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Josh’s European Adventure: Day 5 – London, England

The first half of today was a lazy day.  While Harriet was off getting her passport from her apartment in Newcastle, I chilled out and relaxed.  At about 2PM Martha (harriet’s youngest sister) and I went out for a walk around central London.  We took the tube from Kings Cross to Covent Garden and had a bit of a walk around just chatting and I snapped a few photos.  Covent Garden is one of the tourist centers of London.  The place was jammed pack.  Here you will find a lot of street performances and those creepy real life statutes that move or do something when people deposit money in the box or hat in front of them.  I still find them creepy.  Why someone would want to do that all day is beside me.

After about an hour plus of walking around, going into shops and enjoying some of the street performances, we both were hungry and fancied a bite to eat.  So eventually we stumbled upon this local bistro that looked promising to the both of us.  It ended up being really good.  I had spinach and gnocchi in a cream sauce and Martha had penne.  What is it with penne and women?  My sister’s favorite pasta dish growing up, penne ala vodka.  I don’t get it, maybe it is something in the flour they use to make it that attracts women.  Anyway the lunch was my treat as I felt like this family was becoming my own and she was a second or third younger sister (eva is second of course) and it was my pleasure to treat the young lady.

After lunch we walked around for a bit more, but then decided that we were tired and that it was time to head home.  So we shuffled through the ridiculously busy Covent Garden Underground Station where you can only go down by elevator.  I find this incredibly stupid considering it is one of the busiest, if not the busiest tube station in all of London!  Bloody hell, have stair or an escalator jesus!

Luckily we got a seat on the tube for the rather short ride back to Kings Cross.  From there we jumped on a bus and headed home.  Again waiting for the bus.  Man I seem to always just miss these damn things and end up waiting ages in the cold for the next one to come, not sure if that is my bad luck or the luck of the person I’m with?

Once we got home, I went upstairs to relax and put on a movie.  It is tiring doing nothing and then walking around.  Sheesh.  Anyway, Harriet eventually made it back to London, and we both changed, because it was time for the theater!  We were meeting Harriet’s oldest friend, Katie for her 21st birthday and to see the show “We Will Rock You” a tribute to Queen.  We left the house pretty early and after taking two buses arrived at the theater promptly at 7PM.  Harriet had told me that Katie had said the group would be there by 715PM, giving us enough time to make the 7:30PM show.  Well as it turned out they arrived just around 730PM and we were quickly shuffled down to the second row of the theater.  We had the entire row to ourselves.  Her and her friends had come to London from Kent via a nice stretch limo, compliments of her parents for Katie’s 21st birthday.  Nice gift if I may say so myself.  The seats were remarkable and the show was even better.  They played all the Queen songs I knew and many more.  It was interesting how they worked all the songs in and while the storyline was kind of cheesy, the actors and actresses had incredible voices followed up by an awesome band in the wings.

After the show, where the theater played host to a full house, we all made our way out and then it was time to find the restaurant where they had booked the late after theater dinner.  The place was called “Browns,” apparently famous for its burgers.  The funny thing was that you would figure that they would have had directions from the theater to the restaurant, but as it turned out, no one of the 13 other people I was with, including Harriet who has lived in London all her life knew how to get from where we were to Covent Garden!  That was amazing.  It ended up taking us quite a while to get there, but we eventually made it just in the nick of time and the restaurant allowed us to sit and order food even though the kitchen had technically closed (that’s probably because we were so many and the bill was going to be a fat one).  After a rushed dinner where I virtually invited everyone to come to NY and stay with me (come on parents you know it is Hostel Del Epstein), the group went back home in the limo, while Harriet and I took the bus home.  We wanted to find a nightcap but nothing was really open and she wasn’t really familiar with where we should go.

By the way, so far I have found that NOTHING is open past 12PM.  This is so unlike New York City, and it makes me realize how awesome the nightlife is in New York because no matter what day it is, or time, something will be open, whether it be a lounge, bar or club.  Here it seems like everything is closed so early, what the hell is going on here.  Am in in the twilight zone?  Is this all a big “ha ha?”  Has London planned a big joke against me?  I don’t know, but what I do know is that London is definitely NOT the city that never sleeps, in fact they like to go to bed early.

Before we got home though I had to get something to eat.  Now since my recent doctor’s visit where they informed me my cholesterol was at epic levels, I have been eating rather good and not late at night.  Tonight was different.  I needed food, so I got some lamb kebab and salad and devoured it once I got home.  I had only really eaten one meal today and it was much earlier in the day and I needed something to hold me over.

All in all it was another great day.  But at the end of the night Harriet and I both agreed that we were “cultured out,” for at least the next few years.



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One response to “Josh’s European Adventure: Day 5 – London, England”

  1. scarlett says:

    i can’t believe you wrote that nothing is open in london past 12am! As a native Londoner, i’m offended that you were given the impression that Londoners like to go to bed early. Then again, maybe your tour guides have different taste in socialising venues to me, but try these places if you come back to london:
    cheapskates (wednesday nights) open til about 4, drinks are ridiculously cheap, you gotta sign up by email first
    we love 90s – first friday night of every month, on til something like 6!
    glassworks
    electric ballroom
    the russian
    everywhere in bricklane!!
    obviously everywhere is open late friday and saturday nights…

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