Let's start at the beginning. At the starting line of the race between the fun and the emotional turmoil that is London. Before I realized that for the first time I would some out the better person, the one with the most lessons learned.
We'll start with the most miniscule thing as my first dinner above the Atlantic Ocean.
We arrived into the Heathrow Airport around noon. We rushed to the Cashpoint (atm to us Americans) and made a withdrawal. It literally SPIT 200 pounds onto the floor. That not much in London, but to the US it's the equivalent of 400 dollars.
We grabbed the Tube to Picadilly Circus where Ash wanted to surprise his Polish friend,Aga, at work. Words can not describe taking your first breath of foreign air or the feeling of your brain's frantic intake of it's surroundings.
We attempted not to show our tourist status by looking at maps as we tried to find Brewer street where Aga worked at a a store named Fresh in Wild (soon to be Whole Foods). We observed telephone booths filled with Transexual flyers, bums that were charming, vintage looking cabs, british pigeons and buildings that looked like something from out of out dreams.
After meeting Aga at work, we found we had two hours to spare til she was off. First thing was first. I wanted my first real beer. We wandered the cobblestone streets until we noticed a 1400's built bar named John Snow in which all the Patrons were standing out front. We entered to be greeted by a bartended who reminded me of a friend here in New York...but way cooler. He explained that this bar in particular served only the line of beer made by a brewery named Samuel Smith. This brew can only be found in a limited number of pubs in London and can not be found in the States. I grabbed a pint of the blackest stuff while Ash had some of the wheat brew. We indulged while sitting on the street curb and struggling to overcome our surrealism of being where we had scarcely believed we would.
After some delicous english beer we met up with Aga. There were many photo opportunities.
We jumped on the number 8 bus to Aga's place, which ended up going to wrong way due to traffic so we got off to transfer. I needed to use the toilet on account of drink far ro much beer and used the first familiar place I saw....McDonalds. You would never know it was a McDonalds unless you saw the golden arches out front and it had the cleanest public toilet I've ever seen.
Later that night we headed to the Electrowerkz to see our friend Lynn (the DJ named End.User) and Venetian Snares. We arrived a bit too early so to kill time we took an adventure to the store to purchase Pina Colada in a bottle and drink it in a dark park. To our surprise we saw a fox. It stopped and stared back at us as I frantically attempted to take it's photograph. My flash was unfortunately turned off. By the time I was able to engage the flash the fox had disappeared leaving only the memory of it's silhouette behind. If only I could have run away with that fox.....
An hour later we began our way back to the Electrowerkz. On out way we saw slugs....definate photo-op for Ash. Also there were bottles being sold with the label upside down in the window of the store....i later found out the reason why.
At Electrowerkz we danced away while I sipped on Pineapple/Vodka and sniffed snuff all night long, I met a guy from Seattle which led to a conversation about the Figi Mermaid and spyed a familiar name written on the wall. Also, Venetian Snares is an asshole.
That night I thought of the fox and how it must have been warmer than I was curled up it's den...while I lay cold and alone on a mattress so far away from home.
I awoke to view a sky as black and blue as my emotions and bruises. A green Katie-did hung on the wall, his eyes looking into mine, I wondered if he saw my sadness just as I saw his.... looking back now I should have helped him find his way outside. I hope he's safe.
Ash and I wandered about the city pretending the night before was all just silliness, making the best of it.
His name was like a scar on the city.
We all need love....no matter how strange.
Our first real dinner was at a place named O'neils. They had amazing Lemon Pepper Salmon kabobs with crumbly soda bread and Guinness so black it can be held up to the light and still not be seen through. When it's pulled from the tap it looks like a chocolate milkshake and must sit for four minutes while the debris settles and leaves it blacker than any beer ever.
I snuck a photo of five police while a car's headlights appeared at just the appropriate moment.
That night we met the most multicultural household. 4 South African guys (2 who didn't live there, just hanging with friends), 1 girl from France, I girl from India, 1 girl from Columbia and 1 girl from Poland. We went to the store across the street, grabbed some high alcohol content beverages and partied all night. Needless to say, the was much consumed and photos galore. The guys told me they would give me an awkward free day and take me to the Star Wars exhibit.
We ended up sleeping in the next morning, the sky matching the color of my hangover. but still managed to drag ourselves up to see Westminster. Big Ben, Dali, and some Stormtroopers with were decotations outside of a Star Wars Exhibition being shown in London. It was closed, but I vowed to go back the moment I had a chance.
