So, if you couldn’t guess, I’m in London. I got here Saturday the 6th and have been relaxing, sightseeing (in a relaxed way) and eating (you guessed it- relaxingly). Usually you think of London as a very busy place, always moving and going somewhere hurriedly, but I’m taking a different approach. I have plenty of time here and am not feeling bothered to hurry through anything.
When I first arrived in London, I flew into London Luton, which is not really in London, and with a shuttle/tube/bus concoction, found my way to my first host’s house. He showed me around town a bit but I had a throbbing headache and elected to call it an early night (near midnight).
Sunday, the next day, there was a Couch Surfing picnic in Hyde Park and after William (my host) and I got locked out of his flat, umbrella-less and not too warmly dressed, it began raining. All ended up well and we found other surfers picnicking and had a great time. After, we went out for drinks and it was great to meet other people in London.
Monday morning, my ethics went downhill. After wandering London for a bit, I found a market and had a bite to eat (cherries are my new favorite market food) outside Westminster Abbey (that’s not the unethical bit). Westminster Abbey is amazing but costs 15 pounds to get in. I decided to go for afternoon Mass, which is free, but when I realized no one saw me enter (except the guard outside who let me in), I just wandered around for a bit. Eventually, I found a brochure (in Italian) and then a ticket (for a senior and for two days prior) which made me look like a belonged a bit... I just had to act old and Italian… fun enough. Eventually, I found an English brochure (much more helpful) and then- voila!- a ticket for an adult for that day! So, ethical me went back to the entrance and was given an audio guide tour and thoroughly enjoyed the abbey. It was fantastic. The highlight for me was seeing Clementi’s grave (the father of the pianoforte as his grave says) and in the process of finding it (well, the process of not finding it at the moment) I asked a docent and she said she was going on break, but if I walked around the corner to the locked wooden doors and rang the library buzzer, they could help me locate it. I rang and they told me to come on up and I entered an old library where everywhere, it says “do not touch books except by permission” or something to that effect. It was an amazing library and the caretaker seemed surprised when all I wanted to know was where Clementi’s grave was. I wished I had more questions for him, but I was not expecting that situation in the slightest. Another lucky moment of mine! After exploring the Abbey (for a few hours!), I went out for a bite to eat (2 pound Tesco meal deal!) then a quick wander to Trafalgar Square, seeing the Changing of the Horse Guards, and then back to Westminster for Evensong. Evensong is a sort of Vespers/Evening Worship service and it was amazing. It was sung by the Vicars of the abbey and it was hauntingly splendid. After a slightly annoying miscommunication with my host about when to meet back at his flat (couch surfing is so much easier with a spare set of keys!) I went to Buckingham Palace and was able to see the Queen (yes, the Queen) drive by on her return to the palace. I didn’t actually see her, but I did see her car and that was exciting enough. Another wonderful strike of good luck! I then rode the tube for an hour and got my bearings of the city and just had some quality time with my iPod. It ended up being alright, but after a long day and approaching exhaustion, the last thing you want is to be asked to “just come back five hours later than first agreed” by your host with the keys. Anyway, it was a good day.
Tuesday I moved house to Suzy’s. Suzy is a CS ambassador and I met her at the picnic where she instantly said she could host me. She is extremely sweet and was also hosting her friend/fellow surfer/semi-permanent flat mate, Valaria, who is moving from one flat to another but is homeless for the in between time. We had a great time. We got multiple comments that the three of us looked like sisters, but I am American, Suzy is Dutch and Valaria is Italian! Suzy and I went for Full English Breakfast next door and then I headed to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards. It was all well and good, but was highlighted with yet two more Royalty Drive-bys. I suppose if you “shoot” photos of the Queen driving by, it could be considered a Royal Drive-by? Regardless of the wording, I got to see the Queen leaving and returning to the palace. I even asked two guards just to be sure they weren’t just saying it was her to make me feel good. I did actually get to see her the second time and it was much more thrilling than the actual Changing of the Guards. I then went to the National Gallery and realized that most paintings I connect to have a lot of brilliant red and often gold in them… not quite sure what that says of me, but it’s an interesting pattern. I met up with Suzy and Valaria to go to a bar called The Couch, in Soho, for CS drinks. It was another fantastic time to meet people and get to feel a part of the London CS community.
Wednesday, Suzy, Valaria and I had a very nice indoor, breakfast picnic (at noon). After some internetting (yes, I’m making up new words for my traveling), I went to the National Portrait Gallery. There was a Tube strike going on, but luckily Suzy lives very central and I was able to walk most anywhere I wanted without even a bus (good luck on busses when there’s a tube strike… like sardines at rush hour). I talked to some people who usually took an hour to get to work but would take three hours without the Tube. I ate dinner in St-Martin’s- in-the-Field’s Crypt on top of monk’s tombs and the journaled for a bit before I was kicked out for a concert.
