London, England

mind the gap...

friday - our flight was delayed a bit. but we lifted off of the ground in phoenix at about 8pm... after a ten hour flight, we arrived in heathrow airport at 1pm (13:00). hehe. we hopped on the tube and off we went... it was cool hearing "mind the gap" for the first time, because i had heard about it so much prior to actually going! we got to our hotel which was actually pretty shabby, but in a really cool area of town that we called home. camden town, or freak town as i call it... we went to see the london eye first. then big ben and parliament... we walked about a mile along the thames to see a few more sights, and walked across the river to see westminster abbey! gorgeous!! we also saw st james park, which is lovely. lot of flowers. smelled so sweet... i wished we had rollerblades, because our feet and legs had already started to feel the pain that became our reality for the next week and a half... haha. it started to get dark after a long and awesome walk, so we ate at a charming modern looking italian place that was just beneath the tube station. we could hear the rumble about every 5 minutes. but it was very cool. a nice reminder that we were in LONDON.... then back to chalk farm to our hotel to get a good night sleep...

wow. london. AT LAST!

saturday - first things first, camden town markets! we shopped there for nearly the whole day. we visited stores like "cyber dog", "pink fluffy", "the black rose", "the electric ballroom", "metal militia", "the darkside", etc.... so many cool clothes and things to see. lots of people watching... plenty to do... its easy to lose time there... we bought some neat clothes and "brick a brack" as they call it, and headed back to the hotel to get ready to go to the famous london goth club SLIMELIGHT... the people in the scene there are a lot more cyber goth. two people at slimelight were telling us that there is a sort of rivalry there between the "cyber, ebm, industrial kids" vs the "trad goths". but slimelight was good, cuz there was three floors of music and dancing...

sunday - since we were so worn out from all of the walking and dancing and (in my case) drinking from the previous two days, we slept in for a change. it was nice... when we did wake up, we did more of the touristy things... we saw a bunch of castles and churches and other interesting architecture... the tower of london was an AWESOME castle! its also right next to the gorgeous tower brige. we also saw st pauls cathedral, and the westminster cathedral. we also saw buckingham palace with the funny guards. the new london bridge. southwark cathedral was awesome... we also saw the royal albert hall, which is where a lot of big acts like the cure have played. and the serpentine gallery (switchblade symphony reference) and hyde park, which is HUGE! these are just some standouts, but the architecture there in general is great. we wanted to take pictures of every doorway and we practically did. with erics cool ass digital camera that his dad gave him. we filled up a whole gig of photos on the trip!!

[ edit - see other entries for details of my week lond driving trip across the whole uk ]

(the following) friday - another really excellent part of the trip... we woke up and went to meet my dear BUNNYCURE and her dad, who was really cool. meeting her was like meeting my long lost sister, since we have been very close friends for over three years now. she brought me chocolates from finland, which she knows i love which was really sweet! we went all over the town that day. we started at the dali and picasso museum in the county hall by the london eye. it was a trip to see REAL dali works! that man was seriously twisted!!! bondage and mutilation galore!! i also gathered that he was probably bisexual... anyway, the museums did not stop there. after that, we went to the national gallery, which had lots of impressionist works like van gogh, manet, monet, renoir, etc... it also had a lot of really old and gorgeous italian art as well. after that, we went to a pub for drinks before heading off to the picadilly circus/oxford street area... we went shopping there for a bit and then went to camden town. it was closing up though, but we did manage to get some shopping in before it was gone.... we had dinner reservations at a restaurant in islington that night. the food was interesting, but good... my day with bunnycure is something that i will never forget!! <3

saturday - the first thing we did this day was go to abbey road to see the beatles studios and the famous abbey road cover. we also saw paul mcartneys house, which is actually near there... we then went to the portabello market, which is a famous shopping area. and then we walked to notting hill. we took a double decker bus to oxford street, and rode on the top of it for the first time. it is neat seeing the city that way... we went shopping on oxford street and found a lot of really good deals on clothes, though our dollar sucks ass over there... everything was basically double price since two of our dollars is one uk pound right now... but we found great deals, so it was still cheap and we got a lot of really nice stuff... the sad part about this day is that i was supposed to get to meet my friend jenna, but the number i had did not work... and i didnt get a message from her in my hotel until sunday night. hopefully i can meet her next time i come to europe. = (

sunday - we went to the london dungeon, which is a cool museum that details londons dark history, like jack the ripper, the infamous barber/killer sweeney todd, the black plague, and the fires of 1666. we went on a really long walk looking for a couple more stores and things that i found online. one of the places we went to was called "sh" and its a linger/sex shoppe that men are not allowed into without a woman with him. how cool is that? i didnt buy anything though, because again, our money is lame over there... we went looking for this exhibit called bodyworks, which was supposed to be like walking into the texas chainsaw massacre. they actually had real body parts and organs and things on display, but we did not find it unfortunately. it did make us walk about two miles in the ghetto of london though, which wasnt too pleasant. we found our way back to the tube and went to the british museum, which was neat. it has the rosetta stone and a lot of other ancient egyptian, roman, and greek artifacts. it was cool to see. the neat thing about the two main museums in london is they are free... why isnt it like that everywhere? more people should be able to appreciate art like that... after the museum, we ended up going shopping again in picadilly circus until it got dark. we went back to the hotel to pass out, when christopher (mesmerized) showed up at our hotel. we hung out with him and had a really good conversation with him in our hotel lobby when we decided to eat some dinner. we ate at a really good thai place. i was glad that he came over to meet us. hes a really cool guy...

monday - we woke up and basically headed straight for the airport... after an almost 11 hour flight, here we are.... home sweet home... it was a phenominal trip, but it is really good to be back!!