So as promised, here are a few pictures that go along with last week's post...
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| This is Lissie and the little boy she nannies, Noah. He is the sweetest little child ever! |
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| The roast dinner we had on Friday night! So good! |
Alright, now lets catch up since the last time I wrote...
Saturday, June 23rd
Lissie had to nanny a different child again today, but that did not stop us from running around the city. She was in charge of a 19 month old, Swedish baby named Kai. This child was the grumpiest human I have ever met. He just hates everything. When we first picked him up, I held his food bowl while Lissie loaded him into his buggy (English word for stroller), and he started to cry, assuming I had stolen it from him. After that moment, he decided he didn't like me. But I didn't care, because I didn't really like him either. He literally gives people dirty looks. Usually, when someone makes a funny face at a baby, they laugh and burp happily or do whatever it is that babies do. This child can't even speak, but he can look at a human in the most disapproving way, eyebrows furrowed, as if to say, "you are embarrassing yourself. I am disgusted by you".
Of course, grumpy child or not, we were going to be productive. All of Lissie's friends were working that day, so we decided to visit each one at work. This meant taking Kai and his buggy up and down the stairs of the tube stations. This was not fun. I swear, this stroller was not normal. It was like a bassenette that was attached to solid cement poles, with wheels filled with sand, and a container attached to the bottom that contained Kai's food, an assortment of toys, approximatly 624 dipers, a small asian family, and a few bricks for good measure. The two of us carried this monstrosity of a stroller up and down and up and down the stairs of the tube stations. If any of you have used the tube station before, you are fermiliar with the copious amounts of stairs. For those of you who haven't been, there are more or less a whole lot of them.
Our first stop with Mr. Grumpypants was to visit Rosie. She works as a barista at a small cafe called J + A Cafe. It was super cute. They had a funky indoor seating place, as well as an outdoor courtyard that had flowers and wooden tables. Really sweet. She made me a latte with a pretty design in the foam, and didn't even charge us :) so nice!
Next, we trekked the ornery infant to Sloane Square to see Lorna. Lorna works at a popcorn stand at an outdoor market in the square. It was a cool area. More "posh" than what I'd seen so far on the trip. Lissie and Kai and I meandered around the market while Lorna finished her shift, and then we went shopping for a bit before heading to our next stop.
The four of us then made our way to Waterloo where Lorna's boyfriend, Harry, was working at a fresh juice stand at an outdoor food market. The market was really cool. It was showcasing food from around the city, so there were a ton of different places to grab a bite to eat. I ended up having a spicy lamb wrap with mint chili sauce and cabbage salad for dinner. It was tasty!
Around 10:30 pm, Lissie and I decided to go out. We went to a bar in Shorditch called 'Queen of Hoxton'. It was a pretty cool bar! The decor was a bit strange- the ceiling was plastered with plastic leaves and vines, and the walls were all painted with cartoons of monsters and dogs and trolls. I know it sounds weird, but trust me, it was. We ordered some drinks, but the bartender said they were out of one of the ingrediants in the specific one we wanted, so we asked him to make us something of his choice. He got us involved by making us each shake up our own shakers of drink. I was feeling like a pro bartender until he snatched it away and told me I wasn't doing it good enough, and finished shaking it himself. So I guess I can now check bartender off my list of potential careers.
We danced for a while, and made friends with a group of guys. One was the penguin keeper at the London Zoo, and the other one was convinced I was from South Park. I told him I was, and he asked if I knew Cartman or Kenny. I got really sad and told him it was a touchy subject. He asked if everything was okay and I said "haven't you heard? They killed Kenny!!!" (for those who don't watch the TV show South Park, they kill off this one character named Kenny in every episode)
We left around 2 to walk to the bus stop, except we couldn't find the right one. At night in London, only about 1/2 of the stops are still working, so we kept having to walk further and further. Finally, after about a mile and a half, we got to a working stop. Mind you, I did this all in 5 inch heels on cobbelstone in the drizzling rain. Lissie and I were standing at the stop, and this car sped by us right through a puddle of water that was at the edge of the road and we were hit by a mini tidal wave of water. I'm talking in my hair, in my mouth, on my face, everywhere. Lissie and I looked at each other, dripping wet, and started cracking up! It was seriously something I thought only happened in movies! We were soaking and laughing and then the bus came and drove right by us without stopping. This just made us laugh even more and we decided to walk to another bus stop a while away.
This ended up turning into a 2:45 am tour of London. We walked through the business district, and by the Gerkin building, and even through the place where they filmed the Diagon Alley scenes for Harry Potter! We were cold and soaking and it was nearly 3 am, but we had such a fun time!
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| 2:45 am at Diagon Alley! You can kinda tell how wet the car-puddle got us from how see-through my shirt ended up. Yuck! |
TODAY-
Sunday, 06/24
Lissie is dancing in the opening ceremonies of the olympics, and I am very, very jealous of this. She had rehearsal for it today, so I was flying solo.
I woke up and made my way to Camden Town. I went there last time I was in London, but it was during the evening and everything was closed. I've heard such great things about it, but since my trip there last time was so diappointing, I wanted to check it out again to see what the big fuss was about. Upon arrival, I immediatly saw what was so great about it.
There are THOUSANDS, literally, of stands set up all over this street. They sell clothes and food and gadgets and knick-knacks and chotchkies and everything else you can imagine. I wandered for about an hour before making it to the end of the street, where I then disappeared for about 2 and a half more hours. The stalls at the end of the street started with this food market where there were stands for different foods from all over the world. They had Chinese food, Thai food, Mongolian, Mexican, Greek, Italian, Moroccan, etc etc. Past that, there were even more stalls with clothing and stuff that went back off the street about a good 3/4 of a mile, but it was like five blocks thick. I'm really doing it no justice with this description, it's just one of those places you have to see! I was there for about 3 hours and saw maaaybe 1/10th of the stalls.
