Day 28: The One When She Was In London

I was up at 4:45 am…after going to bed around 1 am. Suffice it to say I was essentially a zombie. Despite the early wake up time, we still ended up running to catch the RER to get to the train station: Gare du Nord. With the RER entirely empty, we seized the moment to take wacky photos. Who would we be if we didn’t end up doing that!?

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Eurostar at the station was beyond inefficient. It took longer to get through than lines at the airport. How is that even possible? I do not even know.

Needing some coffee to survive, I grabbed a latte at Paul before boarding. I am just going to come out and say it. It was probably one of the worst coffees I have had in a very long time and that is saying something.

For some reason, the train ride was incredibly wobbly which in turn made me very VERY dizzy. I slept through the Chunnel which is really just a big black tunnel so I'd say the same thing with my eyes closed as I would have with my eyes open.

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Arriving at 8:30 in the morning, we walked to Mayfair where we dropped off our bags with a friend until we had access to the apartment we would be staying in for the next two days. During the walk, I almost got hit by a car. "Why?" you ask. Well, that is because the British are CRAZY. Actually no. It’s because they decided that they wanted to drive on the other side of the street, even when the rest of the world does it the opposite way.

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We dropped off our bags in some hoity-toity building where beautiful women greeted us and looked at us strangely. Apparently a Gentlemen’s Club also has offices for an activist group. I was a little confused about the specifics, so instead I just admired the interior design.

With the office being incredibly close to Piccadilly Circus, we decided to peruse the area some and check out the Royal Academy of Arts. Stopping into a room focused on Architecture, I found the concept of "tearing nothing down" fascinating; the little exhibit focused on buildings that stood on stilts above other buildings. Ideas for my summer project are growing, and I am excited to take into account all that I see.

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Heading next to Carnaby Street, we simply strolled around until our plans changed. Not expecting to pick up our bags until later, the apartment we were retiring at could only give us the keys now. Thankfully we had not travelled far from the inconspicuous Gentleman’s Club so we quickly made our way back, picked up the bags, took the tube to pick up the keys, took the tube to the apartment, and then took the keys back since the person we picked them up from needed them back. Side note: we stayed with friends from Harvard so this was not an Airbnb or hotel/hostel situation. Just two girls crashing on the couch of two other girls.

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After completing this task of human pinball (i.e. Anna and I being the pinballs), we walked through the Portobello Road Market where we discovered some of the most typical English style tweed jackets to have ever graced this Earth. Then I held up a tent in the wind so Anna could try on a vintage dress in the middle of a vintage market. The dress was not a win, but the reaction of others to the make-shift dressing room sure was.

On the walk out of the market, we passed an obscene amount of tea cups and saucers along with weird floating egg posters. Oh, the Brits…

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For dinner we thought what better than Italian pasta in England…To be fair, it was as authentic as it could be on this island far away from Italy as all the servers had Italian accents and I had to ask what everything was on the menu. Originally the wait was going to be over two hours (time we did not have because we had tickets to a play) but some how we skiddadled our way to an outside table. Padella, 2 minutes from the London Bridge, made my world complete. My stracci with sweet onion, thyme, and gorgonzola fonduta altered my opinion of strong cheese. If I could eat it all day every day, I really truly would.

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Walking about halfway across the London Bridge, we had to grab the tube quickly so as not to miss this play at the Lyric Hammersmith Theater called Noises Off. Suffice it to say, the play was so stupidly funny that it was the first time I have ever cried because I laughed too much. When I say cry, I mean on the verge of balling. I will also chalk this up to the fact that I was running on less than fumes. The tears dripping down my face were quite real, though, however you interpret that.

At intermission, I felt it necessary to dig into a small cup of mint chocolate chip ice cream, a first for me.

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Because we are more ambitious than our own good, we decided to WALK home. Neither of the girls were back yet at the apartment but one was very close. We arrived though before either of them and some weird man approached us, letting us know that quote "you are nice girls but I cannot..." and then continued walking. We also decided to keep walking but in the other direction towards neon lights and people. Oh city streets really are rather fascinating.