such an amazing and well-down museum; we were there for close to three hours, and I’m going back next weekend.  There was a very moving Holocuast exhibit (not nearly as big as the one in DC, but still well presented), an exhibit/movie about genocide, a really cool one on MI5, MI6, and the secret service.  Then, in the world war exhibits, they have “a trench experience” and “a blitz experience” that sort of recreate the surroundings for you.   Really interesting and interactive, although I’m glad I’m not claustrophoic or scared of the dark. 

Work this week will be different.  Robin is on vacation before she starts her new job with a different MP, and Alex is out of the office a fair amount this week as well.  I’m not sure how much Simon will have for me to do, since he’s just started himself, but we’ll see.  At least I have my own computer again.    I got out early a bunch last week, we’ll see if that happens again. 

Angela reserved our Harry Potter books on Friday.  I’m so excited. 12 more days!!!

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow:  Having my own computer at work.  And the meatloaf I think we’re making for dinner.

Lesson #7 I’ve Learned in London: I hate tourists.  Even when I am one.  They’re everywhere.

Speaking of which, this weekend is shaping up to be fun. Some more fun in the park, cheap Primark shopping, maybe a trip to the Imperial War Museum, and then Saturday afternoon and Sunday, Jess will be in town. We’ll probably go to the Tate Modern, watch part of the Tour de France that is going RIGHT by my hotel, hopefully a market or at least a park, and plenty of pubs. I’m excited.

Tomorrow is the 4th, but since I’m here, that means work. Oh well, maybe they’ll let the American off early? The Central College group is going to see Lord of the Rings the musical tomorrow night, and then afterwards some of us are going out to celebrate. Daniel and I practiced celebrating today though; we had chili dogs, the Velveeta Mac n Cheese Mum sent, and Cokes for dinner. Yay America!

Thing I’m Looking Forward to Tomorrow: Free theatre.  Well, prepaid theatre, but close enough.

Lesson #6 I’ve Learned in London: July can be cold.  Even for a Canadian.