May 10, 2010 – May 13, 2010
The Danish do not sleep. That’s what I learned in Scandinavia. 4 days in Copenhagen and Malmö tired me out immensely, so I boarded my plane to London happily ready for a relaxing 3 days. This leg of my journey wasn’t going to be filled with your average touristy-jaunts. I’d visited London a couple times in my life, most recently 4 years ago, when I managed to do most of the sightseeing I had any desire to do. A couple of things remain on my list, except now that I remember the capsules on the London Eye are fully enclosed spaces, I’m not sure I want to do that again.
I got to London by midday on Thursday, May 13, and took a shuttle from Gatwick Airport to Earl’s Court, close to central London. Victoria YB, henceforth to be referred to as YB, met up with me at the Earl’s Court tube stop to walk the 15 minutes or so to her flat in South Kensington. She graduated in 3 years from Richmond, finals finished the week before I showed up, so she’d really been just chillin’ in London. Not a bad lot, really. We hung out, drank a lot of chai and then went to the half-price Mondays burger joint around the corner where I had a veggie burgers and fries. And chocolate malts. So. Delicious.
The next day, YB and I decided we needed to walk from her flat to Piccadilly Circus, stopping at the halfway point to step into Harrod’s, just cause. We walked through the food halls, skipped the one with the hanging dead animals, and grabbed a map to find the single most important section of the store: The Pet Shop. We lucked out, there were indeed puppies and kittens (and hamsters, guinea pigs, gerbils and mice, but who cares?) there. The cutest puppies ever were new arrivals and had neither breed information nor price tags outside their viewing station. But no matter, the other puppies were definitely £ 1,700. But, no matter. Just to be considered to buy a pet at Harrod’s, you have to pass an interview/screening process as well as a background check, and then you have to successfully complete the pet-compatibility test. Ridiculous, much? We finally made it to Piccadilly Circus, then wandered off the beaten path to find dinner in Chinatown. We went to a place that had a reasonably priced menu on the door and really fancy interior décor. However, we managed to get reasonably priced food and a decent portion size. At least, for Europe, anyway.
The next day, we consumed yet another couple gallons of chai (keep in mind, I haven’t had coffee in a couple of days – what?!) and then made our way through Hyde Park to the Victoria & Albert Museum to get ourselves a small helping of European culture. Along the way, I noticed the elephants again. We figured out that international royalty had been sponsoring these elephants … and they were being placed around the city. I’m still not sure what the funds support, but whatever.
There were several much cooler ones, but I kept forgetting to take pictures when I saw them. After the V&A closed (at 5pm, silly British), we wandered around the fancy parts of London, killing time before heading back to South Kensington to the Creperie where one of YB’s flatmates worked. Discounted crepes, anyone? We got our crepes, we chilled at the pub, I met more of YB’s friends. They are wonderful people, and absolutely ridiculous, just like she is.
In spending those days with YB, making up for lost time, swapping stories from the rumor mill and reminiscing about the car ride gossip times, I had the experience I wanted in London: some time to chill, some time to think, and some time to enjoy Europe without the pressure of sightseeing before heading back to the Land of Opportunity.
America, here I come.
