Springtime! Springtime!

Spring has come to London at last! Today we not only have warmth, but also SUN! Oh, it's gorgeous outside. So what shall I do? I shall finally update my blog!

That's all right. I have my window open and am enjoying the violent breeze coming through my 14th floor window. Unfortunately, this is nothing like the weather was last week when Sherril was here. Instead we got rain, some more rain, followed by even more spectacular rain. Hmph.

So yes, I have been lax in updating because I have been busy with Sherril. But now that she is home (boo!) and my (embarrassingly awful) dissertation proposal is in, I can update.

Anyways, Sherril made it! There was some nailbiting anxiety there for a few days when she didn't have her passport yet and we didn't think it would make it in time. But, miraculously, it came the day before her flight! Miraculous it absolutely was, as it came from New Orleans to Milwaukee between Friday and Monday.

Wednesday
Went to my first lecture, and then hopped on the Piccadilly Line at Leicester Square towards Heathrow. My iPod had just died the day before, so was forced to actually read a book. Longest train ride ever, I have to say! I arrived at Terminal 4, made my way to Arrivals, and looked around for Sherril who's plane had landed an hour and a half before. I wasn't seeing her, and I was beginning to fear she was being interrogated in some tiny room for trying to smuggle in American peanut butter when suddenly the crowd parted and she bursts through and into my arms!

Reunions are spectacular!

We traded in her dirty Yankee money for some proper notes with the Queen's head on them, and began the long journey back east into London and north to Camden Town. I have to say, it was a thousand times easier than when I took the similar trip six months earlier.

Sherril also got her first taste of the weird names they have for things over here.


The Piccadilly Line terminates in "Cockfosters."

*inappropriate giggling*

1.5 hours later, we had finally managed to drag ourselves back to my flat, where we promptly devoured a pizza (Sherril had been well-fed by British Airlines, but I had been ravenous since 11).

Then she took a nap for a few hours, which I was told was a bad idea, but the poor thing had been awake for 24 hours straight. It was 9am Chicago time. After two hours I woke her lazy butt up! It was time to start sightseeing! Come on! Let's go!

Back on the tube and down towards Oxford St. it was then. Probably not the best place to start off, as it was rush hour and impossible to see anything with all the trying not to die while dodging people left and right. Hunger pangs were already setting in again, so we took refuge in a McDonald's so I could prove to someone that it tastes both different and worse here than at home. Third time having McD's here since I got here, and yes, it still stinks.

We met up with Andy and I introduced one world to the other, then realized that probably wasn't such a good idea after all. Sherril knows a lot of things about me that I was trying to keep from my London friends who seem to think I am still relatively sane. I kept a close eye on her all night. She behaved herself.

Andy led us to an Irish pub in Chinatown, and Sherril started drinking cider (and didn't stop until she got back on the plane again!) Lots of fun and laughter as the night flew by. It was pretty late when we headed back north again and crawled into our beds. I'm pretty sure between the cider and lack of sleep, Sherril was delirious.

Day one in the bag. Not too terrible. Gave her a pretty good idea of how I spend some of my time around here.

Thursday
Let Sherril sleep in, and didn't go to my final Management lecture! Woohoo! Good start to my day then!

We planned to start our sightseeing slowly. First stop was Camden Town to show her the wonderful craziness that is where I live. Being early on a weekday, it was fairly calm, which is good. But we were denied the pleasure of observing the typical crowd of colorful transients.


These people look pretty normal.


So do these! Where's the punks?


Oh well. Here's some picture of water.


Then it was off to the British Museum to see all the treasures that the British have "collected" over the years.


Sherril: "So this is what actual culture looks like!"


Purty.


We stole countries! That's how you build an empire. We stole countries with the cunning use of flags! Just sail halfway around the world, stick a flag in. "I claim India for Britain."
And they're going, "You can't claim us. We live here! There's five hundred million of us."
"Do you have a flag?"
"We don't need a bloody flag, this is our country you bastard!"
"No flag, no country!"
-Eddie Izzard

The best part, of course, was the Reading Room. Our inner (outer?) librarians were postively gleeful!

