London, Mate

The days before London were quite boring. I've really gotten into my routine now. Although... it did feel strange to be back at classes...
One thing did happen though... I found out that two young women from Madrid were killed here during Semana Santa. A drunk driver ran a red light and hit them as they were crossing a street. It may be just me, but I swear the people driving cars were nicer and slower this week.
And on Tuesday we went to a play... I don't think I'll be going back... It was ONE man all alone reading a one hour play to us from memory. He was one of those guys that was really into the art of it. I'm not sure I know how to explain it... haha
On Thursday: We caught the bus to the airport AS it was rolling away. We ate chino candy on the bus ride there and laughed at the shapes that they come in.
Poor Angela, the first ten or 15 minutes we were at the airport, I must have been SCARY! I was saying stuff that made people give me looks saying, "OK, stay outta HER way..." I was so PISSED! We HAD to check in online, or Ryanair would charge us. Then, we had to check in AGAIN at the airport. Bull.

I, of course, had to practically strip as I went through the metal detectors because, I have bones made of iron or something. I am ALWAYS the one that gets frisked or pulled aside. We got more snacks and headed to the gate.
We were some of the last people in line. This and the fact that we stood out so much HAD to be the reason we were told we had to fit our purses in our luggage, because we were, "allowed strictly ONE carry-on". We crammed our bags in after quite the struggle. Our beaming smiles were instantly wiped clean as the woman (didn't even look us in the eyes) said we then had to fit our bags into the metal-cage-thing to see if they was the proper size... You know they weren't.
We had to then pay for them to check our bags which were about 1" too big. I literally measured my bag to be sure it was the right size. And id was!! Bull.
Angela and I, the last ones to board the plane, actually found some seats that were next to each other... just separated by an aisle.

We had the most rude flight attendants in the world. They did their job out of spite, and the only pleasure they received was from telling innocent little girls like me, that they had to take their head phones off, or be quiet, or keep body parts out of the aisle...
We bought tickets for the train on the plane. So, when we got off the plane, we got on the train. The walk to the train was what made us remember that they do things on the other side of the road there. As we were walking up and down the ramps, they were always on their left, so we had to adjust haha.
On the train to Liverpool St., we had to deal with some creepy Spaniards... and their mom. One of them knew some English and wanted to talk about nothing but Indianapolis (?) and Feria. I wanted to sleep. It was all very awkward. They said they were staying at a youth hostel, but their mom had to be 75.
We got off the train and asked a policeman where to go, not before being accosted by Indian men that wanted to take us in their cabs and said it would cost 20 pounds. We took two buses and didn't pay a cent for it (British people rule!).
But, we were EXHAUSTED because it was about 3 in the morning. We got off the second bus and were in the right square, but still didn't know where we were. So, we asked a hotel for directions. He told us where to go, but said to, "ask the president, to be sure." He meant another hotel. but we were both so delirious from sleep deprivation, we laughed and laughed at this... haha
We checked in. Both of us.
This was the best part of the night. Because, Angela wasn't supposed to be able to stay in our hostel! The day I'd booked the hostel, I'd done it through Hostelworld.com and they gave the wrong information to the place we wanted to stay. So, the reservation was for ONE. I'd tried working it out before we left for London, but the hostel was full... There was nothing they could do. I had to book another hostel for her (15 minutes away... and the worst part? At this time, she didn't have a phone!) for a backup. I KNEW I could get her in my hostel. She and I lucked out because someone had canceled and there was a spot open. Whoop whoop!
A lie was told to the other hostel, so that we didn't have to pay... ;)

I went to my room of 15 people, and Angela went to hers of 9.
Due to the fact it was 4 in the morning on a Thursday, everyone was asleep. All of the beds seemed to be taken in my room, but then I found mine. It was the top bunk of a triple-decker bunk bed.
Now, when I sleep in a hostel, I trust no one. So, I slept with my luggage in my bed. Hauling it up the ladder was no easy task. I over-pack. It was heavy. At this point my luggage is taking up a lot of bed space, so I have to use it as a pillow to lay with my legs straight. (My mom finds this hilarious)
I could not sleep all night because some man in my room was talking (in whatever language, I've no idea) to himself. And, due to the amount of snoring, I was in a room of mostly men.
Just after I got in the room, the same talking man woke up and started chatting with his friend. They were both still in their beds! Finally, a German girl told them to shut up, and they did. The next morning, they'd gotten up early to leave and the German girl was just starting to wake up. I don't remember exactly what happened, because I was half asleep, but she had something she wasn't going to use, the men wanted it, and she denied it to them because they'd, "talked all night and were so incredibly rude this morning!"
Rude indeed. One of them farted super loud and all of us were still trying to rest. Grossss.

