11/4/09

I spent most the day getting last-minute things together for the trip. Mom called when she landed in Paris, which was exciting. But then right when I was about to leave, she called and said that her plane was having technical problems and they’d be delayed for an hour. Not so good.

I got on the train around 2:30 and read my guide books the entire way there. With the Jubilee and Circle lines closed, the trains were packed with tourists. I say next to these two super annoying kids who would repeat everything the other said in a sing-song way, I couldn’t take it so I got up and moved to the other end of the train.

I got to Heathrow a few minutes before the flight landed and waited by the exit with a bunch of other people. It took ma about an hour to get through customs so I went and bought two bags of mini Cadbury cream eggs. I ate one before mom got there and saved the other for us for the train ride back.

It was exciting when she got there. We went down to the train and took it all the way back pretty smoothly. We stopped in my room (with little resistance from the guards) and put our stuff down. Then we started out on our walk.

We went down Marylebone High Street and weaved through the neighborhood until we got to Regent Street. I showed her where I saw U2, my free Starbucks, my campus, and then we went down to Oxford Street to find Paul a jersey. It was packed (not as crowded as I’ve seen it through) and found a Fagregas Arsenal jersey (not the guy he wanted) so I knew of another place we could go and try. We stopped at McDonald’s (a great first European meal) and got Cadbury Cream Egg McFlurries (which are really awesome and only in England, so I guess it was ok).

We took a quick detour at 3 Sevile Row where the Beatles played on the roof, and at Piccadilly Circus we stopped in my other shop and got the jersey and then went through Leicester Square and down to Whitehall. From Trafalgar Square we could see Big Ben, ma was really impressed. We went past the Banqueting House, 10 Downing Street, Churchill’s bunker, and finally came to Parliament and Westminster Abbey.

There was a big protest in the park next to Parliament about Gaza or Iraq or something. Not really sure, but they were loud. We walked around by Westminster Abbey and considered going into the service, but it would have taken two hours and it probably would have been pretty boring.

We walked from Big Ben down to the Thames and saw Cleopatra’s Needle. We crossed some bridges and ended up looking at St. Paul’s from the Tate Modern. Since it was open until 10, we stopped in for 10 minutes before crossing the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul’s. We walked around there a bit and met up with Heidi and Kim.

We walked along the water, crossing the London Bridge, and came back to the City of London and walked through there to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. I hadn’t been there for a while, and not at night for a long time, so it was cool to see.

It started raining and we were hungry so after getting lost for a little and dealing with the Tube line closures, we went to Leicester Square and got food from Garfunkle’s. They were closing in a half hour, so we sat down and ordered right away. I had a veggie burger and fries and a tea, and mom had some sort of veggie wrap I think. It was ok.

We walked back through Piccadilly to Regent Street and back through the neighborhood. The guard gave us a real hard time about not having a pass, but finally after I was telling him it was approved, he called and sure enough it was. So we went in and I packed up my stuff. I got a lot more in than I expected. Ma got to bed a little earlier than I did, but I didn’t get to sleep until 3.