Thursday, with the Tubes still mostly on strike, I went to the British Museum, which was good, and Sir John Soane’s Museum, which was even better. Sir John Soane was an architect and built an amazing town just off a main road in London. From the outside, it looks ordinary enough, but if you go inside, it is just amazing. There is one room (wish me luck describing this) that was full of paintings and had two walls, opposite each other, that opened up like windows to reveal more paintings on both the inside of the door/window and on the next wall/door. It was an ingenious way of having access to more paintings than you can fit on the wall. One side opened to yet another set of door/windows and exposed a great open space with many Italian artifacts and even more paintings. There were even skylights (which are not that common in London, I think) and there was a great amount of natural light. It was quite amazing and if you get the chance, look it up and if you can, visit! It’s free, small, off of the tourist trail and just amazing. I decided to chill at the park just across from the museum and I bought some cherries which were intended for dessert after my curry dinner with Ken, an Aussie surfer who just moved to London, but I ate them all at the park so I bought more after. Luckily, the Northern Line, which I needed to get to Ken’s neighborhood, was still running despite the strike, so I headed down and had a great curry night with him! We didn’t get around to the cherries because we were both full and it was getting really late, but Suzy, Valaria and I enjoyed them later with some cupcakes (three different flavors- lavender, cherry and pink, which tasted like soap and I can’t recall what it was supposed to be… rose maybe?... but it is just a soap flavored cupcake) .
Friday morning, I had another house moving, but not until later, so I went for Mediterranean Breakfast with Suzy and Valaria at the same restaurant, conveniently next door to Suzy’s flat. It was delicious. Great cheese, meat, bread, everything! After, I went to the Wallace Gallery and then the British Library. By the time I left the Wallace Gallery, I was running short on time so hopped a bus to take me the mile or so to the British Library and had about 45 minutes to see the Magna Carta, Leonardo’s notebooks, Beatles lyrics written on napkins, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart (Handel wrote much clearer than Mozart if anyone was wondering), Beethoven, Mendelssohn’s Wedding March, Ravel’s Bolero, Shakespeare, Gutenberg Bible, Lindisfarne Gospels and quite a bit else. It was all very interesting but I defiantly lingered more at the music (singing along in my head of course!) and Leonardo’s manuscripts. After my quick tour of most everything important in history, I went back to Suzy’s flat (later than I thought… how can I have no plan but still be running late all the time?) to get ready to go to Grant’s house. I spent some time with Suzy and then her next surfer who, according to her, sounded “very American” on the phone. I went with her to meet him at the tube and then she went back to work and he and I went to explore London a bit. We went to the Tate Modern (about 30 minutes before close) and played on the giant adult playground for a bit, which was both a good workout and lot of fun. Hard to explain, so you’ll just have to search on their website and see what’s there. I came back to Suzy’s and she was off work by then, so we just had a tea and then I headed off to Grant’s, Northern London, near Hampstead Heath. Actually right on the Heath, or the park, as I realized later. After a quick tour and a generous “help yourself to any food except certain bottles of wine I’m saving for special occasions and if you get hungry and don’t help yourself, too bad, it’s your own fault,” which I think is the best worded “make yourself at home” I’ve had you, we chatted for a while then off to bed- the most comfortable actual couch I’ve had yet.
Saturday was Free Hugs to celebrate Couch Surfing’s 10th anniversary. After making “Free Hugs” signs and being fed random toasts with whatever spreads he could find, Grant and I headed off to the South Bank to join other CSers for our random act of kindness. It ended up being three hours of hugging and was great. My first hugger lifted me up and my sunglasses fell and got crooked (I fixed them later with pliers) which just shows how into it some people were. It was great. We devised our strategies of how to best approach people (better in twos, best to smile and make direct eye contact and look huggable!) and were, obviously quite successful. It was a grand. After, Grant and I went for Japanese and I had eel. I never would have guessed I’d have eel (freshwater for those of you wondering: Kathy!) in London, but it was delicious. Not at all what I expected, but really tasty. We came back and met up with his neighbors and I got to play piano for about an hour after the parents left while their daughter, friend and Grant were downstairs chatting. We then played a word game for awhile and then, when the parents returned, found out Nina, their daughter, had loads of homework to do and exams to study for and should really have been studying, not playing games. Sounds like me in high school, I think. But, like me, she somehow got it done and I saw her again yesterday and it all went well. I told Grant about the Italians I had traveled with giving me the theme song of Magica Emi and he quite suddenly became obsessed with the song. He eventually put it as his ringtone and is constantly in either his head or mine. It’s great. Look it up on YouTube and get it stuck in your head too!