They had this one store there called CyberDog and it was the MOST INSANE STORE I HAVE EVER BEEN IN. Again, you'll have to go to it to understand, but I'll do my best to explain. They have a big, scary looking bouncer at the front door next to metal detectors, so at first I thought it was an exclusive club or something since I could hear techno music playing from inside. So I stood and watched people come in and out and decided to try to get in, figuring if Hulk the bouncer said anything as I tried to enter, I would just start to cry and shake and play stupid American. I waited until I saw this Indian family go to the doors, ran over, and awkwardly shoved myself in the middle of them, thinking in my head that maybe Mongo would think I was just part of the family (which of course he would have had to be blind to believe, because, as incredibly tan as I am, I cannot pass as Indian). I made it past Brusier and into to building, only to find that it was just this crazy store.
The techno music in the place was blaring so loud that it was making my brain actually melt a bit. I don't know how my new Indian grandparents could handle it! Thankfully, no one noticed when some of my brain spilled out my ears and onto the floor, because they were too busy watching the crazy alien dancers who where convulcing on balconies jutting off of the ceiling. The whole store was lit using only black light, and everything that the staff and dancers were wearing, as well as all of the clothing they were selling was bright neon. I followed my Indian family and took the escalator to the bottom level to look at the clothes. This stuff was weird. I have never seen any human wear stuff like this. They call it "futuristic club-wear", but it was just like space-age, neon, cut up, alien-looking stuff. Think Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century from the Disney Channel if she were a hooker, and on acid.
The techno music in the place was blaring so loud that it was making my brain actually melt a bit. I don't know how my new Indian grandparents could handle it! Thankfully, no one noticed when some of my brain spilled out my ears and onto the floor, because they were too busy watching the crazy alien dancers who where convulcing on balconies jutting off of the ceiling. The whole store was lit using only black light, and everything that the staff and dancers were wearing, as well as all of the clothing they were selling was bright neon. I followed my Indian family and took the escalator to the bottom level to look at the clothes. This stuff was weird. I have never seen any human wear stuff like this. They call it "futuristic club-wear", but it was just like space-age, neon, cut up, alien-looking stuff. Think Zenon, Girl of the 21st Century from the Disney Channel if she were a hooker, and on acid.
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| The outside of CyberDog |
After spending way too long in Camden Town, I decided it was time to move on. I got back to the tube station, only to discover that once you get to Camden Town, you are apparently not allowed to leave. The tube only ran there, but not back, and there was no sign of another tube station in the area. There were busses, but I hadn't figured out the busses like I had the tube system. AND to make things as complicated as possible, all the streets were one way with no rhyme or reason, so figuring out where and which side of the street to catch the bus one was a toss up.
At first, it seemed like it was all too complicated. I decided that I was going to give in and just work as an alien dancer at Cyberdog for the rest of my life. But after remembering that I was already missing part of my brain from the music, I instead settled on a bus stop and decided that I would just get on whatever bus came next. The next bus that stopped was going to Trafalgar Square, and therefore so was I.
When I got off the bus at the square, I saw a bunch of people standing in a line. I did not know what this line was for, but I decided to stand in it. It ended up being an entrance to this big event for the Paralympics, which start tonight in London. I'm not really sure if I was supposed to be there though- they were doing security checks or something at the front of the line but no one would check me so I just walked through. They had a huge stage with performers and a bunch of different booths set up. I wandered for a while and then made my way out and down the road.
When I got off the bus at the square, I saw a bunch of people standing in a line. I did not know what this line was for, but I decided to stand in it. It ended up being an entrance to this big event for the Paralympics, which start tonight in London. I'm not really sure if I was supposed to be there though- they were doing security checks or something at the front of the line but no one would check me so I just walked through. They had a huge stage with performers and a bunch of different booths set up. I wandered for a while and then made my way out and down the road.
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| This is the Household Calvery Museum. It is currently closed, because it the olympic beach volleyball games will be played there. I thought it seemed like a funny place for beach volleyball! |
I wound up at Westminster Abbey and the House of Parliment, which are still to this day two of the most amazing exhibits of architecture I have ever witnessed. I wanted to go inside Westminster Abbey, but there are no visiting hours on Sundays. So I went around the back, scaled one of the flying buttresses, broke through a small stained glass window, slid down an ivory corinthian column, and ran around the abbey for a while before sneaking out again. Just kidding, I didn't do that, but I was very tempted to.
I palled around the outside for way too long and then walked across the bridge going over the Thames River to the London Eye. The area around the London Eye is so strange. It is really cool and alive, but they have SO many people in weird costumes trying to make money off of dumb tourists. There were like 8 people dressed like Shrek, a break dancing Spongebob, an assortment of Disney characters, yoda, and a bunch of other random outfits. I walked around and ended up at the same food market that we visited the day before. I got some Carribbean Jerk Chicken which I ate down near the river, and then returned back to Lissie's flat.
I palled around the outside for way too long and then walked across the bridge going over the Thames River to the London Eye. The area around the London Eye is so strange. It is really cool and alive, but they have SO many people in weird costumes trying to make money off of dumb tourists. There were like 8 people dressed like Shrek, a break dancing Spongebob, an assortment of Disney characters, yoda, and a bunch of other random outfits. I walked around and ended up at the same food market that we visited the day before. I got some Carribbean Jerk Chicken which I ate down near the river, and then returned back to Lissie's flat.
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| London Eye |
Until next time-
Meggie
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