Wednesday 5/30, Jess got up and left before I woke up and when I finally rose it was about 9:30. I ate, showered, got ready and hit the bricks to meet her at Oxford Circus in front of Nike Town at 11:30. I was a few minutes early so I started walking trying to find it without asking someone but after wandering for about 5 minutes I asked a woman who didn't know but thought that it was back in the direction I had just come from so I headed back. Still not seeing it as I approached where I had come out of the station I asked 3 young-ish looking guys wearing construction vests and the one is like "Right there" pointing behind his back...the direction I'm facing. I was fucking looking at it, like 30 feet away. The problem was that it doesn't say "NIKE TOWN" it just has a big swoosh, which is exactly what I was not looking for. So anyway, to the guys I'm like "Oh you mean that big building RIGHT IN FRONT OF MY FACE?" and the guy is like, "Yeah, right there, right across the street" still thinking I didn't know where it was. I felt like such an idiot so I quickly thanked them and as I'm walking away one of the other ones yells "It was just an excuse to talk to us wasn't it?" and I smiled and said yes but felt like a complete idiot. No wonder they think Americans are such morons. Duuuh, where's Nike town? RIGHT IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE, FOOL. Anyway, Jess wasn't there yet so I checked out all the hot guys passing by and other traffic then contemplated going to H&M across the street when Jess hadn't arrived a half hour after she was supposed to. She finally showed up and I told her my story then we went to H&M where I bought two bras. We then went to Ping Pong which was a delicious Chinese place and I love what Jess ordered me, especially the pork puff pastry and the little hum-bow things and the chocolate ice cream was pretty good too. We walked to the Holborn station and Jess was arranging a meet up with Roberto so he could entertain me for a while because she had a meeting back at work. She ended up figuring out a way to have her conference call and not have to go in so we met up with R at LSE and went to Bar One where Jess got me a yummy fizzy orange juice drink. She took her call so Roberto and I mostly talked and laughed (the waiter there looked just like Teal but with darker and more hair, hot!). I asked him if he had been to Bath and he was like "Uh, I showered this morning...usually I don't get propositioned at 3pm after an orange juice...more like 3am after a few beers" which made me laugh and he was like, "Don’t get me wrong, I'm not saying no, I just thought it was a strange question". That Roberto - so witty. Then I laughed at him when condensation from his glass dripped into his lap and he was like "Ha ha!" and mock pretended to throw his drink into my lap which made me laugh even harder. I love him, he's so funny, plus he's totally smart which is a turn on. Anyway, it was time to go so we parted and I asked how to get to the British Museum and got turned around for about 5 minutes then found it. It was about 4:30 when I got there I headed straight for the Greek art and this French guy comes up to me right away and asks if he can sketch me and that he thought I was Australian and wants to show me the mummies. I was like, um, no thanks I just got here and want to see the Greek art but he kept persisting and telling me he wanted me to remember him and have a memento from my trip to London. I still told him no and he repeatedly said that he wasn't going to pressure me and didn't want to be a pest...even though he was. He finally left and I carried on and saw some of the major things I studied in college so I got some pictures and it was seriously so emotional at one point that I felt like I was going to start crying. This shocked me. Who does that? I cruised through a lot of other stuff and ended up in this room all about Greek culture in art and they had to kick me out at 5:30 because apparently they were closing. I found my way back to the bus stop and caught the 1 all the way back to Jess'. I was home for about an hour before Jessica got home and we watched ANTM and ate El Teuito tortilla chips. We decided to go to Catherine's Wharf to walk around and see the Medieval dinner club. Then we headed over to this other waterfront area so Jess could show me the flat she wants and after that we headed home. I put one of the pizzas in and helped clean then we put on the season finale of OC since Jess hadn't seen it yet. We killed the first pizza so we put the second one in and killed it too. Then we each had a pear. We watched some SatC, did some more cleaning then I read for quite a bit and went to bed.