These photos became unintentional masterpieces.
We are monkeys.
You have no idea how much fun bumper cars can be until you've done it with 4 South African guys.
My new best friends and I then went to Camden. Our thirst for beer and excitement brought us into Worlds End. We grabbed some beers to kill time then made our way a block away to the Electric Ballroom. At some point we needed the cashpoint while I heroine addict with sores on his mouth cut in front of us....we told him off and a girl behind us told me she would have never known my accent was american. We were rejected from the Electric Ballroom due to the tennis shoes the boys were wereing (apparently there was a dress code in place). Back to World's End we went, going to the club downstairs appropriately called Underworld. We danced so much. My flattery increased as British men told me how much they fancied me and wondered why I was "left to the wolves". I giggled while sipping on Guiness all night which my South African buddies insisted on paying for all night. A Brazilian couple recognized me, recalling my face from one of my many websites.
After the club closed we found our way at a pizza place where I argued with a Brit over who had better pizza, ny or london. He was wasted, so what does he know? Gustav got some chinese food...and I loved the container.
We saw a wasted business man who's friends where balancing french fries on his ears and sticking forks into his hands.
We came home on the 8 bus....totally partied out.
The next day Aga, Ash and I went to Old Street in Shoreditch to observe some of the awesome Grafiti, then to Camden Market to shop around. One the way we gave Jim Morrison directions. We spied the Banksy gallery and met up with some Co-workers of Aga's for some drinks. At night, I was cursed out by a British prostitute who said "What the hell are you looking at, you stupid bitch?!"
His name...still a scar.
After going home and grabbing some more beer from the store across the street we decided to go to the Star Wars Exhibition the next day and look at some sights.
I saw this cool statue holding keys over his package...
There are so many cool Gargoyles on the buildings.
The Star Wars Exhibition was spectacular. I even got to stand next to the costume of my hero...Boba Fett.
"Just relax for a moment. You're free of the carbonite. You have hibernation sickness."
I Couldn't get a good photo of it....but this was a Hologram... it literally spun in front of you without 3D glasses.
I adore the old buildings here.... We found a park on our way to Buckingham Palace and found Geese! We played with them for a while and watched them eat grass. Ash was, at first, afraid of them until he perfected his geese deflecting walk (soon to be a new addition to the Ministry of Silly Walks). Oh...and it started to rain.
Buckingham Palace is lame.... We asked two Police Officers where it was only to find out we were asking them while literally standing right in front of it. We were expecting something much more..."majectic". It turned out tro he this very boring building that we had figured had some sort of event occurring inside, because it had tour buses and fancy dressed patrons in front of it. We didn't see guards or anything, plus we had decided that a palace wouldn't allow horse poo in front of it.
Luckily, our boredom was saved when a group of Beefeaters started marching out. One of them even posed for a photo with me.
Note: The event taking place inside the palace turned out to be the stepping down of Tony Blair.
The street cleaners look like cars with mustaches.
My hunger for beer and a Steak and Ale pie led us to the White Horse Pub. We were gleeful to discover it was one of the few pubs in London that serves Samuel Smith, the brew that we drank on our first day in London.
Body language says it all, love.
I'd like to point out that everything is served with peas here in England.
Yum....Cherry beer.
:::I won't tell you what happened under the stairs of this fancy suit store....but it was fun.::::
This was our last night....and we celebrated with more Guinness on the bus. We arrived to lots of Drama....it's too bad the last night was spent like that. But experiences can't always be perfect.
Charmaine is from India...she eats with her hands. It's amazing.
While everyone talked in the house about how lame their landlord is, Ash, Riaan, Warner and I went to get some more drinks. Riaan stepped on a snail in the dark that the rest of us had miraculously missed. Not the snails lucky night.
Warner fell asleep and so did we. I felt like everything was ending, not just the trip. I hated the thought of having to go back.
My last meal...Fish and Chips at The Shakespears Head. Some guy made a joke about me under his breath while I photographed my food. "It's just fish and chips". Yeah, well, the Empire State Building is just a building...but people photograph that everyday.
We killed our last hour in a 5 story toy store.
We found a bottle of Absinthe in the Duty Free store in the Heathrow airport (we managed to get it past customs). A lot of white wine and some skyy vodka on the plane helped me spend my last remaining pounds.... boy slept the whole way.
The week went by far too fast.....
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