Look at all the fake books!


Rosetta Stone. This picture was a real pain in the rear to get. Tourists fight dirty!

After we exhausted ourselves on artifacts, we tried going out the front door, but were stopped by security who was inspecting an "unattended package." *sigh* Welcome to London!

Out the back door then, and up Malet Place towards campus. I had to pick up a few things, and thought she should see the weirdness that is where I attend class.

Took a quick peak at the fantastic Art Deco marvelousness that is the Senate House, in which there is an even more fantastic library in which I had my Manuscript Studies class.



Then a quick jaunt through campus...


UCL on a fine, sunny day!

. . .and off to where all the real books were moved. . .the British Library!


We shall have the greatest library in the world. And it shall be. . .orange!


Newton inventing gravity.

It had been a long day already, with lots of walking for unseasoned feet. It was also closing in on dinner time, so up Euston Road it was to meet some classmates for our "Farewell to the Term" dinner. It was at Ravi Shankar, a Southern Indian restaurant, which I had never tried before. I have to say, it was delicious. Even Sherril enjoyed it. Still can't win her over on Korean, though.

After an enjoyable meal with some lovely classmates, we made a quick trip to the store so we could have some food in the house. Then we changed and went back out to a club near Oxford St. so Sherril could have another taste of the London nightlife.

Friday
Another late night meant another morning in bed. We were absolutely terrible tourists. But by early afternoon we dragged ourselves out the door and into a pretty muggy day. Back on the tube to Baker St. and into Madame Tussaud's for some cheesy, celebrity-worshipping fun.

Totally not worth the money to get in, but our Oyster cards got us a two-for-one discount. Totally not worth that either, but eh. . .


At least Sherril got to meet her idols. . .


. . .and I got to meet mine.


What a hunk!


Aww, Jen. Why so sad?


Oh.


Totally creepy.


Hubba hubba!


Hey! I know that guy! Samuel L...something.

After that, we trotted down Baker St. for awhile for a bit of Sherlock Holmes fun, and then up through a practically empty Regent's Park. We hiked all the way from the bottom to the top of the park, and toured a bit 'round Primrose Hill. We were too tired to climb, so instead we wandered around the neighborhood a bit in search of Jude Law or Kate Winslet or at least Gavin & Gwen. No such luck. So back into Camden Town, where we picked up some fish & chips which she soon learned are delicious for five minutes and painful for the next five hours.

Once again we cleaned ourselves up and headed southwards for the night. First back to Oxford St. to catch a rock show where we found Andy. Then the three of us headed back north to Camden Town to shake our cabooses to some indie rock at Koko. Many hours later, after sufficiently wearing ourselves out, we crawled onto a night bus and into our warm beds. I think it was 4 when we finally drifted off. Naughty, naughty tourists.

Saturday
Rain and exhaustion greeted us in the morning. Serious, pouring rain. Booo!! London was being very uncooperative.

But we were determined. So we got ourselves up and out and back on the tube towards Westminster so we could finally see some "traditional" London-y bits. Girl had been here 4 days and hadn't seen Big Ben yet (which is the BELL not the TOWER! ;) )


So THERE. Big Ben! Happy now?


Some government-y goodness.


Westminster Abbey. (£6 to get in? Think not! That's my beer money!)


Hey! What's that guy doing here?

Then we wandered around forever trying to find Downing St. For a seriously big, important house, it's seriously hard to find, even with my A-Z. Also, closed off so were unable to fake a heartattack to see if the guard could leave the door. Oh well!

Our plan was to walk up the South Bank to Southwark, because of everything there is to do in London, Sherril would not rest until we saw Bridget Jones' apartment! But we were too wimpy to walk in the rain, so we hopped on the tube. But the stinkin' Jubilee line was down and we had to take some weird way there which took forever. It was still pouring when we finally got out from underground. The Burough market was just closing, but we walked through it a bit. Then we turned the corner and smack into the Globe tavern so Sherril could snap some photos of BJ's house. I just stood around and absorbed the Colin Firth vibes. Mmm...