Tuesday 5/29, We woke up around 10, got ready and headed out the door to Harrods. I paid extra close attention to our route because I would need to get back to the house later by myself and though the way was rather simple I could very easily get turned around. We went to H&M first where I was in heaven and had to hit one area at a time, but we were on a mission for 80's stuff so that helped me stay focused. Jess found some stuff then took off for her client thing while I stayed behind and tried things on then made my purchases and headed to Zara to meet Jess who turned up a little after our scheduled meeting time. We went into Harrods so I could get something to eat and perused the fucking ridiculous amount of luxury items there. It boggles my mind. I got a turkey and cranberry sandwich and ate it while we walked through the grocery area and Jess and I talked about different foods (6P peppers!). I finished my sandwich and Jess wanted ice cream for dessert so we sat down at this ice cream / gelato place and both ordered some dessert. My shake was $11 which is ridiculous for ice cream, but it was really good and so was Jessica's Nutela ice cream. We headed out because she had to go to work for a little bit but she told me which way to go on the Piccadilly line so we split up and I was on my own for the first time. Gulp. I caught the tube no problem but didn't want to ask where the V&A Museum was so I just started walking making sure to remember which way I was going so I could get back there, and what do you know the it soon appeared right in front of me after like 2 minutes. So I went to information and got a little pamphlet and some info from the girl and was on my way looking at Islamic art and artifacts, then Indian and Asian then the Fashion exhibit which was totally fascinating then the Raphael room then up to some of the British art and artifacts and eventually back down to the sculptures which had some of my favorite pieces. I saw quite a bit in the time I was there (a little over an hour) but I wanted plenty of time to get back to Jess' and my back was hurting from carrying all the H&M bags (I had Jess' with me as well). I found my way back to the station ok, boarded the correct train, transferred then caught the right bus and got off where I was supposed to. I had a moment of panic when the key wouldn't turn in her gate but a little cajoling awarded me passage. I hung out and corresponded with Jess on myspace about 80's plans for the night then wrote to Mom about picking me up at the airport and to let her know I made it ok and am not dead. I showered and started getting ready for the night. Jess got home and made some delicious guacamole that we ate with tortilla chips and herb crackers, I liked it, Jess thought it wasn't her finest batch. We finished getting ready, took some pictures then set out for the bus. We couldn't stop laughing at each other but she definitely took the prize for most 80's and at the bus stop people were driving by laughing and so distracted they were missing green lights. I told Jess she looked like an Eastern European hooker or that people at the club wouldn't be able to tell that I was 80's and would say about us "Look at that badly dressed girl and her friend with the bad hair" since my hair looked ridiculous. Then we thought about asking someone what they thought Jessica was and imagined their response would be "Badly dressed?" and I said "Spanish?" So we finally made our way to Punk Soho after many many strange looks, paid the cover and took an inventory of all the people who were not dressed up. To be fair, there were some people dressed up, like the guy with the skin tight leopard print leggings and Motley Crue wig, but we quickly noticed we were the only ones dressed in "Happy 80's" clothing. Throughout the night we realized that the 80's in Britain had to have been VERY different from the valley girl, neon colored clothing 80's of our youth. The people there probably just thought we were super trendy because all of that shit is in fashion here right now. Anyway, so both Jess and I found a bar tender we liked, of course they were not the same one, and the show started but overall was rather disappointing. He didn't even get the "break from the crowd" line right from Hungry Like the Wolf. Oh well, at least it was hilarious people watching. More people showed up as the second band went on which had this little tiny guitar player that we could barely see from our couch and I was like "What is that midget doing on stage?" and that started a whole slew of laughing and leprechaun and gnome jokes. God, no wonder all those serious girls hated us. I was like "I'm going to take you home and put you in my garden!" and Jessica just about lost it. We decided to leave halfway through one of the other bands' brilliant screaming songs and as we're walking to the tube I totally see Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol and I was like "Hey!" and told Jess who he was and that I had just read an interview with him about how he can walk around London easily because no one recognizes him, but he didn't escape unnoticed by me! As I'm still all riled up from seeing him and his woman we pass this club and the bouncer was all "Hel-lo!" and thinking I must have heard wrong I turned around to look at him and he was totally checking us out so I quickly turn back to Jess laughing like "OMG that guy totally just checked us out in these awful clothes!" and it brought my self esteem up considerably since this bouncer was much cuter than the one from a few evenings earlier plus we looked hilarious. We boarded the tube and continued gathering confused and strange looks from strangers, but as Jessica said at the beginning of the night "Like I said, you just have to own your look" so we did. All the way home. We watched a few episodes of Sex and the City then turned in...about 1:00.
