"That girl is taking a picture of me. She'll lust after me for the rest of her life."

I met my future husband in Hyde Park in London this weekend. JOKES! That's for Julia, Jennifer, and Lilly, the last of whom I spent my fabulous weekend with in Londontown. So great to see my ginger friend!

I took the train down to London Friday morning and had a very pleasant ride through the Scottish/English countryside. After about four and a half hours, I arrived at London's Kings Cross Station. Yes, the station the Hogwarts Express leaves from. No, I didn't see platform 9 and 3/4 - but I did try. There's actually a plaque where it would be, but it was blocked off :(

I took the tube to Mile End stop, which is close to Queen Mary's campus where Lilly is studying in the East End of the city. The first thing that struck me was how diverse London is.  Scotland has a whopping 2% non-white population, and it was refreshing to see people of all different ethnicities again; Lilly told me her part of town is over 50% Muslim. I could hear all different languages being spoken in the Tube.

I've been to London before, but the St. Joseph's Academy literary tour of England skipped some of London's most vibrant parts. I really liked the East End. After catching up over tea in her flat, Lilly and I set out for Brick Lane, famous as the part of town where the Jack the Ripper murders occured. It is, quite literally, a long brick lane lined with Indian, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi restaurants. We first went to the Ten Bells Pub - Jack's victims were said to frequent there - and I had a pint of Strongbow while soaking up the sordid history. 

[caption id="attachment_229" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Brick Lane. Sorryz for the blurriness, but you get the idea."][/caption]

Next was our dinner date at a Bangladeshi restaurant, and I am still dreaming about the culinary delights I experienced. We got the set meal for two and gorged on multiple courses of sweet, savory, fried, and saucy. It's probably the best meal I've had being abroad.  And as if that weren't enough, we hit up a "beigal" place for salt beef bagels. Think a bagel sandwich with thick slices of salty beef in the middle.  I saved mine for breakfast and found it very satisfying.  I certainly ate well last weekend.

That evening we took the tube to Camden, a punk rock area by day and a chill hangout spot at night. We went to two pubs and chatted over wee pints. 



I was exhausted, and it wasn't hard to hit the hay that night in preparation for my full day in London. Lilly and I ventured first to the London Eye and took pictures of the Parliament buildings and Big Ben by the Thames before taking our ride. The Eye is basically a huge ferris wheel with large glass pods instead of seats - incredible views of London.

[caption id="attachment_232" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Before taking a ride on the eye."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_234" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Bigggg BEN!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_235" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Just couldn't get enough of this kodak moment."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_236" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lilly: "That is the fattest pigeon I've ever seen! And it has one leg!""][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_237" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="High above London."][/caption]

 We next trapsed across the bridge to soak in the sights of Westminster and headed to Westminster Abbey. It was one of the highlights of my last trip to London, and I desperately wanted to see it again. No pictures allowed inside, but it is simply an incredibly beautiful building. Everytime you step you're stepping on the grave of an important person: Charles Darwin, Chaucer, Dickens. There are chapels throughout containing the intricate tombs of numerous British royals like Elizabeth I, Bloody Mary, and Mary Queen of Scots. The whole place is seeping in amazing history. 

[caption id="attachment_239" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The glorious abbey."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_240" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Spotted - a USC fan in London! Totally a stalker photo, I know."][/caption]

Next up was lunch at Porters, famous for its authentic British food, in the part of town called Covent Garden. Wanting to experience the authenticity, I had Shepherd's Pie (lamb, peas and gravy topped with mashed potatoes) and Lilly had steak and Guiness pie. Mmmmm.

[caption id="attachment_242" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Yes, those are fries with my shepherd's pie. But they call them chips here so I was still being authentic!"][/caption]

 We then headed out to explore Covent Garden. The central feature is a large, open building containing an outdoor marketplace. It was really crowded: there were tons of people gathered around various street performers. Lilly and I watched an acrobat who stood upside down with his hands resting on two guys' heads, a sweet card trick guy who could produce the right card from his mouth, and a lame-o juggler whose best talent was making small children cry. 

[caption id="attachment_243" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lovely Lilly at Covent Garden."][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_244" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="It was very crowded!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_245" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Obligatory phone booth shot. Too bad the phone booth smelled like urine."][/caption]

We next stopped briefly at Trafalgar Square, and I made an ass of myself (quite literally) climbing up to the top of the Lord Nelson monument and hugging a lion''s rump. 

[caption id="attachment_246" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lion butt."][/caption]

 That was it for Saturday except banoffee pie-making that night. It's a banana and caramel pie with a biscuit (the English kind - so aka cookies) and butter crust and real whipped cream topping. I will be bringing the recipe back to the US with me for sure. It's even better than it sounds.

Sunday morning we trekked to Hyde Park for the Speaker's Corner. Anyone can speak about whatever they want, and it attracts some interesting characters. This man held a special place in my heart:

[caption id="attachment_248" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="The object of my heart's desire."][/caption]

As I put my camera up to take a picture (for my loyal readers, of course!) this guy stopped his nonsensical speech to look at me and say "That girl is taking a picture of me. She'll lust after me for the rest of her life." I'm pretty sure I turned beet red. Another highlight was when a man in the audience told this Lothario "Paris Hilton told me she wants to shag you next week, but I told her you were fully booked." Yep, fully booked with me - JOKES!

The speaker's corner was somewhat entertaining, but Lilly and I left pretty quickly to take a walk through the rest of the park. I would say it's London's Central Park, but in actuality it's more likely that Central Park is New York's Hyde Park. But you get the idea. 

[caption id="attachment_249" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Hyde Park - it was windy!"][/caption]

 

[caption id="attachment_250" align="alignnone" width="500" caption="Lilly getting swept away by the wind."][/caption]

After a quick lunch it was time for me to say goodbye to jolly Londontown. Lilly and I hugged on the tube and I was off again to King's Cross and back to Scotland. One thing I learned this weekend is that Scottish people love to get drunk on trains: Four middle-aged women on my train back got drunker and drunker, louder and louder as the miles passed.

Wonderful weekend with a great friend in a great city, and now it's back to work. The Scottish and English sign with an X to mean "hugs" and I likes it, so X from Edinburgh from this UK traveler.

p.s. Check out Lilly's blog for another account of our reunion!