Weekend of Adventure!

     This is the story of last weekend, I'm sorry it's taken me a full week to finish it.

     After a week filled with hellacious travel, a wild goose chase of an orientation, and plenty of homesickness I was more than ready for a weekend of fun and that is exactly what my good friend Sarah, already a seasoned London study abroad-er, did for me!


Friday Night

     Sarah bravely rode the tube (that's the London underground) over to the stop in my neighborhood where I met her and took her back to my flat. We were planning a sleep over at my place to be followed by a day of sight seeing on Saturday and we were going to need supplies! That meant a trip to the local Marks & Spencer which is almost, but not quite entirely, not unlike Target (oh how I miss Target!).

Yep, these pillows will do, and they're 2 for £7!

     While we were there, Sarah discovered that I hadn't even gone grocery shopping yet and decided to sponsor me on my first trip to Sainsbury's. It's amazing how even though everyone speaks English here and there aren't really any terribly unusual cultural customs you can still end up looking like a confused American in the till line.

This was a very happy moment for me!

     Finally having a food supply to speak of and a new £9.99 pay-as-you-go phone in my pocket (also found through Sarah's guidance and wisdom) it was time for the real fun to begin. I had been in London for 3 full days at this point and hadn't so much as looked at a pub yet. That ended right then with my first trip to a British pub called The Angel which is a fairly new, college student type place. It was there that I got my first beer and my first fish n chips.  Having literally never had even a sip of beer before I had no idea what to order so I let the bartender pick for me. He gave me a Fosters because apparently most people like it... I did not. I drank maybe 3 sips before deciding I wasn't gonna get any further on that front. I might try beer again and opt for something a little more British but I doubt that I be ordering many more beers on this trip.

Could I look any more awkward here?

Fish n Chips!

     Now full of deliciously fried pub food, Sarah and I returned to my room where she set up camp on my floor and took charge of planning the weekend ahead of us!

She is an expert planner!

Tea, biscuits, and London for Dummies it's gonna be a good weekend!

Saturday

     We took a bus (after discovering that the Angel tube station would be closed all weekend for maintenance) to Camden Market. Camden Market is a huge outdoor market that opens every weekend for people to wader through and get lost in while looking at all kinds of interesting things for sale. We spent most of our time in Stables Market which is known for their funky vibe and vintage shops. This market is situated in what used to be a horse stable and hospital way back in the 1800's, hence the name. The original cobblestones, narrow archways, and tunnels combined with the huge, metal horse statues and punk rock stalls make it a really fun place to be. I could have easily spent the whole day there combing through the endless racks of vintage and handmade wares but I was too excited about our next stop to really linger. I will definitely return to Camden Market for some serious shopping!

Main road of Camden Market where 5 or 6 smaller markets branch off.

All of the store fronts had huge 3D signage

This is just a tiny corner of Stables Markets, no big deal apparently.

     From Camden Market we rode the bus (my first double decker!) to the greatest moment of my life thus far! That bus took us to the trail head of the pilgrimage that every true Beatles fan yearns to take.

     The bus let us off at a stop that was exactly 0.7 miles from the sacred ground that lay at 3 Abbey Road, St John's Wood, London so we walked through the quiet neighborhood enjoying a lovely fall day as I got more excited and more nervous with each step. Finally, up ahead we saw a small gathering of people and the distinct white wall covered in the graffittied love of thousands of fellow Beatles fans that told us we had made it. I was practically drooling on myself out of sheer joy and disbelief at this point and Sarah racked up major friend points standing by me and letting me have my moment.

Marveling at all of the amazing music made just beyond that fence

Yes, I felt like a major tourist goober but it simply had to be done! 

"Sarah, I gotta do this barefoot, don't ask me why"

Our humble message.

This was taken by the 24 hour webcam where you could have watched
me walk across that road about 17 times and almost get run over twice
 if I would have posted this earlier. Sorry... kinda.



     Feeling completely impressed and humbled and happy beyond all reason we set off for a bit of lunch and home for the night where I slept soundly and happily indeed! I'm positive that will not be my only trip to Abbey Road Studios but of course I will always remember it as my first!

We had lunch at the classy foreign version of Colfax's famous
Pizza Express. I think I still prefer the original and their $1 slices.

Sunday

     I got up early (ish) on Sunday morning and embarked upon my first tube ride, solo no less, over to Sarah's place in Kensington so we could spend the day seeing things in her neighborhood. 

Taking the tube is easy-peasy even for me!

     We had another round of tea a biscuits (here with Sarah's earl grey rather than my PG tips) and planned out our day while making ourselves some sandwiches for later. We decided that our first stop would be another semi touristy destination:

Harrod's

     If you didn't already know Harrod's is a ridiculously large, sinfully fancy department store. It sort of reminds me of the Macy's in New York as far as size goes but it's even fancier inside. When we walked through the front doors we found ourselves in the midst of a room full of purses that cost more than what I could hawk my car for (don't worry Kevin, I would never do that!). From there we ended up in what I can only describe as the world's fanciest, most gourmet food court. There was everything from finely prepared traditional British food to fresh sushi and gorgeous pastries (which we gave into on our way out). Mind blown, Cinnabon will never compare. We rode the Egyptian Escalator up, up, and up and surveyed what each floor had to offer. Our favorites were the toy kingdom and the pet kingdom where we could only imagine the fancy, snooty kids and dogs who would be bringing home these luxury items. On our way down we were serenaded by a woman in a glamorous red gown who sang the Habenera from Carmen from a balcony above the escalator. Insanity!

This is me riding an escalator in the world's classiest store Buddy the Elf style!

Egyptian Escalator

     Our last stop of the weekend was the Science Museum. Like the majority of the museums in London it was completely free to enter and offered us a full afternoon's worth of entertainment in their very high tech, far superior version of The Hall of Life from the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. There we learned:

That my toe thumb has a whorl print pattern...

...and what Sarah would look like as a man. Foxy!

     We finished the day and our epic weekend out with our sandwich lunch in one of the many beautiful parks in Kensington where we watched street performers sing cover versions of Elton John songs and a street hockey game simultaneously and side by side!

Pretty park!

     Thanks for reading this crazy long post about my crazy adventurous weekend and thanks to Sarah for providing the adventure! Stick around for more (hopefully shorter) tales of adventures and excursions in London.

Much Love!