Adventures in London

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

                Our first actual day in London! It was quite a ride as we traveled, literally, all over the place. We put some good use into the Tube, we did, haha. We woke up around 9am and Aunt Soukina had made us breakfast of toast and eggs with cheese to put on top. Man, did that taste good- you would think that I’d survive okay without something simple like eggs and toast, but it was the most satisfying food I have had since being abroad. Then around 11am Soukina’s nurse took us to the Tube station to get us tickets. It became our main method of transportation while in London. We stopped by Picadilly Circus for a bit and walked around, and then made our way to Big Ben and the Westminster district where all the Parliament buildings are located, along with Westminster Abbey. Big Ben was not as tall as I imagined it to be, but we got some cool pictures of it. We then walked passed the parliament buildings and went to Westminster Abbey and did the tour inside. That is one gorgeous church. We got there as they were doing a communion service, so while on our individual tours we were able to watch the service commence, which was really great to see, especially since I haven’t been to church since I’ve been here. Each cathedral or church that we’ve visited while here (the one in Galway, the one in London) I’ve lit a candle at each place. It made me feel better, knowing that I could somehow let God know who I was thinking about and reiterating that He’s there.

                After Westminster Abbey we headed to Buckingham Palace and Hyde Park. We missed the changing of the guard unfortunately, but it was nice to see the castle and be at a place that I’ve seen but never actually been to (if that makes sense). Hyde park was really nice- If I was studying abroad in London, that is where I would run every day. It’s HUGE. All the parks in downtown London are (Green Park, Regent’s Park, Hyde Park, etc). We bought sandwiches at a stand in the Park and ate them there. It was nice to sit down for a bit after constantly walking for the last week. We walked back to the tube station under the Duke’s arch and made our way to Candem Town, a nice shopping area with lots of vintage stores selling things for cheap and lots of bars and restaurants. This was also where we sat down in a McDonald’s for a while to figure out where we wanted to go to next. Our next stop was at the London Bridge. We got good pictures of the bridge as well as enjoying the fresh night air along the river. Then back to Picadilly Circus to get dinner (McDonald’s for the other two, I got a schwarma wrap) and a visit to the M&M store. It’s four floors! Craziest candy store dedicated to M&Ms I’ve ever seen! But the M&Ms were totally worth it J There was this generator that based your mood off a color of M&Ms, and mine was orange- for nervous. Nervous that people would eat my peanut M&Ms before I had the chance to eat any. That was quite amusing as I just bought a small bag of peanut M&Ms J  And I did end up eating all of them J

                We returned to Aunt Soukina’s around 10:30pm, where we met Wasad, Soukina’s son and had dinner that Soukina’s nurse had made earlier. It consisted of Sudanese chicken, vegetables and rice, which was really good considering that most Arab food I’ve had in Morocco doesn’t use spice and so doesn’t have a lot of flavor. Then at midnight I skyped Meranda on her birthday!!! I was so happy I was able to do that J School was cancelled for her that day and so I was able to talk to her earlier than I expected to as well, which was nice for me in the fact that I didn’t have to stay up until 3am to talk to her J We talked for 2 and a half hours, which was the best thing since I haven’t seen/talked directly to anyone back home in over a month. It was nice to see their faces and to catch up a little. Alexandra, Mom, and Dad flitted in and out as well.