Monday 5/28, We set the alarm for 8:30 to be on the road by 9 to Stonehenge and Bath, but in reality after getting ready and looking over maps and such we didn't get on the road until about 10. We set off and headed toward Stonehenge first. We had one 20 minute detour but otherwise totally found it despite some tricky directions from google and the questionable road map we were using. We followed all these other people toward what we thought was the entrance, but what was actually the fence that kept the non-payers out. We decided to just take pictures from behind the fence and as we headed back to the car Jessica yelled into this shaggy cute looking kid "How is it in there?" and he's all "It's rubbish!" so then we were extra pleased for not having paid the 6 pounds to get in and laughed all the way to the car. We hit the road toward Bath and got turned around a few times but eventually ended up back on the road we were on in the first place and should have trusted our instincts. The countryside was so incredibly beautiful, it's all I could say "OMG, It's so beautiful here!" and that it actually reminded me quite a bit of MN. We arrived in Bath after 2:00 and decided to find parking and a place to eat asap. Parking was ok but then all these pubs were closed so we kept heading into the city center (Bath, btw, is pretty big, surprisingly) and came across this little cafe / restaurant Revolution. We ordered this delicious Camembert with olive oil and balsamic and cranberry chutney, but surprisingly the cheese was warm and there was a TON of it. The like four pieces of bread they served with it didn't even put a dent in the cheese so we decided to cover our lunches with the rest. I couldn't decide on which flat bread sandwich I wanted so I told our semi-cute waiter to decide for me and I was very pleased with the chicken one he picked. I slathered a ton of the camembert from our vat onto my sandwich and even some of the cranberry chutney on a few bites and totally cracked Jessica up when I scooped out the last of it with my sandwich and proudly declared "Look, I got all of it!" like it was some sort of accomplishment. We guessed our waiter probably thought I was a pig because Jess got a sensible salad while I had this huge fatty sandwich with fries (chips!) and was eating all the cheese. We asked our waiter for things to do in the area since we'd just rolled into town and he drew us a little map with sights and interesting things and most importantly where there was a cluster of fudge shops. We paid and headed toward those straight away and found one where I bought a good size chunk of chocolate fudge but then Jess spotted another fudge shop that had a lot more variety so I got a strawberries and cream piece that was about half the size of the first but twice as delicious! Jess liked it the best too. Next we just wandered around and eventually ended up in this huge park and made our way toward the botanical garden which was really pretty, though there was this tent pitched toward one corner of it and we thought it was very strange and imagined a couple of hicks wearing trucker hats sitting in lawn chairs roasting steaks on a bbq. We found a really beautiful smelling bush / plant / tree thing but couldn't find the tag for it, Jess suggested gardenia but I thought it was too big. We walked around a bunch more then headed to the car to drop our things and saw this bizarre brother and sister (apparently) walking up the hill in front of us, then we went back down to the Huntsman where we waited for the Bizarre Bar tour of Bath which is a comedy tour that runs every night in the summer. Jess and I claimed to be students to get the discounted rate and though it was funny and random (the guy blindfolded himself from one landmark to the next and laid down in the street so we could all pass safely without getting hit by taxis) we ended up leaving early. One of my favorite parts was when he came out of the bar in a big purple jacket and said to me "Please don't look at me like that madam, I have to wear it" and Jess totally cracked up. We got back to the car around 9:30 and just happened upon signs to the M4 by total fucking dumb luck. We had such a good time just talking and laughing the whole day in the car and walking around. I love Bath so much and would love to have a home there at some point, it's totally unique and beautiful and charming. I couldn't stop gushing to Jessica, I love this! Though when we passed through this other town earlier in the day and I told Jessica that it was so cute that I wanted to put it over my knee and burp it, the whole fucking town, she totally cracked up and kept saying it for the rest of the day. She also loved my southern impression where I pretended to ask locals where the shitter was. We got back to London around midnight and were both in bed by 1:00.
