Star Sightings

She just couldn't help herself.
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Today we had alot of touristing planned. We wanted to goto Spitalfield's Market, see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge and check out The London Dungeon and Madame Tussaud', so we had to get up early, again. On the way to Spitalfield's, we took a detour to the Waterloo International Train Station. See, Chris and I were planning to suprise everyone with a blog about our spontaneous trip to Paris on Monday. We are aware that in the States, this is Memorial Day weekend, but we were unaware that that England is also enjoying a three day weekend for a holiday simply called "Bank Holiday". Because of this the rails are particularly crowded, the tours all booked, and tickets to Paris three times as expensive as they normally would be. We found that last part out at Waterloo and it crushed our little American hearts. On the bright side though, we saved some cash and now we have an extra day to check out London. It could be worse.

I saw him first...
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We caught the next train to Aldegate East, the closest stop to the Spitalfield Street Market. As we exited the carriage, we were greeted with the pungent smell of damp horse manure. Although we looked and looked, we saw none around us. The orgin of the smeel will forever remain a mystery. On our maps of London, the streets cut off right near Aldegate, so we were guessing a bit on how to get there. We walked around for about half an hour and after finding nothing but cheap wholesale stores and discarded mattresses we figured out why there was less than an inch between the Aldegate East Station and the edge of our maps- you just don't want to go there. It's smelly, creepy, and doesn't seem to offer much more than what we had already found. We proceeded to catch the next train out and headed towards the Tower of London.

Springer left us with some good advice: Hoes before Bros.

Thank you Jerry Springer.
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When we reached to Tower of London, we were beginning to get hungry. After purchasing some snacks we sat down to eat them at a park over looking the Tower and the Tower Bridge. The weather has been much kinder to us today. It was much warmer, not a drop of rain has fallen, and we even saw quite a bit of sun. After finishing our food, we walked across the famous Tower Bridge and towrds the London Dungeon. The first thing we noticed was the line that led out the entrance. It looked a bit long but we thought it'd be the wait. As we got closer to what we thought was the end of the line, we realized it was even longer, by an entire block. We walked past the line and directly into the Underground station, quickly catching the next ride to Baker Street.

The Tower of London.
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Baker Street is known for being the home to the world's most famous detective, Sherlock Holmes. It is also a major hot spot for star sightings in London. Almost as soon as we stepped onto the street we spotted heaps of stars. Although we passed by Nicholas Cage, Will Smith and Susan Sarandon, we were most excited about the presence of Brad Pitt. We both ran up to him, giving him a kiss on his cheeks (the ones on his face). This caused quite an argument between my sister and I, each claiming ourselves as the one who spotted him first. Brad, the gentleman he is, stood by quietly, not wanting to get in the middle of our fight. Luckily, Jerry Springer was also in the area and managed to smooth things over between the two of us. Springer left us with some really good advice: Hoes before bros. We listened and declared that, if we bothe couldn't have Brad, neither of us would. We left him speechless and frozen with the shock of rejection. You'll always have a special place in our hearts Brad. Chris and I, youthful and resilient, quickly moved on and into the arms of Elvis Presley and Ghandi respectively. Maybe you've heard of them. They're kind of a big deal. Okay, fine. We'll drop the charade. We didn't pass by Will Smith, or meet Jerry Springer. And we obviously didn't have affairs with Elvis and Ghandi (he's way too old for her and I'm already spoken for), but the story about Brad is true. We even have a picture to prove it.

Walking onto the Tower Bridge.
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Anyway, we did get to go to Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum. During the French Revolution, it was Madame Tussaud's job was to collect guillotined heads and create death masks of the victims. She began showing her models in London nearly 45 years later in London. The line was probably just as long as the one for the London Dungeon, but the fellows at Tussaud's were much smarter and hid the line inside the building. We were excited to see a line of about twenty people outside the entrance, but quickly disheartened to see hundreds more as we stepped inside. The wait was long, easily over an hour, but the immense exhibit of wax figures was well worth it. It was the funniest, cheesiest and most touristy thing we've done so far, and we had a blast with it. In fact, Chris got so out of hand she looked up the kilt of an unaware scotsman. She was very disappointed to find he was wearing shorts underneath.

The oddest thing about our experience at Madame Tussaud's was that whenever we needed someone to take our picture, we really had to search for a person who spoke english. The most unsettling part was that people were taking pictures as they posed with the wax figure of Hitler imitating his hail Hitler sign. We didn't stick around that area for too long.

Near the end of the museum, we were led into the "Chamber of Horrors", complete with live actors portraying crazed killers who chased us as we walked through the exhibit. We held hands the entire time and Chris screamed regularly.

The last part of Madame Tussaud's was a ride using low budget animatronics and bad lighting to portray England's history. After that we were free, and we headed back to our apartment. We had had a long day and we went to bed within a few hours.

Before I forget, I'd like to commemorate a few culinary advancements we've noticed with British food:

1. The use of the Belgian Waffle. In the States we have confined the use of this delicacy to breakfast. Here in Europe it's a common sweet, served everywhere we go with a variety of topping including chocolate, cream, fruit or caramel. The waffles are made fresh and served hot. Delicious!

2. The addition of sweet corn in tuna. This may not sound too incredible, but to a girl who loves corn, it is brilliant. I have added corn to many an entree (i'll spare you the list), but somehow this concept has eluded me. Put in a sandwich, tuna mixed with some crispy sweetcorn is suprisingly satisfying. It's just a matter of time before this idea takes off in the States.

3. The Cadbury Dairy Milk candy bar with Creme Egg. I am also a big fan of the Cadbury Egg. Unfortunately, the american market limits the sale of these to about 4 weeks in early spring. For these few weeks, I am a happy girl. The other 11 months are spent in anticipation of the upcoming Easter. Here in the UK, you can purchase Cadbury Creme Egg Bar year around! It's a chocolate bar consisting of six connected squares, each with a bit of cremey egg goodness trapped inside. I have commited the remainder of my money to purchase a stock of these things. Let me know if you'd like one- I'd be happy to share.

That's it for now. Next up is a self guided tour of Harry Potter film sites around London. We'll tell you all about it in our next blog.

We love and miss you all!

Jess and Chris