Then we headed through the tiny, medieval-y streets to the Globe replica. Then we took shelter from the rain inside the Tate Modern. I hadn't made it there yet, and I thought it was pretty neato getting to feast my eyes on some Rothko and Pollack and Monet. I didn't really get the big room of...what...salt blocks? Sugar cubes? Styrofoam? Maybe you can figure it out. I'm just not post-modern enough, or something.

Then back into darkening London, over the Millenium Bridge, and over to St. Paul's. It was just closing, but we got a quick peak inside. Then back underground and north again. We planned a night in to recover. Three nights in a row for Sherril (and four for me!) of late nights and drinking, and all the touristy stuff on top were quite enough. So we made ourselves a nice dinner and spent the evening recovering.

Sunday
The clocks changed over night and we lost an hour. We had intended to make it our mission to get out the door early, but we are just not very good at that. It was the lost hour's fault. That's our story and we're sticking to it.

But today! Today was the big day. So much left to see, and the days were just zipping by!! I rustled through my A-Z and plotted an ambitious course, by way of many tube stations in case we lost our nerve.

The morning was sunny enough, but as it did every day, the second we got outdoors it began to rain. *shakes fist at London*

Down the Northern Line again, and off at Piccadilly Circus.


How American!

Sherril decided she was in love with the city enough to do some househunting, so we made off in a southwesterly direction. Wasn't long before she stumbled across something suitable to her tastes. . .


Maybe a bit out of our price range?

Through Green Park, then, up to Hyde Park corner.

Which has the best crossing lights ever!


and. . .


Sherril: "Mmm...Beef Wellington..."

But not into the park yet! First we had to make a slight detour.

We are girls. Girls like to shop. Especially for things we could never afford.














About the only thing we could afford was some of the food. So we bought ourselves a little Thai Food a la Harrods, and headed over to Hyde Park for a little picnic on the Serpentine. . .


Not too shabby.

Then back on our feet to make the long journey lengthwise through the park.

We found Princess Diana's Memorial Fountain.


Saw some puppies running around.



And found Peter Pan.



All that, and still not done yet! Finally, we reached the other end of the park and found Kensington Palace.



With it's pretty, pretty gardens.



Apparently, there's some stuff on the inside too, but they wanted to charge us for that! Greed!

You'd think by then, we would have had enough. But no! Our weary feet hauled us all the way to Notting Hill and up Portobello Road. I hadn't been to that part of London yet, and it was great! Totally would love to get back there sometime.



Finally, we'd had enough, so we hopped on a random bus. It took us to Marble Arch. . .



. . .so I snapped a quick one before we slipped underground once again and back up north to call it a day.

Exhaustion! Sleeeeep!

Monday
We were rapidly crossing things off our list. We still needed to do Trafalgar Square and the surrounding museums, Covent Garden, the Tower of London and had considered taking a day trip outside the city. However, at this point, the furthest we could imagine ourselves going was Greenwich to see the Prime Meridian.

I also had a little problem involving a dead iPod and wanted to visit the Apple Store to see if they could do anything about it. So first off we headed to Regent St. where a very nice Apple man looked at my deadPod even though I didn't have an appointment and they were booked solid. (I'm so converting now!) Within a half hour, I had a brand new iPod (number 4!), and off we were. We did a little window shopping down Oxford St. and then headed in the direction of Covent Garden for some more.

We poked around in the stores there, my favorite being the store with all the Paddington Bear and Winnie the Pooh stuff. It just made me all warm and fuzzy inside, especially when I found the A.A. Milne poetry books and stumbled across my favorite childhood poem.

When I was One,
I had just begun.

When I was Two,
I was nearly new.

When I was Three,
I was hardly Me.

When I was Four,
I was not much more.

When I was Five,
I was just alive.

But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever.
So I think I'll be six now for ever and ever.