Tuesday 5/29, We woke up around 10, got ready and headed out the door to Harrods. I paid extra close attention to our route because I would need to get back to the house later by myself and though the way was rather simple I could very easily get turned around. We went to H&M first where I was in heaven and had to hit one area at a time, but we were on a mission for 80's stuff so that helped me stay focused. Jess found some stuff then took off for her client thing while I stayed behind and tried things on then made my purchases and headed to Zara to meet Jess who turned up a little after our scheduled meeting time. We went into Harrods so I could get something to eat and perused the fucking ridiculous amount of luxury items there. It boggles my mind. I got a turkey and cranberry sandwich and ate it while we walked through the grocery area and Jess and I talked about different foods (6P peppers!). I finished my sandwich and Jess wanted ice cream for dessert so we sat down at this ice cream / gelato place and both ordered some dessert. My shake was $11 which is ridiculous for ice cream, but it was really good and so was Jessica's Nutela ice cream. We headed out because she had to go to work for a little bit but she told me which way to go on the Piccadilly line so we split up and I was on my own for the first time. Gulp. I caught the tube no problem but didn't want to ask where the V&A Museum was so I just started walking making sure to remember which way I was going so I could get back there, and what do you know the it soon appeared right in front of me after like 2 minutes. So I went to information and got a little pamphlet and some info from the girl and was on my way looking at Islamic art and artifacts, then Indian and Asian then the Fashion exhibit which was totally fascinating then the Raphael room then up to some of the British art and artifacts and eventually back down to the sculptures which had some of my favorite pieces. I saw quite a bit in the time I was there (a little over an hour) but I wanted plenty of time to get back to Jess' and my back was hurting from carrying all the H&M bags (I had Jess' with me as well). I found my way back to the station ok, boarded the correct train, transferred then caught the right bus and got off where I was supposed to. I had a moment of panic when the key wouldn't turn in her gate but a little cajoling awarded me passage. I hung out and corresponded with Jess on myspace about 80's plans for the night then wrote to Mom about picking me up at the airport and to let her know I made it ok and am not dead. I showered and started getting ready for the night. Jess got home and made some delicious guacamole that we ate with tortilla chips and herb crackers, I liked it, Jess thought it wasn't her finest batch. We finished getting ready, took some pictures then set out for the bus. We couldn't stop laughing at each other but she definitely took the prize for most 80's and at the bus stop people were driving by laughing and so distracted they were missing green lights. I told Jess she looked like an Eastern European hooker or that people at the club wouldn't be able to tell that I was 80's and would say about us "Look at that badly dressed girl and her friend with the bad hair" since my hair looked ridiculous. Then we thought about asking someone what they thought Jessica was and imagined their response would be "Badly dressed?" and I said "Spanish?" So we finally made our way to Punk Soho after many many strange looks, paid the cover and took an inventory of all the people who were not dressed up. To be fair, there were some people dressed up, like the guy with the skin tight leopard print leggings and Motley Crue wig, but we quickly noticed we were the only ones dressed in "Happy 80's" clothing. Throughout the night we realized that the 80's in Britain had to have been VERY different from the valley girl, neon colored clothing 80's of our youth. The people there probably just thought we were super trendy because all of that shit is in fashion here right now. Anyway, so both Jess and I found a bar tender we liked, of course they were not the same one, and the show started but overall was rather disappointing. He didn't even get the "break from the crowd" line right from Hungry Like the Wolf. Oh well, at least it was hilarious people watching. More people showed up as the second band went on which had this little tiny guitar player that we could barely see from our couch and I was like "What is that midget doing on stage?" and that started a whole slew of laughing and leprechaun and gnome jokes. God, no wonder all those serious girls hated us. I was like "I'm going to take you home and put you in my garden!" and Jessica just about lost it. We decided to leave halfway through one of the other bands' brilliant screaming songs and as we're walking to the tube I totally see Gary Lightbody from Snow Patrol and I was like "Hey!" and told Jess who he was and that I had just read an interview with him about how he can walk around London easily because no one recognizes him, but he didn't escape unnoticed by me! As I'm still all riled up from seeing him and his woman we pass this club and the bouncer was all "Hel-lo!" and thinking I must have heard wrong I turned around to look at him and he was totally checking us out so I quickly turn back to Jess laughing like "OMG that guy totally just checked us out in these awful clothes!" and it brought my self esteem up considerably since this bouncer was much cuter than the one from a few evenings earlier plus we looked hilarious. We boarded the tube and continued gathering confused and strange looks from strangers, but as Jessica said at the beginning of the night "Like I said, you just have to own your look" so we did. All the way home. We watched a few episodes of Sex and the City then turned in...about 1:00.
