Thursday: Woke up and actually made it to the British Museum. :) Had a light lunch and walked around... took a bunch of pictures, saw the Rosetta Stone--how cool is that?! It's all so very interesting, but being that the museum is so insanely huge, I predominantly visited the Egypt, Assyra, and Greece halls. Then, took a walk through Covent Garden and onto Picadilly Circus, where we did some shopping. Thought about going to see a movie, but instead went to Fortnum and Mason for traditional English tea! Fortnum and Mason is this huge, super-posh department store, known for their food hall. I bought a selection of teas and jams and marmalades. :) Anyways, we went to their restaurant on the top floor where we had afternoon tea for an hour and a half! (See my London Phone Picture Journal). Bottom up, there were sandwiches: cucumber, ham and cheese, chicken and taragon, and salmon. The next tier had scones: fruit and plain, with clotted cream and jam. The top plate had little cakes: a lemon tart, chocolate cake, chocolate eclair, and fruit tart. When it comes, it doesn't look like much at all... but it was a lot! And then, some more shopping and tried to walk the tea off. Walked up Bond Street... designer shopping mecca! I had to take a picture in front of the Chanel store. :p I didn't go in to any of the shops though... I can get that stuff back in the States (and for cheaper). Thursday night, went out... to some bar, and then another posh and trendy bar called Denim where the bartenders were rather cute, and then we went to some other bar/club thingie... well, that was a lot of fun. :)
Friday: woke up late due to too much partying the night before. Had Indian food for lunch... yum!. Went to the Tower of London where we saw the Crown Jewels of England.. 500+ carat diamonds and everything... it was insane and really amazing. Walking around the towers was very interesting--to think that they started building it in 900 and it is all still there... and you're just sitting on the bench next to it. :) Pretty cool stuff. Anyways, decided to come back to the hotel... was still tired. Then, went to Wagamama again for some yummy noodle soup.
As for the rest of the trip, I'm just relaxing now (Friday night) and going to finish up some shopping tomorrow... then, I leave early Sunday! It's been fun in London--it is a bit huge and sprawling, which kind of sucks. But, I really can't wait to get back home to Boston!! :) Sucks I missed all of the Red Sox games... I tried to watch, but fell asleep every single time. :p I even left the tv on until 4am during game 4 and woke up periodically to check the score. :) Well, I can come back and watch the Patriots... And, I'll have to have an English tea party when I get back as well.
Saturday: My friend Holly arrived, then we walked around Oxford Street (the main shopping street that my hotel is on). We had lunch in Momo, inside the huge department store that takes up a whole block. Selfridges. Selfridges is by far my most favorite store (better than Harrod's). Harrod's is just over the top--where Selfridges is pure, simple shopping. :) Then, quite randomly, Holly and I met up with one of Holly's friends and had dinner at their new "flat"--their flatmate cooked us dinner... quite nice... but weird.
Sunday: Went out for dim-sum at Harbour City restaurant in Chinatown (just north of Picadilly Circus--and walked through that area a little bit). Then, we met up with Holly's friend again, walking throught Green Park and St. James's Park. We also visited Buckingham Palace and walked through a lot of Hyde Park. Then, I went to buy postcards... had to find the cheapest post cards.. they were 15 for 95 pence. Then, it was raining, of course, and had Thai food at the Eat Thai restaurant.
On Monday, we went to the London Eye--this huge ferris-wheel (but does not go nearly as fast) observation thing... it is across the Thames from Big Ben and Parliament. It was a great view of London. After that, we went on a walk through Westminster... seeing Parliament Square and Westminster Abbey. I had fish and chips at a pub... and then we continued walking to Covent Garden. Where we had tea and dessert... sticky toffee pudding! :) Then, we tried to find something to do in the evening, but just went to a pub for a couple of drinks and came back to the hotel.
Tuesday: Took the "Oxfood Tube", really a bus, to Oxford, where my friend Holly went to school. We grabbed some McDonald's in the morning... I ordered a sausage and egg McMuffin... and the guy responded, "You want to know how much it is?", and I said, "No, I want one." Hehe... I guess they don't expect an American accent? Anyways, then we got to Oxford, walked around a bit... saw Trinity College and the Bodliam Library (where any book with an ISDN number has to be). We had a major curry chicken sandwich (must have had half a jar of mayonnaise in it) at Heroes... this small sandwich shop. Then, we started a little pub crawl... had some cider and wine, that was quite nice. The pubs were: the Goose (rather modern pub), the White Horse (a very small, traditional student pub), and the Turf Tavern (a larger tradition pub where we spent most of our time). Then, we were really hungry, so we went to Zizzi, an Italian restaurant with very nice thin-thin crust pizza. :) Yum!
Today, my birthday... woke up, and went to St. Paul's Cathedral... Then, took the tube to Picadilly Circus, where we first went to a pub, and then lunch at Wagamama's, a Japanese noodle soup place, which is quite modern and lively. Then we walked around Carnaby Street and up Regent Street towards Oxford Circus. We walked down Oxford Street more, with the intention of going to the British Museum.... but we were just too tired so we came back to the hotel... and that is where my story pauses for now. I saw a whole entire Muji store--this really cool Japanese stuff. And, there was an Urban Outfitters!!! :) Not nearly the same as Boston... but whatever. There were so many people out and about today--tuckered me out. :p
Be on the lookout for pictures... :)
I went to this really really huge babystore--and found some very cute things that I might get for little mui-mui and gummy. :) Kid's clothes are small enough to pack.
I'll have sporadic internet access here... It's funny--I have to essentially fix the internet access in the rooms... For example, I got this room, which had the (I assume DSL) modem plugged in to the hotel's fax port... so, it just did not work. I switched it to the phone port--and it worked. The room I had before... the phone jack was all messed up! There was a hole where the jack should have been in the wall... I tried to explain this to the people--and they said that it was just not turned on in my room. One lady from reception came up and I showed her--but I don't think she got it. Oh well... everything has worked out now... so, I am happy.
Umm, then, Saturday--it was all preparation for a wedding I was going to. I was getting there early because my sis was one of the bridesmaids. And, it was a beautiful wedding. We had dinner late-ish and then danced the night away.
On Sunday, I visited a friend who had a cute baby girl! All that running around made me really tired--but it was a really fun weekend. :p
