London Calling

After our first class Eurostar voyage to London (mile for mile, the most money I've ever spent to travel), Brittany, Jennie (same Jenny from Paris, but this is the correct spelling), did our best to turn our frowns upside down and get excited for the second part of our trip. Conveniently we were staying in a hostel right across the street from the St. Pancras train station, so in contrast to Paris, we were already doing better, having made it to our accommodation just 10 mins after arriving in the city.

St. Pancras Station

The first stop after checking into our hostel was Trafalgar Square. We got some pictures and then moseyed into The National Gallary which housed more very famous paintings. I really appreciated finally seeing these in person, after having studied them in Art History at Etown. We also sought shelter and warmth in the Gallary because it was pretty frigid outside.

Next, we headed to Leicester Square to try to get discount tickets for the show 'Wicked' - seeing this show was much anticipated part of the trip. There were many ticket booths along the square from which to choose. At the first one we were kindly told that we would have better luck in the morning. It was nice of them to tell us this rather than try to sell us the tickets at full price. Since it's such a popular show, you can't always get good deals on the price of tickets. From there we went through Soho to Oxford Street (London's shopping street). I was very impressed with the stores and fashions of London. I don't think I had very many expectations for London. I was just looking forward to an English speaking city, but I was delighted by the vibe of the city, the restaurants, fashions and people the entire time.

Entrance to Chinatown

I ended up buying a wallet (zipper style with a beige floral design and gold glitter), which I had been looking for to replace the blue one I got in Taiwan that was falling apart. Dinner that night was at the Irish Pub next to our hostel. We were so pleased with the White Russians we'd ordered at the Irish Pub in Paris, that we were craving them again. However, this was more of a beer house, less of a cocktail bar, thus the bar tender didn't know how to make one. When Jennie tried to describe it, he came up with a concoction that is best described as hot chocolate mix, milk, and vodka....I didn't taste it, but she said it was horrible. The pub redeemed itself with pretty tasty Irish fare. I don't remember what my dish was called but contained a lot of creamed vegetables, a bready side dish and squash.

The next morning we went back to Leicester Square on quest for Wicked tickets. This time, we were in luck! Only 30 pounds for tickets. Now, we had really gotten out of our funk, even if the savings wasn't enough to make up for the train ticket.

The show would be the next night, a nice cap to our trip, and something to look forward to when typical last day of trips are looked at with sorrow because they are just that, the last day of a great trip. Next, we headed to the meeting point for our tour. I got lots of pictures of statues and buildings, just to prove I was there, but my favorite pictures are from Buckingham Palace (more pics on facebook) because I was most excited during that part of the tour.

I could have done without that last hour because by that point my feet were frozen and it was actually painful to walk (although I did get picture of Big Ben and in a red phone booth). We had to stop in a souvenir shop so I could find a place to take off my boots and warm my toes (should have packed some toe-warmers) haha! Our tour concluded at a really good fish and chips restaurant and we got to sit down and get to know some other travelers - at our table was a 20-something American girl teaching English in Spain, her best friend from the Mid West visiting, and a California girl studying abroad in France.

On the London to-do list was Harrod's famous department store. It was madly crowded with the commencement of January sales, so we were happy to do a once-around the cosmetic section and leave.

Remember the Texan MBA students we met in Paris? Their next stop was also London, and since we'd exchanged numbers in Paris we were able to make plans to meet up in London. Although neither of us girls were up for clubbing, they suggested going to "Tiger Tiger" a dance club chain in London. We didn't have any better suggestions, so we agreed to meet there. We were barely dressed in club attire, as we quickly noted from the dozens of scantily clad girls. It ended up being a decent night, partially from the people watching we did. In general, the crowd was younger than us, probably because it was the club's weekly "university night," and it was funny to watch them interact - the boys trying to impress the ass-baring girls with their smooth dance moves.

The next day, after lunch at a Thai restaurant (at my request) we started to Covent Gardens. Now a hand-crafts farmers market, surrounded by gourmet food stores, it was formerly the "red light" district of London occupied by prostitutes. That is, until nun's moved in and taught the prostitutes how to sell things other than themselves. The prostitutes learned how to make hand crafts and sold them at their previous posts which became gardens. That is why it's still a market, and the name "Covent Gardens" originated from the nun's using it as a Convent. I loved Covent Garden because one of the shops was a boutique cupcake bakery, where we indulged in sparkly, creamy confections.

Yes, that's an Oreo "cookies'n'cream" cupcake :)

Brittany took us on our own tour of the part of London known as "the city" - the old town. She'd been there a few months before, so she led us to Tower Hill to see the castle and famous Tower Bridge ("London Bridge" is a common misnomer).

We headed back to our hostel to get ready for Wicked. It was everything I'd hoped it would be, except for the British accents. I'd already known the songs so well, that the accents tainted the lyrics at times (especially "Dancing through Life"). It was a touching story though, with a lot of symbolism and great messages about friendship, sacrifices, and society.

Britt and I were a little over excited as we waited in our seats of the Victoria theater

Early the next morning, we took the return trip of our original round trip train tickets back to Paris, trained to the airport, flew back to Geneva, I trained to the train station, trammed to the bus stop, bussed to the free parking lot, and drove home to Andilly, exhausted but satisfied with the nice break provided by my 8 day Parisian/London getaway.