Reunited And It Feels So Good

Erica and Heather's trip was super duper so much fun! I'm sad to have given them back to the states and now miss them immensely. I do have Heather's digital photos though so here we go with the past week and a half's recap (warning, this will be long.)

Saturday

The girls arrived in the AM and we did the "Hi!!!!!!!!!!" dance of joy. We hung out for a bit, then stopped by Alex's flat to say hi. This is his supernice courtyard that I aspire to live in one day:
We then headed to Notting Hill for the Portobello Road market. We looked at some ghetto antiques and a mechanic Santa Claus...
Mehmet was working there so we stopped by to say hi, then caught a bus to Knightsbridge...

We walked through Harrods. I'd been there years ago but holy crap that place is huge!

They even had opera singers by the escalators...

Liz made some new friends in the balcony... Then we did a bit of walking through Trafalgar Square and ended up at some Thai restaurant which had no other customers in it which is always a good sign. We also walked through Leicester Square which had a huge carnival, and then traipsed through Soho and Chinatown. We went home, changed and headed over to the Koko for a Jew-Do as it was Xmas Eve. The line was loooong, so we drank some beers during our wait, in traditional homegirl style. Liz was obviously outraged by the cover charge while I was mostly concerned with getting drunk...

For real though...

With added Ben and Jez...

They played good dance music (minus the garage) and that place was really nice. I bumped into Mojama Guy who had taken me on the date to McDonalds. That was an uberweird experience since I never returned his calls. In a last ditch effort he had tried to lure me over to his flat with episodes of Prison Break. Luckily I had seen all of them or I would have been tempted to go. There was no chemistry there, but on Saturday I was drunk and tried to tell him I did like him, or something unnecessary and stupid like that. Afterwards Ben, Dandan and James came back to the flat for a while.

Sunday

Christmas day in London seriously sucks if you're a Jew. We slept late, then walked down to Camden Town to attempt to find something that was open. It really felt like the World's End as the entire town was deserted...

We took a walk to Regents Park singing Christmas Carols all the way, but our spirit was crushed again as even the playground was closed!

It was pitch black by the time we left the park, so we headed home and watched Millions which I'd just gotten from my brother on DVD. We took a dinner break and went to McDonalds as that was literally the only place open in K-Town other than the 24 hour delis. Ben came over and we drank and played Uno, Bullshit and Asshole. It was really the longest day of my life.

Monday
We got up early and went for a traditional English Breakfast at a local cafe which was tre nasty. We then went to the Barnet v. Peterborough game which got me several laughs during the week. I don't get it, they won, so how bad can they be?? Contrary to popular belief, you can see there were people in attendance at this game. Also, Barnet player #16 is H-O-T. Come on Barnet!!!

We Northern Lined it down to check out the Eye/I, "The Big Ben", Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey...

We took the longest bus ride in history, then frolicked down Carnaby Street (not in Austin Powers fashion though) and ate at O'Neills which was probably a no-no considering they have them in New York.

We later discovered that Boxing Day is almost as bad as Christmas Day in London as most of the bars are closed. We ended up in Trafik in Shoreditch. After leaving the bar and roaming around town with two dudes we met in hopes of finding another bar, they ditched us in favor of house music and we went back to Trafik. Heather did her best Debbie hairdo impression which was pretty funny...

We got hit on by a group of 19 year olds that acted, very 19. The one I met was cute and very mature for his age, and when his friend immaturely said that maybe the cute one should take my phone number, three of them whipped out their phones, just as 19 year olds would. He goes to my school and texted me the next day saying he'd look out for me at the school pub. Now I have to look good everytime I have class, which is not what I need right now. Anyway, two of them phoned me (or Marilyn as they called me) asking for Heather (or Hannah as they called her) about 7 times the next day (so 19.) This is us with two of the youngins...

We went back to Graham's and H, E and I slept in Andy's bed (shhh don't tell him, although I think he already knows.)

Tuesday

Snow?! WTF?! It was 50 degrees here the week before, and the Americans came and brought snow? The three of us went for a decent meal (for once) at Giraffe, walked through the Camden Markets and bused it up to Madame Tussauds. Erica somehow got us past the 2 1/2 hour line by paying some dude at the front 25 quid per ticket which I assume he pocketed as that was the shadiest deal ever. Then we took photos with wax celebrities like Penelope Cruz and Will Smith...

Tom Cruise minus Katie Holmes... Go team Jennifer!

Heather got to play guitar with Justin Hawkins, she did a jump off the stage and everything...

She also hearts MLK...

We went for a Brick Lane curry afterwards, and then played a silly drinking game at the Elbow Room in Shoreditch because once again it was a Bank Holiday and everything was freakin closed!!! We came back here and watched/recited all the words to Love Actually before bed.

Wednesday

Here is Erica representing for her roommie at Liverpool Street when civilization had finally returned to normal...

We then went to the Tate Modern which was ridiculously boring. Do not bother going there if you ever come to London. We walked over the unexciting Millenium Bridge as well...

And ate at some place that tricked us. Three out of four of us believed gammon steak was actually steak when it really was salty cooked ham. Oh well.

We met up with Zoe, Laura, Rachael and Graham and went to the Absolut Icebar. This is some of us pre-bar...

This was us inside the bar...brrrrrr!!!!!!!

The glasses were even made of ice...

Zoe got trapped in the Absolut bottle...

We went to one of the Wetherspoons pubs afterwards, which I think was called Lloyds on Tottenham Court Road...

We then headed to Cheapskates night at Moonlighting on Greek Street. This place was so ghetto. It had leopard carpet, bouncers that searched you when you walked in and threw out your gum (a gum free club?!) and an unfilled hot tub. This definitely has to serve as a strip club on some nights. It was a student night which meant all drinks were 80 p, but also meant that everyone inside was 19 years old. No, my man was not there.

I'm tired so I'll finish summarizing the second half of their trip tomorrow!

Current Music: Ryan Adams - The Rescue Blues