Wandering London: Visits from Odd Job

This past week Odd Job (aka Jenny or OJ), a fellow Hellion studying abroad, came to visit me here in London from Paris. She got in right after my class ended on Thursday and we met easy-peasy. (We managed to do this without talking at all on the day she travelled, no cell phones, nada. It was awesome.) Then we went up to the apartment, decided we were starving and headed right back out again.

We went to Brick Lane for some Indian food. I had gone earlier in the week and knew the ropes, so we got a great deal (at a different restaurant) and had a great time catching up. We ended up finishing the free bottle of wine, and she made me drink half, so I was very tipsy on the tube ride back to Mile End. But then we rented the movie Away We Go, which we enjoyed very much, and went to bed.

Friday- We got up and out the door pretty quickly in the morning, excited to see the city. We went into London getting off the tube at Westminster. We saw the Parliament buildings and Big Ben, which are currently undergoing reconstruction (most of England is going through reconstructions in order to look fantastic when the Olympics comes in 3 years). After viewing a bag-piper that OJ just had to take a picture with, we walked across the bridge to the South Bank.

We walked by a lot of tourists in front of the aquarium and towards the London Eye. We decided the high prices and long line were not worth it and walked past. In continuing down the riverside we saw lots of people dressed up and giving shows to make money off of tourists, mimes, human statues, acrobats, etc. Then we passed the National Theatre (where I signed up for a free student pass!) and decided we had seen enough of the South Bank, and crossed back over towards the West End.

We were headed towards Covent Garden, but got sidetracked by lunch. We stopped  for lunch at the Wellington, a traditional English pub (in looking at the British pubs where OJ wanted to try all the traditional British food, I noticed that all the menus around the city are suspiciously the same...) We got fish and chips, I had some British ale, and some treacle tart (like Harry Potter).

At this point I would like to stop and say that thus far I have travelled with people who are snap-happy. They can't seem to take their fingers off of their camera buttons and take pictures of everything. Now, sometimes I find this annoying... like when I have to wait to eat some food so they can take a picture of it. And other times it makes me happy because they capture the most ridiculous and best moments. So, even though I complain, OJ and Robin, I do appreciate all the pictures you take. :)

We then went through Covent Garden, over to Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Oxford Street. It was a lot of walking and gawking. It gets dark here very early, so by the time we got to the Primark it was dark outside. And on a Friday afternoon on Oxford Street, Primark is a zoo, but we enjoyed it. (There was an article about the budget fashion boom and Primark's amazing profits since the recession.)

We were going to try to get some rush tickets to a show, but decided that between the crowds, the tired feet, and the fact we were going to the ballet the next day, we bailed on that. We went back home, made some salad and pesto pasta, and slept well.

Saturday was Halloween. We were a bit slower to get up, but went to Notting Hill to Portobello Road. Before we even got from the station to Portobello, OJ found a ₤5 Store. Where our lack of costume crisis was averted by ₤5 sailor dresses. What worries we about this is that this was not a costume store... someone must have bought these as real clothing and not Halloween costumes. It was a great purchase though. We then wandered among the very crowded streets looking at the antiques, stores, stalls and live street music. OJ wandered while I got some Halloween cupcakes (I LOVE CUPCAKES!). We were running a bit behind schedule, so we booked it to the tube station.

We made our way to the Covent Garden station, and hustled to the ticket counter to pick up our tickets for the Royal Ballet's The Sleeping Beauty (video link!) by Tchaikovsky. which I had managed to snag ₤8 tickets to. We got there with literally one minute to spare. The man didn't even check my card, he just said, "You'd better run," and run we did. We ran all the way across the lobby, into the elevator, paced frantically, and the usher ran with us to show us our seats. Needless to say we were out of breath and a bit sweaty as we snuck into our seats as the orchestra started the first notes. Victory!

We were sitting in the absolute tippy-top of the theatre (what do you expect for ₤8?) and couldn't see stage right. So we had an awkward time of standing and leaning over the railing durning the exciting parts. I had learned about Petipa (the choregrapher) in my class last year, so I could tell OJ all about the physical language in the ballet. It was her first ballet too! It was a blast.

Afterwards we wandered about Covent Garden, found a place with some tea and crumpets. It was a lovely place to sit, sip something warm and relax. The longer I am here the more I understand the obsession with tea. Then we wandered some more, I found some sherbert lemons in an old fashioned candy shop. OJ made fun of me because all I bought all day was sweets.

Then we found a Japanese place with a deal on a sushi sampler dinner.  Sushi is expensive in London. Almost to the point of ridiculousness. We had a great dinner, managing to hide the weird things under the edamame shells, and then headed back to get ready for Halloween!

As I mentioned before, we got very cheap sailor dresses for going out. What I didn't tell you is why they were only ₤5, we didn't realize ourselves until we had the dresses on and I awkwardly stared at OJ's boobs trying to figure it out. Yes, we were members of the Yatch Club. Not the Yacht Club, the Yatch Club.

We went out with Ashley to No. 5 Cavendish Square, and clubbed it up. Ashley had gotten us onto a VIP guest list that didn't end up panning out, but the club was very stylish. I would say about half the people were dressed up, but no costumes to write home about. Except for us in the Yatch Club. The drinks were ridiculously expensive, but the DJ was pretty good and we had a good time dancing (except for the drunk couple who kept falling over on top of us, and managed to follow us on the dance floor. Control yourselves people!)

Both OJ and I got tired and were ready to leave, so we headed out and caught the night bus. Rides on the night bus are always full of characters, especially because the tube stops running at midnight. But on Halloween it was FULL of characters. (I now understand where JK Rowling got the idea for the Knight Bus. There are so many ridiculous characters, you always feel a bit uneasy like you are going to fall over, that the bus can't possibly fit between those cars, and there is always that one person sleeping that you are envious of. I also usually really want a bed) So crowded that people were jumping to try to get in the bus, and the people on the bus were pushing to get them off so the doors would close. Thankfully we all managed to get towards the back of the bus, and OJ and I had seats almost the whole time, and Ashley stood in the aisleway unsquished. We had to fight our way off, then immediately into bed.

Sunday- We were supposed to go to play some ultimate, but due to the drizzle, the tube closures, and general difficulties we decided against it. We had a leisurely breakfast and watched the live stream of the UPA Finals (which was AWESOME!) then went back into town (after a slight detour for me to pick up my train ticket for the next day) to Tottenham Court Road, and walked through Soho and Leicester Square to Trafalgar Square.

Then we got dinner in a pub where I got some roast and OJ got a steak and ale pie, (we at a lot of British food. I guess you have to try it at least once. I think the only thing we missed was bangers and mash). Then a treacle sponge pudding for dessert. (I am going to have to learn how to make these things) Back out down to Parliament and Westminster Abbey all lit up. Then a detour towards St. James Park where we played in some leaves.

The goal of the night was to go to the Sports Cafe to watch the USC vs. Oregon game late. We had purposely not checked the scores because we were going to watch the game "as live" with the London Trojans. But due to some miscommunications it wasn't being shown there. Which was disappointing because I really miss watching football. (We also decided that if I wanted to pick up some American guys this would be the place to do it, the guy to girl ratio was awesome.) So we came home, packed, caught up on the Office and headed to bed.

This was actually our last time together, because I had to leave at 4am to catch my train, and OJ slept in to catch her train at 7:30am. (We decided that we would catch up on throwing when I go to visit her in Paris. Who doesn't want to throw in front of the Eiffel Tower?) So we had a nice snuggle and ended a fantastic weekend together.