Blogged In

Last day in London and two things left to do. First, the British Library. It’s just me, but of all the old books and manuscripts in there, the most meaningful were the original Beatles lyrics. Next stop – shopping. First, a return to Fantasy Centre, followed by a stop at Borders. Checked email and got a duck wrap at Sainsbury’s for lunch. For dinner, I followed Monica’s recommendation of Ye Ole Cheshire Cheese, near the hostel, off Fleet Street. I had the avocado and goat cheese to start and roast beef and Yorkshire pudding – absolutely wonderful.

After I returned to the hostel, I played some games with an guy from Utah, a guy from Australia, two Tanzmanians, and a Danish girl. The first was a mean game of Twister, where the people on the board tried to block each other’s possible move, and the person calling the moves didn’t have a spinner, so they just called out moves designed to inflict the most damage. The other game was a card game (usually done with the benefit of alcohol) which had a new rule each time someone won a hand. The worst one was having to get up on the table and sing a Britney Spears song whenever you played an 8 (although I thought they sounded better with a Danish accent).

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]

Got up, had some breakfast at the hostel, and headed to Tottenham Court Road to take The Beatles Magical Mystery Tour from London Walks. Much to my surprise, the first stop is in Soho Square where Paul McCartney’s offices are. We hit several landmarks, most notably the site of the rooftop concert on Savile Row and Abbey Road Studios.

Later, I went shopping at some record stores in Soho (especially good was the Music and Video Exchange branch on Berwick Street), got some sandwiches at the Somerfield’s there, and ended up at Trafalgar Square for the St. Patrick’s Day celebration. It was a crowded, rowdy event; the crowds only started to thin when it started to rain. The Dubliners headlined the event and were quite good, hard to hear since the volume wasn’t cranked like it is at festivals stateside.

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]

I had wanted to take a day trip to Paris (there was a weekend day trip train rate of $100), but I waited too long and that fare was sold out. I decided I’d still go to France – I’d go to Calais on a ferry. There were multiple trains to Dover; I took a 10:30 one. I arrived in Dover around noon and rode the ferry (P&O Stena) shuttle to the port. Once there, the ticket agent checked my ticket and passport, then issued me a boarding pass. I boarded another bus to take me to the ship, where I just made the 1:00 sailing. It was an uneventful hour and a half trip.

Once there, there was again a bus to the entrance, and a different one into town. It was almost 4 by the time I arrived in Place d’Armes, the town square. I wandered around the town and visited the church of Notre Dame before heading out towards the shore. I was getting hungry, and I went into Le Sybilien, one of a handful of restaurants that face the water north of town. It was my first experience trying to communicate where English wasn’t dominant (I bought a phrase book the day before), and I wasn’t perfect, but I got what I wanted. I ordered from the fixed price menu, and had snails, lamb chops and a tart. The snails were served in a herb/oil mix that was still boiling when it arrived. Of course I burned my tongue on it, but the entire meal was excellent. Dinner took nearly two hours, and I was running out of time. I stopped at a cheese shop, La Maison du Fromage et des Vins, and picked a yellow one at random. I took the two buses back and got on the ship.

When I arrived in Dover, they had a customs station, and that was the only stamp my passport got that day. I got to the train station about 20 minutes before the last train. It was after midnight by the time I got to London. I checked my email, then tried to take a bus to the hostel. I say tried, because I was so tired I got on the wrong one. I realized my mistake, took one going the other way, and then caught the right one.

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]

A rainy morning gets more depressing as I try to check in again by myself. It turns out when I tried to rebook the Oxford Circus hostel, I actually booked the hostel in Oxford. The helpful girl at reception helped me cancel that and find new accommodations at the City of London hostel near St. Paul’s. I head out with Seth to the cafe on Poland Street again for breakfast, then back to the hostel where we grab our stuff. Once we get to the tube, we head our separate ways – him to Heathrow, me to the new hostel.