Monday 5/28, We set the alarm for 8:30 to be on the road by 9 to Stonehenge and Bath, but in reality after getting ready and looking over maps and such we didn't get on the road until about 10. We set off and headed toward Stonehenge first. We had one 20 minute detour but otherwise totally found it despite some tricky directions from google and the questionable road map we were using. We followed all these other people toward what we thought was the entrance, but what was actually the fence that kept the non-payers out. We decided to just take pictures from behind the fence and as we headed back to the car Jessica yelled into this shaggy cute looking kid "How is it in there?" and he's all "It's rubbish!" so then we were extra pleased for not having paid the 6 pounds to get in and laughed all the way to the car. We hit the road toward Bath and got turned around a few times but eventually ended up back on the road we were on in the first place and should have trusted our instincts. The countryside was so incredibly beautiful, it's all I could say "OMG, It's so beautiful here!" and that it actually reminded me quite a bit of MN. We arrived in Bath after 2:00 and decided to find parking and a place to eat asap. Parking was ok but then all these pubs were closed so we kept heading into the city center (Bath, btw, is pretty big, surprisingly) and came across this little cafe / restaurant Revolution. We ordered this delicious Camembert with olive oil and balsamic and cranberry chutney, but surprisingly the cheese was warm and there was a TON of it. The like four pieces of bread they served with it didn't even put a dent in the cheese so we decided to cover our lunches with the rest. I couldn't decide on which flat bread sandwich I wanted so I told our semi-cute waiter to decide for me and I was very pleased with the chicken one he picked. I slathered a ton of the camembert from our vat onto my sandwich and even some of the cranberry chutney on a few bites and totally cracked Jessica up when I scooped out the last of it with my sandwich and proudly declared "Look, I got all of it!" like it was some sort of accomplishment. We guessed our waiter probably thought I was a pig because Jess got a sensible salad while I had this huge fatty sandwich with fries (chips!) and was eating all the cheese. We asked our waiter for things to do in the area since we'd just rolled into town and he drew us a little map with sights and interesting things and most importantly where there was a cluster of fudge shops. We paid and headed toward those straight away and found one where I bought a good size chunk of chocolate fudge but then Jess spotted another fudge shop that had a lot more variety so I got a strawberries and cream piece that was about half the size of the first but twice as delicious! Jess liked it the best too. Next we just wandered around and eventually ended up in this huge park and made our way toward the botanical garden which was really pretty, though there was this tent pitched toward one corner of it and we thought it was very strange and imagined a couple of hicks wearing trucker hats sitting in lawn chairs roasting steaks on a bbq. We found a really beautiful smelling bush / plant / tree thing but couldn't find the tag for it, Jess suggested gardenia but I thought it was too big. We walked around a bunch more then headed to the car to drop our things and saw this bizarre brother and sister (apparently) walking up the hill in front of us, then we went back down to the Huntsman where we waited for the Bizarre Bar tour of Bath which is a comedy tour that runs every night in the summer. Jess and I claimed to be students to get the discounted rate and though it was funny and random (the guy blindfolded himself from one landmark to the next and laid down in the street so we could all pass safely without getting hit by taxis) we ended up leaving early. One of my favorite parts was when he came out of the bar in a big purple jacket and said to me "Please don't look at me like that madam, I have to wear it" and Jess totally cracked up. We got back to the car around 9:30 and just happened upon signs to the M4 by total fucking dumb luck. We had such a good time just talking and laughing the whole day in the car and walking around. I love Bath so much and would love to have a home there at some point, it's totally unique and beautiful and charming. I couldn't stop gushing to Jessica, I love this! Though when we passed through this other town earlier in the day and I told Jessica that it was so cute that I wanted to put it over my knee and burp it, the whole fucking town, she totally cracked up and kept saying it for the rest of the day. She also loved my southern impression where I pretended to ask locals where the shitter was. We got back to London around midnight and were both in bed by 1:00.
posted by Karrah at 2:47 PM
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