Sunday was another CS picnic in Hyde Park, another event to celebrate CS’s 10th anniversary. After getting some picnic supplies, a 40 minute bus ride and then searching for a group of people in 600-acre Hyde Park, we got settled in the CS crowd and got sorted with food, wine, brie (ahhh!), football and badminton. It was great fun and fantastic weather. I got to meet loads more people and by that time I had gotten to know quite a few people so it was not just meeting new people, it was seeing people that I knew. It was a great feeling to keep seeing friends in London, not just meeting new people all the time. After the picnic, Grant had a list of other people’s chores to do, so we headed back to the Heath. He was asked to fix a gate for his neighbors but he didn’t have the right drill bit to go through the concrete, so we only got halfway on it then had to give up. Next on the list was to help hang a picture for his friend but I wasn’t allowed up because he wasn’t decent, so I wandered Camden for a while and Grant just called me when he was done. We went for dinner again and I had a tofu dish but we also had Monkfish, which was fantastic. I had so many random foods with Grant and it was great to be able to try new foods with the guidance of someone who knew what they were and how they were. Back to his house, we just chatted and listened to music and I found out that a lot of the groups I like and aren’t that popular, at least at home, he also knows or has at least heard of. It was nice to just have a relaxing weekend off of the tourist trail and just hang out. Very nice.
Monday was my last day staying with Grant and he gave me a block puzzle that he took apart and told me to put back into the same cube shape. He said it took him and his friend an hour or so to do and after a few hints and over an hour, I had to take a break so we went for a walk in the Heath. We had bought bubbles the day before, so we took them with and had a grand time filling the world with Magica Emi’s bubbles! It was starting to thunder and lightning and we got back just in time to avoid the treacherous hail. It was quite the amazing hail- nearly as bad as I saw in Iowa. Very impressive. Grant was driving into London to meet up with a friend, so he dropped me off at the tube and I went to meet other CSers for Monday night Game Night at the Deveroux. It was great fun, but my planned host, Josh (the American who was staying with Suzy) decided to leave about an hour after I got there, so Andrea offered to host me and I was greatly appreciative to be able to stay longer. I played Apples to Apples (British Version of course!), Mafia and Jungle Speed. It was a lot of fun but eventually Andrea and I had to catch our tube/bus back to East Acton/Hammersmith area in West London. One of her housemates was out of town, so I got her queen sized bed, which was fantastic. Even though I don’t take up that much space, it’s still nice to have it! We had some biscuits that looked a lot better than they really were, but after a few drinks you don’t notice their terribleness as much, so we figured it was a good time to eat them.
Tuesday I slept in a bit and left around 11 for the Natural History Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Both really should have been full days on their own, but I somehow managed to see what I wanted to see. The most amazing part for me was the Cast Room at the Victoria and Albert (V&A). There were so many amazing works of art (cast copies, of course, but still art!) of all sizes, the Trojan’s Column reaching 140 foot high! I was able to peak into a room that wasn’t open via a hallway that opened into it and I saw the Ghiberti bronze Gates of Paradise which I saw two sets of at the Seattle Art Museum in the fall last year. It was fun to see it and since it wasn’t my first time, I could admire it from a distance. There was also a few works by Chihuly which was great to see, being a third of the world away. After all that adventure of speedy museuming, I walked a mile or two through Hyde Park and along Oxford Street to The Couch for CS drinks. It was fun to see people, of course, and meet some new travelers. We made plans to go to a Balkan-Gypsy Party on Thursday and Salsa dancing Friday night (tonight) so I suppose I can’t leave London quite yet. I beginning to think I should just stay for my birthday, it’s just a matter of finding couches for the whole time, which is actually easier once you get to know people more. Anyway, Grant called to say that he officially set Magica Emi as his ringtone so I called him so he could hear it. Unfortunately, it is such a great song that he doesn’t pick up anymore because he’s busy singing along with the song. We made plans for lunch then Andrea and I headed home to have some more terrible biscuits (microwaving them didn’t help at all) and wonderful-queen-size-bed sleep.