I think that I could add a "Twenty-" before all those, and they'd still apply.

Hunger pangs were setting in, so we wandered around in the rain until we finally found a Wagamama and filled some yummy, yummy noodles.

Then down the Strand to Trafalgar Square. Nelson's Column (HA-ha!) seems to be under some sort of cleaning or restoration project because there is more and more scaffolding covering it up whenever I see it. Anyways, we headed into The National Portrait gallery and looked around for awhile.

Afterwards, we headed north to Leicester Square. Where we found the Greatest. Thing. Ever!!!!


Can you see how excited she is? Can you tell why? Let's get a closer look. . .


!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Woooooooooooooo!!!

Also,


Hey! That doesn't suck either!

Awesome.

That night we planned on celebrating each other's birthdays since we were apart for them. There was an Italian bakery near Leicester Square we were told to go to, and then we were going to stop in Marks & Spencers for a delicious dinner we didn't have to cook ourselves. Then we were to catch a show at Barfly.

We headed northwards towards Chinatown, where I promptly twisted my foot on some evil cobblestones, and became increasinly incapacitated as the night went by. I was alright at the moment, though, so we kept on our way. The bakery wanted three days to make us a cake, so we bought some slices instead. Which is fine, because Sherril wanted cheesecake, and I maintain that it's gross.

But we got our cake, and headed into Camden to get our dinner. Then back home to consume dinner and cake. By the time dinner was over, I couldn't walk. My foot would not take any weight. So Barfly was out. Instead, I lay on my bed with ice on my foot trying to figure out how I'd get myself to the ER if I couldn't even walk down the hallway. Sherril read me funny things off the internet. Not the most exciting night in.

Tuesday
In the morning, I could walk again, but it wasn't great. This meant that we nixed the Tower and Greenwich, which I feel bad about. Instead, we took it slow and revisited Camden Town so Sherril could do some souvenir and shoe shopping, and I could easily get home and off my foot if need be.

Not the best last day in London, ever. :'(

We grabbed lunch and a pint in the World's End. I got a call from my friend Chad inviting us to Soho for some drinks with other classmates in the evening. I told him we were in. We went back to my place, recuperated for a bit, and then back down to Oxford St. once again.

It was a good final night, I think. Good company. Andy texted that he was in the area and so he came along to say goodbye to Sherril. We drank more cider and made merry until last orders. I said goodnight to all my friends, and the two of us silently headed back to my flat, solemn in the knowledge that we were going to sleep only to wake up and separate once again.

Wednesday
Our first early morning. 7am! Unthinkable! We groggily got up and dressed and packed and made it out the door for the final time. It was the longest, most silent walk ever to the Kentish Town tube station. The trains were against us, and multiple delays made us wait forever for a train empty enough to get on. The ride on the Piccadilly line was so long I kept dozing off. Then to the airport, and through the baggage check, and then Sherril had to go through the line for security where I couldn't follow her. So we said our long, hard goodbyes. I watched for awhile until the queue was too deep to see her anymore. I brokedown a bit in the elevator, but some evil lady got on after me and I had to pretend to be normal. On the tube, I buried my face in my book and put my iPod on shuffle, skipping all the songs that reminded me of our week.

I made it back to my flat like a zombie and sat in the dark for the rest of the afternoon, watching clips from the Daily Show and the Colbert Report to try and make myself feel better instead of feeling sorry for myself. My room was empty, and I was sad. I didn't think I had anything left for the whole year to look forward to, except evil, horrible coursework.

Thankfully, Andy texted me and asked if I wanted some coffee on Oxford St. and then proceeded to keep my mind off of it for the next 7 hours. That really, really helped.

The last couple of days, I finished up my dissertation proposal, and now I've spent many, many hours writing this blog! Google better not lose this, OR ELSE!

And thus ends the tale of Sherril in London. Now she needs to start saving money so she can COME BACK! And bring that fella of hers! I need to boogy some more at Koko and drink some more cider and simply have my best friend with me as I run around in the Greatest City in the World.