A Brief Visit to London

I am officially very envious of the rail systems in Europe, and so far I’ve only seen two of them. I took a Southern Railways train into London for the very lovely price of 11.50 pounds, or a little under $20. And then I took the Underground to the neighborhood that my friend I was staying with lives in. Having taken the subways in Montreal and Toronto, which are very straightforward granted much smaller, I was not expecting to get lost the five or six times I did on the 15 minute way there. The maps are really misleading… WHY IN GOD’S NAME is there a green line going to my destination when the stupid train doesn’t actually go anywhere near there?!?!? Relatively. Needless to say I finally arrived at my destination. Friday night was much like the rest of the weekend, unplanned, relaxing, and fun. Usually I’m quite particular when it comes to planning out my travels, but I knew that I would be going back a few times more anyways and did not have much energy from the first two weeks of teaching anyways. We went to a few pubs and then I was able to meet up with some friends from Lawrence who live only a few blocks from my friend Jon that I was staying with! Brilliant. I went to my first pub and had a blackberry cider that was quite tasty indeed, although no one else agreed with me. Womp wooomp. Saturday, Jon took me across the road to Kensington Gardens and we visited the palace. Had tea and chocolate cake. Lovely.

A cool fabric installation inside the Palace

The “gardens” were quite dead, as I had expected but nonetheless I still have hope that by the time Elizabeth and I are in London together things will be more colorful.

Part of Kensington Gardens, or what I would seasonally call a "reflection pool"

 We also went grocery shopping, which is always fun in other countries, and then I cooked a lovely eggplant pasta dish for our dinner using the food we bought! Big ups to Jamie Oliver! And smoked salmon. And fresh mozzarella. We then headed to the City of London, which is apparently a specific area inside of the modern city of London, who knew? Maybe everyone but me. We went to see a play by Anton Chekov called Uncle Vanya. I had my doubts about Russian humor but there were a lot jokes involving vodka and such so it proved to be quite entertaining! Haha. Afterwards we went to a nice pub near Piccadilly Circus, and then trekked what felt like all the way across the city to find a nightclub tucked away very stealthily. It was actually massive inside, and the cover charge unfortunately reflected that. But I am a firm believer in trying everything once! For the experience. Otherwise how will you really know what you enjoy and what you don’t? It was mostly just the music that I wasn’t a huge fan of, what they call “house” music and is basically just a bunch of beats that all sounds eerily alike. I really regret saying this, but it for sure made me miss even the DJ’s at Madison’s who play much of the Top 40. First world problems, I suppose. 

A muddled panoramic shot of Piccadilly Circus

 On Sunday, we went out for a nice lunch and then fit in a bit of shopping before I had to head back to Sussex on the train.  One other nice thing about riding around on (above ground) public transportation in London, i.e. the buses, is that you get a nice tour of the sights while doing so. Of course I didn't always know what I was looking at but eventually someone would explain it to me. 

Queen Elizabeth Gate, Hyde Park

Marble Arch

Prince Albert Memorial, Kensington Gardens

 We went to a nicer area to shop, and we ended up at this large store called Selfridge's. Which was funny to happen upon because one of the first tv programs I saw when I got here is called Mr. Selfirdge's, in which Jeremy Piven plays the American man who started the upscale department store in London back in the day. Nowadays it is more of a co-mingling of expensive boutique stores, and I especially appreciated the extensive chocolate selection :)

My new life motto (that I have spent the past few years developing), in case anyone was wondering: