London Calling

Ok, London was just plain awesome. After five weeks of learning Italian, using my phrasebook (the spine has broken, btw), struggling to remember how you pronounce "Chianciano"... Being in an english speaking country was incredibly relaxing. Even if I kept wanting to say things I'd heard on BBC and knowing I wouldn't pronounce them right and I also sound like an American to them and they're not going to be fooled...

Now, before I really start off this story I want to give an update on my knee. It's better. It doesn't hurt anymore, hasn't for weeks, it's still stiff but I can almost get a 90 degree angle when I'm sitting in a chair. I can walk without a crutch, but that's not a great idea over uneven ground. So, going to London, walking around all day wasn't a problem at all, I just wasn't that fast getting around.

So, I made my plans to go to London about two weeks before I went, in the sense of booking my flight and hostel. And my hostel was absolutly amazing. I couldn't get any good pictures of it, unfortunately, but you know those large blocks of London that were built with one level below ground with the wrought iron fence around them, where the below ground level makes an alley around the house? We'd call the brownstones if they were in Boston? That's the kind of place I was staying in. White-washed five story Victorian, that if you went out the front door to the right you were 30 feet from being in Hyde Park, and if you went two blocks to the left you were at the Natural History Museum. Queensgate Road. It looked so Regency romance novel I felt like I needed some gloves and a calling card.

The lady at the front desk got up every morning to make Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, the scent of which would rise up from the basement kitchen/sitting room all the way to our rooms, waking us long before our alarms went off. It was so soft and hot on the inside you just got a slice and burrowed around inside of it, scalding your fingers and covering them in smears of chocolate.

My friends who live in London recommended I get something called an off peak pass for the tube, which is basically a 24 hour pass that's not meant to be used for commuting to work. It was about 4 pounds, and worked practically everywhere in London including on the buses. It was a really good deal, since on the second day I was playing with one of the automatic ticket machines and decided to see how much it was just for a single fare to Camden Town from my hostel, and it came to about 5 pounds 50 pence. For a single ride!

So, Friday I went to Madame Tussaud's which had everyone except John Barrowman (what?! nooooooo!)- it did have Patrick Stewart, though, and Johnny Depp, and Amy Winehouse. Probably the picture I took with Amy Winehouse is the funniest of all the ones I took, since she's got her hand up flailing around with her mic and it looks like she's socking me in the face. Then I went to Forbidden Planet, which is just insanely huge. There's two floors and the basement level is all books...

Then I went to The Who Shop, which is wayyyyy out in the boonies of London and past where my tube pass is supposed to work, which actually led to one of the funnier bits of my trip. I didn't realize it was outside my travel zone since I was new to reading the tube map (which is a work of art) until I was in the station and the gate wouldn't let me out when I scanned my tube pass. I figured the gate was just broken, but when the second wouldn't let me out I figured out what was wrong and went to find a station master to apologize to and see what I was supposed to do- pay the fare probably, since it was an accident. Well, over at the information desk I couldn't get any of the employees to pay attention to me, even after I rang the bell and waved, so I turned around to see if anyone was lose in the station who could help me. And they've got these bigger gates for wheelchairs and whatnot, and this teacher is holding the gate open for his elementary school class to get through and he seems to think I can't get through the regular gates because of my crutch, so he lets me out. I figure I'll just explain it when I get back, since the shop is going to close, and go do some Doctor Who shopping. And I saw the Empty Child mask! Well, after I'd been shopping in the Who Shop for a bit I decide to head back to my part of town and go back to the tube stop, which is pretty empty this time of day, and there's about twenty gates so I'm pretty surprised as I'm trying to get the attention of one of the employees that some guy who's in a huge hurry gets in the gate behind me, slides his oyster card (it's what all the locals have), and shoves me through the gate. And the station master sees this (but not me trying to get his attention ten seconds before) and comes over to yell at the guy for shoving me. The station master apologizes to me and tells me to go get on the tube, and he makes the guy go back out and go through the gates again, berating him all the time about being in a hurry... I figured it was just a sign from the universe and went back to my part of town, at which point I'd only had three or so hours of sleep so I wound up falling asleep in the hostel early that night.

The next morning I went to the Camden Town Markets which is north of London and is like a big flea market, vintage clothing, punk, hello kitty... Well, anything can be bought there, I'm sure. And you haggle, and it's all pretty cheap anyway. It's where I spent most of my money in London, buying a sort of highwayman looking coat, some interesting jewelry, scarves...

After that I had to rush back over by my hostel to go to the Natural History Museum to see the dinosaurs and meetup with some internet friends of mine I know through Nanowrimo, and we wound up seeing pretty much everything in the museum except the earthquake room since we both got too hungry and I didn't think it was a good idea with my knee. We wound up going to a Tesco for crumpets and chocolate then heading across London to a really fantastic pub for the best meat pie I've ever had. After that I rode the London Eye, which is a great view of London, just fantastic with all the little lights twinkling.

Anyway, I was so busy last week with two tests and a group presentation that the majority of this post sat in draft mode on blogger all week and over the weekend, and I didn't realize until Dad was berating me Sunday night that I might have made everyone think I was killed in London or something. I wasn't!

And I wanted to say a special thank you to Charles for his incredibly detailed emails about London. It was like having Charles venturing around London with me, pointing stuff out, which was really fantastic.