I check in, store my stuff, and go shopping again. I go to Camden Market where there’s a branch of Music and Video Exchange and some bookstores, Ripping Yarns in Highgate, and my new favorite bookstore, Fantasy Centre in Holloway. I arrive several minutes after closing, but the proprietor is kind enough to let me in for a few minutes. I pick up a few books and vow to return. I head to Tottenham Court Road to check email, then wander down Charing Cross Road, stopping at Deep Pan Pizza for dinner. I walk back to the hostel and go to the lounge to read and chat with the people there.

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]

Seth is feeling poorly, so I wander off shopping. It’s a rainy day, and I hit a couple bookstores near Marylebone, but the best one was way down on King’s Road from the tube stop at Sloane Square. I stop at a Pizza Express for some lunch, have their Sicilia (artichoke, ham, olives) – quite good. When I return to the hostel, Seth’s still in bed, feeling better but not up to going out. I windowshop at HMV and Borders, then pick up food for him and me at Marks & Spencer. Bread and soup for him, a roast beef and yorkshire pudding for me – tasty but not anything like Mom’s. I resolve to have the real thing before I leave. We end up watching tv for a couple hours with some others staying there.

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]

Seth’s decided the bus tour to Stonehenge is a little too pricey at about $75 a head (although the price of renting a car and filling up the tank is higher), so I go and meet up with the tour and my friend Monica, who’s traveling with her friend Dawn. We get in a van that seats about 15, and head out of London. There’s a lot of traffic going both directions that clears up about 30 minutes out. Our first stop is Sarum where ruins stand from an ancient castle (first occupied over 5000 years ago). It’s interesting, but there are strong winds in addition to it being cold, and we don’t stay long. Next is Salisbury Cathedral, some spectacular windows inside and one of four existing copies of the Magna Carta. I also wander into Salisbury to look at St Thomas’s Church (first built in 1219, featuring the Doom Painting).

Next up is lunch at a pub in the Woodford Valley, where I had egg, ham, and chips and Toadfeet bitters. Stonehenge is next, and it’s too bad it’s windy and cold, because it would have been nice to stay out there longer. The final stop is Avebury, the largest stone circle in Britain, but kinda disappointing after Stonehenge. We go back into London, where we had reservations at the extremely hard to find Gaucho Grill (so difficult that Seth who was supposed to meet us there, gave up after an hour of searching). They served Argentinean beef, and I had an incredibly tasty ribeye (for future reference, it’s under the J.D. Wetherspoon’s – Knights Templar on Gracechurch Street).

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]

After finding out the reason people in the hostel go to Marks & Spencer is that the grocery store is in the basement, we get some sandwiches (sausage roll for me) and head back to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards. Interesting, but certainly the most crowded tourist attraction. Next we head northwest through Hyde Park, along the Serpentine. Striking west at the bridge, we come to Kensington Palace, then head north to Notting Hill. Portobello Market’s big day is Saturday, and there isn’t much to see on a Tuesday. There is a nice little bookstore there, Book and Comics Exchange on Pembridge Road (part of a great chain), where we both stock up.

Hopping on the tube, we get off at Waterloo, near the London Eye. It’s an overcast day and there’s no line, so we purchase tickets and go up. A great view, even when cloudy. The Dali Universe show is next door, so we go in. Very surreal. We eat at Mr. Au’s, an Asian chain with a buffet. Next we take a train to Croydon to meet a friend of Seth’s who was working there for a year. We wandered down to a nearby pub and chatted over a few pints.

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]

Failing miserably to get out before the changing of the guard, we head out west a block and Seth asks a fellow where we can get some breakfast. “My pub” is the reply, so I found myself enjoying eggs, sausage, and black pudding (not anywhere as bad as I feared) at O’Neill’s Pub. Afterwards, we trek back to Big Ben, now taking a left and crossing the Thames. We walk along the South Bank to the Tower Bridge, stopping at a book market under the Waterloo Bridge. We double back in order to cross the Millennium Bridge, to arrive at St. Paul’s Cathedral. We look around inside, then go through Chinatown, where I had some dim sum and amazing roast duck. We end the day at Shakespeare’s Head Pub, sampling more pints.

[Originally published at GoHither.Net]