It's been a while since I last wrote, mostly because I've a bit of a nomad for the 3.5 weeks. Here's a quick attempt at the recap, written in installments to keep from boring you to tears. So without further ado, part one of my escapades-- London.
Greg and I decided a while ago to forgo Christmas gifts and to take a trip together instead--who needs another thing cluttering up our respective homes, and what thing could ever be as awesome as a couple days of memories?
So, after several less-than-restful nights working like a madwoman to finish my essays, and one grand all-nighter [after which I had to plan my next essay with my supervisor. Thank goodness he's the patient type, because I'm sure I sounded like a crazy...direct quote: "I want to write about....love....in the poem?" Not my finest moment]....I packed my suitcase and left town the next day on the first bus south!
I met Greg in Edinburgh, and we hopped on a train to London shortly thereafter. Greg describes my mental state as an "academic hangover"- symptoms include exhaustion, hunger/dehydration, mood swings, and the inability to shut up about the thing you just submitted. Poor guy just wanted a vacation, and I made him look at my transcription of a 14th century poem. Oops.
Anyway, we finally made it to London and checked in at our hostel right near King's Cross. Not the most thrilling neighborhood, but definitely close to a lot of interesting areas, as we found out later. Despite the fact that all I wanted was a nap, hunger dictated that I rally to forage for food, so we dumped our bags and headed out on the town for some grub and exploration.
We walked a few minutes, and found ourselves in a really pretty area (read: decorated in many sparkling lights) where we were totally overwhelmed by all the delicious-looking restaurants. But once we selected one, and had enough food in our systems to figure out what we actually wanted to do, the conversation went something like this:
Greg: What do you feel like doing tonight?
Me: I'm either up for falling asleep in my dinner, or having an epic, raging night out on the town, but nothing in between.
Greg: I think we can manage that.
However, we found out very quickly that we were too tired, too American, too nerdy, too lazy and too poor to really make a go at any of the hoppin' nightlife surrounding us. Now you're saying, "No, Christy, you are so super cool and exotic with your American accent that I'm sure all the Londoners were just totally in awe that you graced them with your presence."
So I'm sure it's going to come as a HUGE SHOCK that, no, you're wrong. At the really swanky cocktail bar next door to our restaurant we were judged for the following reasons:
1) American accents (associated with obnoxious, dumb tourists. which we kinda were)
2) I'm pretty sure that one or both of us was wearing flannel.
3) We tried to order wine, which was apparently offensive behavior in a cocktail bar.
4) We paid with Scottish bank notes (fun fact: even if an English establishment does except Scottish notes--they're the same value, but places like Underground kiosks don't-- most places down there frown on it, or at least look at you like you're trying to give them fake money. But looking at this selection, can you really blame 'em?)
So, after wising up and ordering a cocktail (the least we could do for this poor, harassed bartender, right?), we decided that we'd better seek more friendly / less pretentious environs, so we set out a-wandering again....
And we stumbled on this jazz and blues club, right on the corner. Here's why we fit RIGHT in:
1) Everyone was wearing flannel.
2) The music was too loud for anyone to care/know if anyone else was an foreigner.
3) One of the fanciest drinks was a hot toddy. Pretty difficult to mess up.
4) The friendly staff didn't care about our banknotes.
So we listened to gravelly voices and harmonicas and people-watched in this epic, crowded hole-in-the-wall into the wee hours of the night...and loved every minute of it. Not quite a raging night out on the town, but certainly more fun than sleep :)
The next day, our first and only full day in London was mostly devoted to all the Christmas shopping we failed to do before we left our respective homes. To accomplish this mission, we headed over to the Christmas market in Hyde Park. What a kitschy, fantastic place.
Exhibit A:
(that's Greg, by the way. Ain't he cute? But the kitschy part's in the background. Look at all that kitsch.)Since it was mostly a day of wandering and looking at things, I'll just hit you with the highlights of amusing things we saw in the market and beyond:
-a animatronic moose, serenading the crowd with Christmas carols (I wish I had a photo.)
-a life-size, plastic Santa, making an inexplicable punching motion
-a lot of potato-and-sausage-based German food, mulled wine and honey mead (yum.)
-wooden bow-ties (apparently they're all the rage?)
-...and other handmade crafts, galore--hellllooo, Christmas gifts!
-carnival rides, games, and a thousand seagulls that almost attacked my head...
-after a trek, Buckingham Palace
-St. James' Park (where I got dive-bombed by some rather aggressive birds...sensing a theme?) still gorgeous, though....
-Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, blah blah blah--but look at the pretty lights!
We did a little more close-to-home/hostel wandering later that night, and of course, found a delicious restaurant for our last night in London....but all in all, a pretty low-key trip in terms of sightseeing. It was just fun to take in the city at Christmas and spend time goofin' around with my favorite person. (cheesy, but true)....At any rate, on our third day, we just headed to the airport, hopped on a plane, and landed in the good ol' USA!
WOW, that post was WAY longer than I intended--Guess that's the consequence of having written a 4,000 word essay this week...(more on that hilarious process later).
Coming up next, planes, trains and automobiles, Part II: The [whole freakin'] USA
