The Crystal Ball

Being in London was like being in America again. It was the first time I've been in an English-speaking country since I left home. It was really strange. I had loads of fun though! My friends Ashley and Alli studied in London this semester, and Eddy and I visited them in their last days there.

We flew out of Paris Charles de Gaulle and arrived in London Luton airport before we left, due to the short flight and time difference between Paris and London. That was cool. What was not cool was the immigration authorities. Unfortunately, I forgot to bring my little notebook with our Hostel address in it. They wanted to know where we would be staying on the card we had to fill out to get into the country. So Eddy had to bust out his laptop and we had to pay for internet to find out. After we were done, the lady was like, "What are you two doing?"
Eddy and me: "looking up the address that you need"
Immigration Lady: "Didn't you see the sign? No internet use in here."
Us: "Okay, well we already did. We aren't anymore."
Lady: "Why did you need to use it?"
Us: "We needed the address of our hostel."
ETC.
------------5 Minutes Later--------------

Lady: "Well next time you want to enter the UK make sure you have copies of your hostel confirmation, return flight, etc."

What a pain...

We bussed into the city, and Ashley met us at Victoria Station to show us where our South Kensington hostel was. They lived just a couple blocks down the road, which was convenient.

First things first, we were hungry. The girls took us to Brick Lane, the famous East-end area for Indian food. If you stand your ground, you can get a great deal like we got: free bottle of wine and 2 pints, free appetizer, and 30% off the total bill. You don't go in until you get a deal like this from the hawker guy. I had chicken Tandoori, it was excellent. I had heard from many people that London was great for Indian cuisine, and I wasn't disappointed.

Then we went around the corner to a dark corner pub with torn up scarlet couches and shiny black armchairs. It is said to have been Jack the Ripper's favorite hangout. Creepy.

We took the tube back to our end of town, and split up so we could take a quick nap. Quick nap turned into 3.5 hour hibernation, from which we were stirred by a fish-and-chips-toting Alli. After enjoying that famous English Dish, we went down to the neighborhood pub, the Zetland Arms. It's a cozy place, with wood panels, subdued lights, and cold beer and cider. We like this place so much we actually went there all three nights. Ashley didn't join us because she was studying for an exam the next day. Apparently Alli was feeling confident enough already about that one.

The Zetland Arms, like many places in London, closes early for our Parisian tastes (midnight). So after few pints of John Smith's Ale, we headed back to the hostel and called it a night.

As the girls took their las exam, Eddy and I got up and took a walk around the city. Eventually, we got around to Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye (big Ferris wheel that we didn't go up in), and the reflective river Thames. London does have some beautiful sights to see.

We took the tube to Westminster where the abbey and Big Ben are, and it was really cool because right as we exited the tube station we were at the foot of Big Ben, towering over us. It's so intricate - the details on the clock are amazing. And it's such a landmark, kind of like the Eiffel Tower, that it just hits you when you see it for the first time.

The abbey is right around the corner from Big Ben. Not as impressive as Notre Dame I thought, although I didn't see the inside. By the time we got there it was closed to visitors and when it's open it's 9 Euros, so Eddy and I decided to skip that. It is cool though, it's where all the English Kings have been crowned for like, a long time.

We met back up with the girls after their exam, and they were obviously very happy to be done with school. They were saying though, that they really didn't do all that much work, and that they wished classes back home were like their classes abroad. I can see why they enjoyed their time abroad; their residence was a 2 million pound house full of 13 happy badgers. They got quite the deal there.

They were ready to party though, and so after a Pimm's and Lemonade at their place (very British) we made our way to their Student Union bar. It seemed to be the place to be that night. I had a Guiness and something else that I can't remember. After Union bar, we gravitated back to the Zetland Arms for a couple more pints. It was really nice to catch up with the girls over a cold beer. They had a lot to say about how their semester had been, as did we.

We then moved on to another local haunt called Janet's. Janet was there. We got a bottle of wine. We lamented the fact that we were all leaving soon over the Chardonnay.

Fish and Chips again before bed.

We got up the next day and decided to be productive again in terms of seeing sights. We went over to the area with the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. They were pretty cool. We didn't go in anywhere though, because London tourism is really expensive. It's okay though, I was content to wander and soak in the sights. Frankly I'm tired of being a tourist. After so many museums and cathedrals you really do get burned out. A nice relaxed walk through that part of the city sufficed.

Before heading back home we also stopped off at Buckingham Palace. We got there too late to witness the changing of the guards however; I guess they don't think that the night is as dangerous as the daytime because there was no one guarding the gates! What a shame. It was cool to think that the Queen was chilling out inside though.




We went back to our hostel and decided we were going to check out and just stay at our friends' place for the night. Everyone but Alli and Ashley had left, leaving an empty, large house. Plus, our hostel was kind of weird. It was clean and everything, but the people were weird. Everytime we went into our room (of like 16 beds) everyone was asleep...even at like 3:00 pm. And the lights were always off for the room. But, if you turn the lights on, the whole room lights up. Eddy had a bad habit of doing this when we came in. He got glares from this Italian dude, and this really really awkward guy said something like, "It's okay to turn the lights on, there are only 4 people sleeping). We couldn't even tell if he was being sarcastic or not though. So after an awkward silence, Eddy said, "Do you want to come to the pub with us?" Imagine Alli's and my shock when Eddy extended this courtesy.

And he even told the guy which pub we would be at (Zetland Arms). We still didn't expect the guy to show up though, we didn't think he liked us very much. Until he did show up. We were like, Oh, hello there. But we got talking and he's actually very nice, just socially awkward. His name was Ben, he was from Canada, grew up in London, and now lives in Ireland. He makes violins for a living, by hand. It takes him 3 weeks to make one and he sells them for $5,000. He's good at making them but bad at selling them, as he really only sells to one guy, a friend, who runs a music store. He offered socially-competent Eddy 15% of every sale if he sold them for him. Haha. You can meet the most random people abroad.

Since the girls, and us for that matter, had to get up the next morning at like 5:30, we went right home after the Zetland Arms. Back at their place, we watched an episode of Madmen on Eddy's computer, and hung out. I fell asleep as did Ashley, but Alli and Eddy stayed awake the whole time. Then Eddy and I helped the girls carry their bags to the metro, and my theorem that all girls overpack was again confirmed. Exercise for the week, check.

Seeing them tearing up and leaving on the metro with all their bags was like seeing into the future. I couldn't help but see me in their position. It was like gazing into a Crystal Ball. It's coming up so fast, and it's so sad. It will be nice to be home though, it's just that I know I'll miss Paris a lot.

To make things worse on that front, we had to say goodbye to one of our core group members yesterday, Carly (the Australian). She stayed in my room while I was in London because she had to leave her housing. Then we all helped with her bags to the train station, and we put her in a cab to the airport. Soooo sad. The group begins to splinter...

On a happier note though, it was Eddy's birthday yesterday. We went to the bar in the top of the Tour Montparnasse, the one skyscraper within Paris proper. It was a really cool view, and we saw some sparkling Eiffel Tower action from the top. The drinks are pricey up there, but it's very classy, and a great way to celebrate something with the glimmering "City of Lights' beneath.

The unreal view from floor 56 of the Tour Montparnasse

Birthday Boy in "Le Ciel" ("the sky") bar in the Tour Montparnasse.