Wednesday, I went to St. Paul’s area (near the Tate Modern) which is near (ish) where Grant works (in the city). Unfortunately (but logically), cell phone reception doesn’t reach the tube so I got off at St. Paul’s, was a tourist for a while then walked a mile to Tower Hill Station where I met Grant for lunch. We decided on burgers and fries (not chips, they were actually called fries). I had a Kiwiburger, which was pineapple, egg, beetroot and some other random thing. It was good and a great precursor to my evening. From lunch, I sauntered across Tower Bridge and sat for a bit to plan my day (although planning is usually worthless with me, I still try sometimes to fool myself and say it is worth planning). I brilliantly decided to sit in gum and it got stuck very beautifully all over my skirt. I went into Southwark Cathedral to use the toilet and try to wipe it off (success!) and Amy’s luck arose again when I stumbled upon a Founder’s Day service for Bacon’s College. They were doing music by Handel and it was beautiful- organ and full orchestra. Well, not quite full, but a good representation. An American with a beautiful voice sang “I know that my redeemer liveth” and one of the hymns was “Here I am Lord.” If you know that hymn, you can rest assured knowing that Brits try to come in at the wrong time just like some do at CTS and elsewhere. It was fun to hear the school song, but my favorite part of the service (besides when the fire alarm went off) was a quote from the Archdeacon who said something to the effect of “Today we are singing great works of Handel, who was said to be King George the 8th’s favorite composer. At least he showed good judgment in something.” After the service, I went to Starbucks (my home away from home) to journal and relax (it was raining and cold) and then off to Waterloo Station to meet up with Andrea. We were going to her friend’s house in Putney for dinner and then out for 2-for-1 drinks. I needed a train ticket because it didn’t take pay-as-you-go Oyster cards and all I had was a 20 pound note for the 2.60 ticket and the machine graciously gave me back all my change in coins. Great! So I then had eight 2 pound coins in my little wallet! It was quite funny when it happened and Andrea and I just stood there staring at it until we came to and realized our train was leaving in a minute. We caught it and had a great (and filling) dinner and then drinks. I had a prosecco cocktail which was nice and one other smoothie-type raspberry cocktail. Both were good. On the way back, we had two buses to catch and the first we had to run to (easier for me in my sandals than Andrea in her heels) but we got back alright and fended off the terrible biscuits for once.
Thursday, I woke up late and moved house once more. Luckily, my host, Patrick, works from home (all these techies in London!) so was flexible about when I arrived but when I got there at noon he was still asleep! He knew I was coming, though, so he gave me a quick tour, gave me the keys and then went back to bed. I went off to the Tate Modern and realized that the most enjoyable part for me was the playground I had gone to with Josh a few days earlier. The art was good, of course, but I definitely enjoyed the more classical art at the National Gallery more. There were some Picassos and Cézannes which were, of course, great, but overall, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I’d thought. I tried to convince Grant to go to Evensong at St. Paul’s with me but he twisted his ankle so wasn’t up for the hike to the Cathedral so instead of going to a Balkan-Gypsy party that Gabby was going to and I had thought of going to, I went to Evensong and it was amazing. It’s really nice to be able to experience a place through a service instead of just seeing it as a tourist. It was really amazing and similar service, but completely different atmosphere than Westminster. I met Grant inside the tube and we hobbled over to his place for what was going to be cleaning in preparation for his family arriving the next day but turned into just pasta dinner, more puzzles music, chatting, wine, tea and then doing some dishes from dinner. It was good though. I didn’t clean as much as I thought I’d be able to but it was still fun. I then caught the tube and wandered back to another queen size bed all to myself.
Friday, today, was good. I found out that it’s only a 30 minute walk from Patrick’s to St. Paul’s Cathedral, so after breakfast, I headed to St. Paul’s for communion. Just like Westminster Abbey, you can go to communion for free and again my lovely unethical self came out. Same situation. Went to communion, found a ticket on ground (I still had a brochure from the Evensong service) and then just acted like a belonged. The most amazing parts were the Whispering Gallery and the Stone Gallery. In the Whispering Gallery, you can sit anywhere along the wall and whisper against the wall and someone 32 meters away can hear you. It was really amazing. I met a little girl there with her parents- I overheard them whispering “Laura, it’s time to go” so I just started chatting with her and soon her parents got in the conversation. They said I was a good whisperer. Funny compliment, but thanks! The Stone Gallery is kind of like a balcony that rings around the cupola and gives amazing views of London. It was really amazing and a nice (not gorgeous, but nice) day for it. Not too cold, cloudy or windy. I blogged up there for a bit but then it got too windy and chilly, so I’m now at Starbucks. St. Paul’s is really a great place. They charge 11 pounds for entry and I would almost say it’s worth it. It’s where Prince Charles and Princess Di got married and it has a beautiful ceiling you can’t really appreciate in photos or postcards. So now I’m sitting at a very wobbly table at Paternoster Square and there is a piano that welcome’s anyone to play. I’ve heard a few different people play very different styles and it’s really fun. I will head back soon to Patrick’s and drop of my bag before coming back at 9 for salsa dancing! Yippee! It’s so much fun to do these local things with CSers instead of just the touristy things.
I just got off Skype with Grandpa, Uncle Ken and Dad. Hi! Oh, and with Mom earlier. Ok- enough family for today. :)
Hopefully I won’t be longer in blogging. I should get better at keeping this up to date and it’s so much easier if I do, so if you don’t see a new blog after a few days, send me more emails! Ciao!
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Whew, I'm exhausted! I can tell you are having an amazing time. Thank you for including us in your adventure. Mom
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