Continued...

The following day David and I met Lisa and Tom at their hotel near Piccadilly Circus. Over snacks at a nearby Cafe Nero we decided I would continue to show David around while they get settled in.

I took David to Trafalgar square, the national portrait gallery to show him some of my favorite paintings and then finished it off with burrito’s from Chipotle. We paid in excess of £16 ($25) for the two of us!  

With our belly’s full we met up with Lauren at Covent Garden and had a wander around.

Next stop was Westminster Cathedral near Victoria Station. It’s massive building designed in an interesting blend of Byzentiuium and Victorian Architecture. The ceiling of the Cathedral was made of 3 large domes. Instead of ornately decorated as one would normally expect, the domes were left bare so when you look up it looks rather ominous.

We also lit a candle for Grandpa.

We toured the Cathedral flour then went to top of the adjacent bell tower. One thing we all noticed was the vast number of cranes in almost all directions. There were literally dozens of all shapes and sizes. Even in downtown LA during construction boom times you wouldn’t normally see more than 5 or 6 cranes.

That evening the three of us met Lisa and Tom for dinner at a pub. I had Bangers and Mash with a Guinness for the first time ever. Not too shabby.

Tom came back to our flat to help collect David’s luggage as he was staying with them for the remainder of the trip

Tuesday rolled around and I met the South Pas B’s for breakfast. I had a vegetarian English breakfast. The prior nights Bangers had just about filled my monthly quota of meat.

Our first destination was St. Paul’s Cathedral. In order to get the discounted family of four entry fee of £36, the children had to be under 17 – an age I could confidently pull off. Sure enough as we were paying for the tickets, the attendant asked how old I was, and without a beat I said “17!”. “Huh, ok” responded the clerk and before I knew I was 9 years younger and exploring one of London’s most iconic buildings.

Highlights were 250+ stair climb up the central dome, the altar and avoiding security staff while discreetly taking photographs.

As the weather was so nice we decided to walk towards the tower of London instead of taking the Tube. It probably took us about an hour however the travel time included a quick pit stop at Pret A Manger for some lunch.

We rounded off the day with a quick tour of the Tower of London ( highlights were the crown jewels which can only be viewed by standing a moving walkway, like what you see at the airport) and a river cruise back towards the west side of the city.

Finally, we shared a pleasant dinner overlooking the river.

Wednesday I worked during the day and met them for dinner that evening in Leicester square.  I think were the loudest table there.

I bought everybody after dinner drinks at a pub down the street and we all observed a hobo finish half empty pint glasses from people that had left.

All in all it was nice seeing family, making fun of the British and hearing Uncle Toms cockney accent. 

Family in town

The last 4 days have been very busy, the South Pas Barkers were in town following holidays around Britain and Spain.

Saturday I met David at Victoria station. He just finished a 2 week intensive Spanish language course in the south of Spain. He looked very tan, his skin tone stood out when compared to mine. “You're now an Englishman”, one of my friends later remarked on our skin contrast.

Dave and I went back to my apartment, lounged around and played some Xbox. He’d been up since 5 in the morning and wanted to relax after his journey. That evening we went up to my friends place in North London (Palmers Green to be exact) and knocked back some beers. Many good laughs were had on our respective nationalities.

Sunday we slept in to about noon, needing to recover from the night before. We  then decided to catch the Spain V USA Olympic basketball game in town.

While on our walk along the river we noticed barriers with London 2012 banners being taken down. We decided to scoop up one of the enormous purple banners for a keepsake so I grabbed one that had been rolled up and stuffed it in David’s backpack. We had grand visions of wrapping our flat with this piece of history.

Unfortunately our dreams were shattered when less than 10 minutes later some killyjoy of a worker hollered at us and demanded we return the goods. We reluctantly complied.

We settled into a Pub near the Tower of London, ordered some food and took in the Game. The pub was loaded with Yankees and many USA chants were heard. I even met a family man from Century City. A couple Spaniards were huddled near the TV with their flag wrapped around their backs.

Inevitably USA won, and swelling with pride, we continued down the opposite side of the river. We passed several hospitality houses including those of Brazil and France.

At one point we walked down some steps right to the Thames and skipped rocks till our arms gave out. I accidently stepped in the river when I wasn’t looking. Fortunately my foot didn’t dissolve away.  

Later we went back to the apartment to cool our feet.

That evening Lauren joined us for a trip out to Victoria Park to watch the closing ceremonies.  As we got off the tube station near the park we followed the crowds towards the park. Curiously enough we noticed folks walking in the opposite direction – that can’t be a good sign we thought.

Sure enough, as soon as we arrived at the entrance we faced a massive “queue”. I mean 150 people wide by maybe 300 people long. What created this logjam was the airport style security everyone had to pass through to get in. Despite the wait (turned out to be 45 minutes) we decided to stick it out. Eventually we made it in, missing a good chunk of the performance but we found some couches in this pop up tent and watched the remainder of the ceremony.  We were less than a mile from the Olympic park and could see the blimp hovering over the site that was providing the aerial shots.

All in all a good show and a fun evening was had.

Pt 2 will come tomorrow. 

Tour of our new Stockwell Pad

Short and to the point.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uXYYO5QnVk8&feature=youtu.be

Ahoy hoy!

Welcome back.

In case you were in the dark, Lauren and I and packed up and left the suburbs of Wandsworth for the big city neighbourhood of Stockwell.

To give you an idea of what a drastic change we went through here are aerial views of both neighborhoods.  

Wandsworth.

We were in the building next to the top of the path through the park.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=Wandsworth&hl=en&ll=51.453703,-0.173335&spn=0.003219,0.005681&sll=51.528642,-0.101599&sspn=0.581816,1.454315&oq=wands&t=k&hnear=London+Borough+of+Wandsworth,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&z=18

In contrast, here is the “neighborhood” we now live in.

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=stockwell&hl=en&ll=51.471362,-0.125519&spn=0.001609,0.00284&sll=51.453703,-0.173335&sspn=0.003219,0.005681&t=k&hnear=Stockwell,+Greater+London,+United+Kingdom&deg=180&z=19

Gone are the lush tree line streets and the adjacent park. Now our neighbours are Off Licenses and pensioners chugging cans of Guinness. 

However we are only a 3 mintute stroll from the tube station and there are many shops within an even shorter walking distance.

  

Our roommate situation has also changed. We are now living with former classmates of Laurens. They are theatre technicians are frequently working 12+ hour shifts. Often on weekends. They are a sound couple who brought with them a tank full of fish and a massive flat screen TV. 

That's it for now. Will post pictures soon of past adventures.