March 22, 2012

                Thursday morning we slept in. I think we woke up around 10am? The plan was to catch the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, but Christa informed me that they only did the changing of the guard every other day, so it ended up that Thursday was an off day. So instead, we happily took our time getting ready to go out and explore London again. Gabby and I hung out and read/worked on school work while we waited for Maiya’s cousin Hanan to show up at one thirty in the afternoon. Suddenly, it was 2:30pm and Soulafa was wondering why we were still in the house. Soukina’s nurse came up and informed us that lunch was ready if we wanted any, and we headed downstairs to the biggest plate of food I have had since leaving Morocco for this trip, haha. I ate so much food while at Soukina’s, My stomach stretched from the small size it has shrunk to: that was painful, haha. Anyways, Maiya was worried that we wouldn’t be able to go explore if we waited for her to visit with Hanan as she was an hour and a half late already, so Gabby and I started getting ready to leave for the city. During this Hanan showed up and Maiya comes running up the stairs saying that she and Hanan are coming exploring with us. Hanan is from Scotland and didn’t know the city either, so she joined us on our expeditions, and I was happy she did- she’s so great, it was really nice getting to know her. We started on Portobello Road and explored the market and shops. We stopped and bought cupcakes at Hummingbird Bakery while also trying shoes and taking lots of pictures. I bought a London bag at a silk screen shop. A side note: Portobello Road is in Notting Hill! That was pretty cool, seeing the multi-colored apartment buildings and the streets that may have been in the movie. I should have looked for the bookstore that Hugh Grant owned in the movie, but that idea didn’t happen to come to me until just now… dang. Oh well, haha. After Notting Hill we headed to find the Sherlock Holmes pub where we wanted to have dinner. Hanan had a cousin coming to meet up with us too, so with directions from him and the help of google maps on Hanan’s phone, we met Bibo in front of the pub. Bibo is also part Sudanese (like everyone in Maiya’s family). He’s a 22 year old in his last year at LCE (London college of economics?) studying anthropology. It was fun getting to know him as well. He took us into the Sherlock Holmes pub, and just as we were about to sit down he suggested another pub in London where the food was cheaper and it was an actual “pub” not one of those tourists traps. We all agreed that was better so we followed him to the oldest part of London where he took us through the beautiful campus and buildings of those who work in law (he described it as the Harry Potter area of London as it looks somewhat like the campus of Hogwarts). We went to the oldest pub in London, called “Ye Old (something) Cheese. I don’t remember the name correctly, but it was this underground tavern pub where we had really good chicken pot pie with fries and peas and carrots. Again, you never know how much you miss food from home until you go 3 months without it and then are able to have some for the first time. Delicious. After dinner Bibo took us to a crepe place where Maiya got a crepe with chocolate (she’s got a huge sweet tooth, I don’t think she’s gone a day without getting more than one dessert. Ice cream, churros and chocolate, more ice cream, candy, Hot chocolate, gofres (waffles with ice cream and chocolate). She amazes me, it’s incredible how many sweets she eats, haha). We headed then to Covent Gardens where we stopped for tea and listened to a street performer sing songs. Maiya got her free music for the day J After that we said goodbye to Bibo and headed back to the Tube to head towards Regent Park in order to find the mysterious Jeremy Kotler. Yes, Alexandra told me he was in London and said that I should pass a note to him or try to find him, one of the two. So I took up the challenge, thinking that I would try but really not believing that I would actually find his place of residence. We hit the Regent’s Park exit and headed up into the streets, where we found a map that led us to the street where we believed he was residing. I was blown away- I was actually finding this house in the middle of one of the biggest cities in Europe! It was fairly amusing and it was only 10:30pm so I was more surprised that it wasn’t going to take longer than a half hour to find him. Hanan asked what was my motivation for looking for this kid that I didn’t even know: “Telling Alexandra that I actually found the place.”

                “Well, he better be a good looking kid if we’re going through this much trouble to find him.”

                “Do you know James McAvoy? He looks like him.”

Gabby, Maiya and Hanan all got excited after that (Alexandra, you should appreciate this, haha).

                I got excited too early. Turns out he was on the complete other side of the park, so we ended up walking around for an hour trying to find it. Finally we found it: A brick wall with a sign that said “Regent’s Gate” and a small white colossal looking house with pillars and a buzzer, with an iron work gate at the front steps of a nicely wooden-laid door. The perfect London-styled place. We rang the door bell, but no one answered, so I slipped the note into his mail slot in the door. Everyone was somewhat disappointed that we didn’t actually get to meet him. I felt bad for dragging them along with me on this chase, but we made it back to the Tube on time and got to Soukina’s around midnight. We talked for a little with her before going to bed. We were up until after one am again that night.