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Josh’s European Adventure: Day 4 – London, England

I woke up at 1230PM after a night of tossing and turning.  The Sunday morning church bells from across the street woke me up briefly, but I found myself dozing off back to sleep shortly after they finished ringing.  Today was a bit of a lazy day until about 3PM when Harriet and I went off to Camden Market.  Camden is an area of all young people with great shops and a huge market in the middle.  Camden is also home to Camden Lock and has a Venice type feel to it with small alleys and local vendors selling great things.

The main goal of going to Camden Market was to find one of Harriet’s oldest friends, Katie a 21st birthday present.  Even though we were surrounding by tens of stalls and chathckas, Harriet was heart-pressed to find anything.  After about an hour and a half of walking around, she eventually found this really cool handmade clock that she felt would be perfect for her friend.  I actually ending up buying this skull knit hat from a very famous local shop called Cyberdog.  Even after that purchase I haven’t spent much money so far in London, which is great considering the rest of my trip will be quite pricey.

Also Harriet and I decided that I would not accompany her to Newcastle and that tomorrow she would go get her passport and return in the evening, saving me 84 pounds and giving me an opportunity to see a little bit more of the city.  After Camden Market we took the tube to Embankment which is right on the South bank (of the Thames river).  We grabbed a drink at this really, really old wine bar called Gordons Wine Bar.  The downstairs looked like an old dungeon or cellar, it was really cool, and the wine was quite good as well.  From there we made our way to the Royal Theatre for a quick stop at the lue and a quick drink for myself.

At around 6PM we made our way to a restaurant called Ping Pong, a Chinese dim sum place where we met her parents, sisters and two other families, totaling 18 of us in all!  We had two monster tables upstairs in the restaurant.  Apparently George, Harriet’s parents good friend knew the owner and got us the reservation.  So we all ordered a whole bunch of things ranging from rices, dumplings, buns, and other sorts of goodies.  I had a few beers and chatted with the family friend’s and the people around me.

Before we knew it though 715PM had rolled around and it was time to go to the theater.  Harriet’s parents had gotten us all tickets to see a show called “The Lost and Found Orchestra,” which was a spin off from the very famous show “Stomp.”  I thought it was a brilliant show, kept me interested during the entire performance, and during intermission Harriet’s father got us all ice cream, which was really nice.  They have been so great to me during my stay, and they are such a sweet family, I have had a great time so far in London.

After the show the kiddies and I decided to try and find a place to grab a drink, but as it turned out most places closed quite early during this holiday period and on Sundays especially so everything ended up being closed when we got back Camden.  From Camden, Martha, Harriet and I took the bus back home, I got a drink and some olives (becci I was craving them so bad), from a local shop and we headed back home.  Once we got home, we had some tea and chatted for a little while before we all retired to our rooms.  I felt bad for Harriet who after having a very intense 16 week semester (she is a medicine student), then came home and volunteered for 4 days at the shelters, and then now had to wake up to make an 830AM train.  I hope she will get some rest tomorrow before New Year’s Eve and our long anticipated trip to Amsterdam!

I ended up only watching half of Iron Man and getting to sleep at a decent hour (finally before 1AM)



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