I called Angela at 8:00 to wake her up so we could grab the free breakfast. We met in Cheffchauen (a room that was blue and white and reminded us of Morocco). Breakfast was bread... AND MILK! I'd not had milk in SO long. It was AMAZING and made me think of Natalie. ;)
We snuck Angela into the showers (she was technically checked-out (we had to before 10am or we'd lose our deposit and her reservation was for only one night) and she couldn't check back in until 11). She thinks everything I do will get us into trouble.
We went to the British Museum... and it was AWESOME! It was about 3 blocks from our hostel and HUGE. It was impossible to navigate! We even had lunch there. I'm now obsessed with sparkling apple juice.
I could have spent all day there but there was so much else to see!
I managed to get us around town pretty well. I don't know when it happened, but apparently, I can read a map nowadays. The buildings in London are gorgeous. I love it.
We went to St. Paul's cathedral and it was more than I'd even expected. Just amazing. We couldn't take pix inside because they wanted us to respect the people worshiping... understandable. But, we did meet some interesting people-- or, person.
While sitting on the steps of the cathedral after checking out the inside, a man approached us and with very broken English, asked us for a picture. I assumed he wanted one in front of the cathedral. So, I jumped up to take it. As I'm getting it read, he sits next to Angela... When he sees the confused looks on our faces, h clarifies by saying he wanted a picture WITH US. Angela almost looked scared as I asked her if it was OK with her. What choice did she have? The camera was already in my hands! I took one of the two of them and then asked if I could take a pic of it too, with my camera (I wanted to remember this, too!). Then, to my surprise, he asked for a pic with me. The foreigners LOVE Angela, so I was surprised he even noticed I was there. While Angela smiled for her picture, too nice to do anything else, I made a face... I hope he enjoys that!

We walked over Millennium Bridge (the one from the new Harry Potter movie... too cool). We saw all the sights in two days, I don't know how. But I learned a few things, "the London Bridge" is NOT the London Bridge. When I would picture this landmark in my head, I was confusing it with another famous English landmark. look it up.
The market in London was a lot smaller than the one in Barcelona and none of the workers cat-called us or looked like they wanted to kill themselves. So it was nice. They had a lot of different styles of food.
We took the underground to get to King's Cross Station and got a little lost. BUT, without help we found our way there. Yay for independence! haha
We did the whole picture-with-platform-9 3/4 thing. It was really fun. One of the guards told us not to be too disappointed. But, I liked it. The other guards we talked to didn't even wait for us to finish, he knew what we were there for and he pointed us in the right direction. Btw: in the underground, everything is blue and yellow. It was really strange.

Angela had to change rooms every night and twice one of the days. Yet, she was still never in the same room as I until the last night. Boy, do I wish she was in my room for the second to last night....
We went to bed early every night we were there. We were totally wiped by about 8 pm every day. The first night we watched Harry Potter (catching a theme here?) in the lounge with a bunch of people from the hostel. You always meet interesting people in hostels...
When we finally gave in, it was about 11pm. I crawled in bed and closed my eyes, but was too tired to fall asleep... I hate that. A little while later, I was still awake, and my door was opened. I was no longer alone in the room. The curtain to my bed was shut, but I could hear everything: A couple (boy and girl) came into my room. They were kissing and I could hear them talking. I didn't think anything would come of this, until my closed eyes sprang open when I heard some activity that wasn't PG-13. Things were definitely progressing and I didn't know if they knew I was in the room. It was too late for me to make noise and myself known without looking like a total creep. So I just layed there... I was saved, I thought, by two more people coming into the room. In addition to the sounds of the brushing their teeth and walking around, I could STILL hear the couple... canoodling...
All I could do was cover my ears and attempt to remove my mind from the room.
They kept going at it until the wee hours of the morning.
When I woke up, I asked one of my roommates, from Spain, if she'd heard it. She said no, but her friend said, "SI!!!!" hahaha
Grossss.

Angela and I got up early on our last full day in London to see the changing of the guard. We were late and there were SOOO many people, but luck brought us close to the gate as they all marched out. It was the best luck we could have asked for. We then went to the park next to it to snack. I found ANOTHER BRACELET IN A TREE!!! AND it looks JUST like the one I found in Park Guell!!! It was really weird....
We almost got trapped behind a gate when we tried to look at a fountain. hahah that was stressful...
Saw Westminster Abbey. Ate apples outside it. WE had million apples to eat. We bought one bag to share, thought it would be too much, and still got another bag for free.
We took pix in front of Big Ben... Angela is not the best director... I looked like a TOTAL idiot, standing in the middle of a park with my arm in the air and moving it slightly in every direction, for about 7 minutes before we got the first pic. It literally took me 20 seconds to get Angela's picture for her. hahahahha
We didn't ride the London Eye because it's expensive and we heard it was kind of stupid. We walked by China Town.... BUST.

By 4pm, we'd seen everything. "Tired," wouldn't begin to describe it.
I HAD to "grab a pint" while there. I HATE beer, so this was a strange urge.
At the pubs, everyone seemed to know everyone else and they were packed. So, I bought a pint from Tesco and drank it in our hostel's lobby. Classy. There was a pretty funny misunderstanding with the Tesco guy though hahahahhaha ;)
He said, "Ho-rd-yoo?" So I said, "Ya, I'm on holiday..."
He was trying to ask how old I was... Angela definitely gave me a hard time for that one...
The last morning we tried walking to Abbey Road to recreate that famous Beatles pic... 45 minutes of walking at a fast pace later, we weren't half way there. We had a flight to catch and had to turn back. We were both pretty sad... We were totally psyched up for it, because it was, "only a 40 minute walk away..." BULL!

Our journey back to the airport was MUCH smoother. We took one bus and then the train. We were determined to get our bags to fit in the little steel cages in the airport because we were NOT paying 35 euro for that again. So, we went totally prepared. We got there a lot earlier, wore our thickest clothes, carried our bags and pretended the weight wasn't that bad. As we approached the counter, we noticed it was only one lady tearing boarding passes. This was good news for us!
As we got closer to her, I saw her and I saw the 4 or 5 blue cages around her, threatening us. hahah
As Angela handed her her pass, I saw the womans' eyes drift to Angela's too-big carry-on. I struck up conversation with her to try and distract her and I think the over-stimulation distracted her enough to let us through!
So, it was a great, great, GREAT trip!
This was written on Monday April 12th