Tuesday, September 6, 2011

September 5, 2011

Last day of my trip. We walked along the Thames and saw some cute things. After that we met up with Matt one last time for lunch. From there we collected our bags and made our way to Heathrow via the tube. It took a while but I fell asleep a few times. Ummm we had quite a hike to our gate, but when I got there I of course saw a rando wearing some Charter Club gear. I go to Europe for two weeks and I meet up with eight Princeton people on purpose, and one accidentally. What the heck?

Our flight was a little delayed but fiiinally we got moving. I watched two movies then passed out for basically the remainder of the eight hour flight. THUS ENDING MY TRIP. So sad to be home...classes now start TOMORROW and I'm totally not in the right mindset. Can't I just travel forever?

September 4, 2011

On Sunday my dad and I made our way to Reading, which was about a 30 minute train ride. There we had a little indoor barbecue (stupid weather!) and I met some family for the first time. I met my grandfather's sister, her daughter, her husband, their son, and his son! Four generations right there. It was really lovely :) They had a springer spaniel (although Welsh, not English like Yodie) and she was cute as well, of course.

Straight from Reading we went back into London and went to my uncle's house for dinner with Matt. I hadn't seen him in a few years so that was good...even though he's a complete pain in the ass. Whoops.

Passed out around midnightish back at the room. Yikes!

September 3, 2011

Well, Saturday had a bit of late start since I was pretty hungover. I was lucky enough to get to meet up with Dave Ralston, a former counselor at Camp Mason! I hadn't seen him in 7 years (seem to be the theme, huh?) We met up for some dranky dranks from about 3-6ish. Then I met up with Lucy, my PU Band friend, at Big Ben. We walked around for a little bit and took a last look around. We ended up meeting up with Chris, an Oxford student who spent the year at Princeton and in the band :) It was brief, as he was waiting in line with some friends for the London Eye. I was not about to spend £18 on that (it's a large, super low moving Ferris wheel).

It started getting cold, so we took a scenic bus ride back to my room so I could get changed. Then we headed off to meet Graham, another former camp counselor! We went to three different bars and had a grand ol' time. We ended up hanging out in one of them after-hours with the two bartenders. Super fun but poor Lucy had a little too much. Graham was a little schwastyface, too. Whooops!

September 2, 2011

I'm guessing these next few posts will be rather brief since so much time has elapsed...whoops.

Hmm let's refer back to my photos to see what Friday had in store for me..

Oh yes! My dad and I walked around London for quite a while. After sitting next to an Australian couple from Canberra (Isaacs, even--where my grandma lives!), we saw the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. It was actually pretty difficult to see anything due to crowds, but I most definitely heard the band playing :) Hilariously enough a lot of them were Frank Sinatra songs. From there we went to the Horse Guards and of course took some silly photos. One of them mumbled to me through his teeth saying, "I wanted to say you're gorgeous". Wowwy, thaaaaanks! The dude looked about 18 haha. Bad boy for talking :P We walked around the Mall and yada yada. We saw St. Paul's and St Martin In The Fields, where we went for tea in the crypt.

We met up with Matt in Shoreditch for some dinner, then I went to Matt's flat to hang out and pregame before going out. We went to two places, ultimately ending up at a gay bar (of course). It was a pretty wild night, actually. Passed the eff out as soon as I got back to the flat (which was around 3:30 or so)

Friday, September 2, 2011

September 1, 2011

Ewww, September. Cold weather (which is new at home, at least), school, and blehh.


Today was yet another somewhat uneventful day. I left Matt's flat around 11:30 to meet my dad at the hotel that he booked. The two of us went to Piccadilly Circus, Carnaby Street, Westminster Abbey, Westminster Bridge, and took a peek in the National Gallery. I know it sounds like a lot but it was mostly just walking around for a while. My dad is jet-lagged and generally exhausted from traveling...so he's basically been sleeping since 5 pm (it's 10:11 right now). I was supposed to go to some sort of gallery walk with Matt tonight with free alchy, but that was canceled for some unknown reason :[ So only about 3-4 hours of my day were actually spent doing things.

I feel so isolated in this random hotel! I want to be in the middle of the action, meeting people and going out for drinks and such. Hopefully tomorrow night will be fun? I'm planning on seeing some friends on Saturday and I'm looking forward to that. There's supposedly a bar here in the hotel but hotels are used by families and old people.

This stupid hotel has the nerve to charge £10/day for WiFi. What the effffffff. So I'm here on the lobby computer. It's free but it'd be nice to have my own computer...upload photos, use my own crap, whatever.

I've also only had one meal today. I'm not incredibly hungry but I know it'll hit soon. I don't want to go to bed quite yet because it's still pretty early, plus I took a nap for about two and a half hours. Whoops. Maybe I'll bring my backpack down here and sew on a patch or two. And read? Ughhhhhh so bored! :[


***

Okay so now it's 12:26 and I realize that this computer's time is stuck on 10:11...so I'm not actually sure when I wrote that first bit. Couldn't have been too far off, I suppose. I just went out to Piccadilly Circus with my dad for some food. There we met a Canadian couple sitting next to us and had a bit of a nice chat. I'm reeeally hoping I can see Les Mis while I'm here.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

August 31, 2011

Well, waking up at 7:15 this morning was easier than I thought it'd be. Making my way to Gare du Nord was pretty simple, only one quick transfer on the metro. I took the Eurostar high-speed train for the first time to London. I slept pretty much the entire ride. Luckily no one sat in the seat next to me so I was able to spread myself across two seats. Win.

I got to London and met up with my cousin Matt. I was able to drop my bag in his office woooo. I then got the idea to fill my extra day with a West End musical! I took the bus to the half price tickets booth and got a ticket for the only musical matinee of the day: "We Will Rock You". I had never heard of it (rightfully so, it's not in New York). I went back to Matt and got lunch with him. That was nice. Then back to the theater! Honestly the show was ehhhhhh. The dancing was great, the singing was great...but the story was SUCK and the choreography was meh. Not something I'd see again...but at least I saw something I can't catch at home.

Now I'm back with Matt in his flat..we ate dinner, watched the news, and shared many a YouTube video. I'm pretty sleepy.