London Calling

The Eye and Parliament from the Thames

Last Thursday, some friends and I headed to London town. We flew into Luton, which has to be one of the smallest airports in the Western world, then took a train into St. Pancras/Kings Cross station. A friend of ours who lives in London met up with us at the home of Platform 9 3/4 and took us to a pub. We had a couple drinks then grabbed an unbelievably delicious kebab and passed out.

The next morning, I met up with Christian and it was off to Westminster. After strolling through the area and taking pictures of Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and Big Ben, we went to the Cavalry museum. Apparently the horses are vicious- the sign warns tourists that they may "Bite or Kick." Fortunately, we didn't witness any such violent action and walked to The Eye unscathed. Some of us went on the famous ferris wheel conveniently located right next to the British Film Museum. The view from the top was unreal; we had a panorama of the city with clear, blue skies (I know, right?).

From the top of The Eye

Coming down from that high, we ventured to Trafalgar Square. There we had a lion- and fountain-themed photo shoot. Once some little kids began following our lead, we felt it was time to stop and go inside the National Gallery. They had lots of great stuff in there- Van Dyck, Matisse, Degas, Van Gogh, Monet, Picasso, etc. We probably could have stayed there for days.

National Gallery in Trafalgar Sq

At the end of our speed session through the museum, we went to Piccadilly Circus. All I could think of was "An American Werewolf in London." Pretty sure I was the only one. It's essentially Times Square in London. Next, we saw The British Museum. SO COOL. To summarize, the British hoarded the treasures of the ancient world and put them in one place for you to see. That is, most of the Parthenon and of ancient Egypt is in there. That was probably my favourite part of the trip. Ironically, it has very little to do with England other than the fact that they're a world super power. Anyway, the next visit was to Covent Garden. We ooed and ahhed over the Christmas decorations and pricey shops, then grabbed some dinner. That night, we went to a bar in Soho. I ordered one drink the whole night because the prices were insanely high- like 5 pounds for a bottle. It worked out okay though, since we were exhausted from the long day.

On Saturday, we had a later start but eventually made it across town to The Tower of London. That place is massive. Some people went inside, but Christian and I decided to keep the 16 pounds and walk across Tower Bridge instead. We got a good view of City Hall and The Thames. When the others finished the tour and I finished my Egg Nog latte (score), we took a bus to St. Paul's Cathedral. We got there just before mass was about to begin so it was packed. The design takes a lot from St. Peter's. Needless to say, it was beautiful. Then, we crossed the Millennium Bridge to Tate Modern.

Millennium Bridge

Ambitiously, we attempted to complete the whole museum in 1 hour flat. Impossible. The building is enormous and literally impossible to cover that amount of ground in that short amount of time. But we did see some fantastic Surrealist stuff (lots of Dali), some Picasso, Munch, Warhol, etc. We practically sprinted to see as much as possible. Then we grabbed dinner at a nice Italian place situated next to The Globe. Our view was of Shakespeare's old stomping grounds, the Thames, and London Bridge. Not bad. I had to shake off a food coma before hopping on the Tube to Harrods. The prices were out of control. I've never seen stuff so expensive in my life. One bottle of whiskey was 12,250 pounds (almost $24,000). Parked outside were rows of Aston Martins, Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Bentleys, Rolls Royces and every other luxury car you can name. We felt bad about ourselves, so we bought gelatto and went to a huge carnival in Hyde Park. Aptly named "Winter Wonderland," this carnival seemed to take everything from Oktoberfest (Germans included) and redesign it all with Christmas decorations. It seemed to fit with the theme of the weekend by being an overwhelmingly large festival. There were so many winter drinks (spiced hot rum, heated wine, Irish coffee, punch, spiked hot chocolate) and plenty of rides to choose from. In the center was a huge ice skating rink. It was seriously awesome- I felt like a 6 year old. That night, we went to Leicester Square in Soho to go clubbing. Those prices were exhorbitantly high- some were 50 pounds cover! We ended up going to the cheapest one we could find and ended up dancing to a playlist that would have been appropriate for a wedding. Very interesting DJ to say the least... but we had a blast anyway and it was a good ending to the weekend.

Sunday morning, we lethargically traveled back home to Dublin. What a weekend.