I love love and I love London.

Whirlwind adventure.

This may be a lengthy post.

So Thursday afternoon Kelly, Mike, and I got on a bus to Shannon Airport. We then flew from Shannon to London. We took a train from Gatwick to Victoria Station in central London. And then took the tube from Victoria to...Kensal Green? Kensal Green. Where is Kensal Green? No one knows.

When anyone asked where we were staying, we told them Kensal Green. And every time the response was, "...Where?"

Kensal Green is in northwest London. The outskirts of London. The shady outskirts of London. Though probably only shady because of the lack of people milling about.

We got off the metro at Kensal Green (about thirty minutes outside of the center of the city) and in front of us was our hostel. Good old Hostel 639. It was this sort of delapidated looking building. They painted a bunch of country's flags in the windows. And there was LOUD music coming from the first floor of the building. When we walked in, we saw the paint peeling off of the walls, signs taped to the walls saying "Hustlers Wanted: Call Jim", and a BUMPING karyoke party happening with all these kids singing terribly in Spanish. People were pushing past us speaking any other language but English. It actually seemed like everyone in there knew each other. As uncomfortable as we felt, we gave it a chance.

We got a room for four people. And there were three of us. After we climbed the stairs (that were kind of falling apart) four flights, we got to our room and a suitcase was already in there. We had a roommate. There was a note on the suitcase that said, "To Annabelle..." We were all tired so we decided to turn in for the night. We were all in bed, lights out, and Annabelle walked in. Kelly sits up in her topbunk and goes, "Hello, Annabelle." Annabelle CLEARLY freaked out by this voice coming from the darkness goes, "Hi...?" Kelly responds, "Oh, no, don't worry, we just read your note. It's cool." Amazing ice breaker.

Annabelle is Australian and we ended up being really tight with her for the rest of the weekend. She's living in London for the year but she isn't able to move into her house until sometime this week. So she was just staying in hostels to pass the time. We really really lucked out to room with someone as cool as her.

Our first official day, we went to Westminster Abbey and Annabelle came with us. I've been there before but it was really exciting to go back. I have this obsession with Elizabeth I. Probably because she was an ultimate alpha-female. Its' kind of hilarious that Mary is buried underneath her. I wonder if they're pissed about that. And then there's OTHER Mary on the opposite side. They're DEFINITELY pissed about that one.

After the Abbey we decided that we couldn't pass up going to King's Cross and seeing Platform 9 3/4 like the nerds we are. So we dragged Mike to take a picture of us pushing the cart into the wall. There were about five other geeks standing around taking pictures as well. How amazing must it be to write a series of books that has affected the world so greatly that King's Cross Station seriously makes a sign for a fictional platform and makes it look like a cart is halfway in! This train station that's been around forever reacted to the phenomenon. That's insane.

On a total whim, we went to the British Library. We had NO idea that it was basically a land of WONDER. Upon entering, we were greeted with this glorious staircase with ridiculously high shelves of books soaring behind it. We saw a sign that said, "Rare Books Collection" so we wandered over there. You needed a reading pass to get in, but the guard casually asks us, "Are you looking for the Magna Carta?" "...Wait, I'm sorry, the MAGNA CARTA is here?!" "Yeah. The Magna Carta, Shakespeare, Jane Austen. That's all downstairs and open to the public." "..."

Total heaven. All these original handwritten works by everyone who ever mattered. The Magna Carta has it's own room. They had Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde, the Beatles, Pinter, even Angela Carter (handwritten copy of Nights at the Circus!). I was delirously happy!

Later that night we went to see Les Miserables. Annabelle came with us. Both Annabelle and Mike had never seen it before and had always wanted to. Our seats weren't exactly the best. (We kind of got ripped off.) But it was still a lot of fun. That show can be so cheesy at times and so powerful at other times. Love it.

The next day Kelly, Mike, and I wanted to go to the Tower of London and the Globe. But it took us a really long time to get moving. And we didn't realize that these things closed relatively early. When we got to the Tower of London, it was closing in a half hour. So we didn't want to pay to only spend a half hour there. We figured the Globe would be closed as well. We went to St. Paul's Cathedral instead. Absolutely GORGEOUS.

Since most of the things we wanted to see and do were closed by this point, we decided to make the most out of our Oyster cards and hop on as many buses as possible and just see where they took us. We basically spent the rest of the night hopping around. We found a cheap French restaurant and hung out there for a bit. Annabelle met up with us and Kelly, Annabelle, and I decided to go to the Shakespeare's Head up the street for a drink or two. A drink or two turned into several drinks. But we ended up making friends with this huge group of guys who were there for a football reunion. It was a lot of fun. One of the guys was wearing a shirt that said, "It's time. OBAMA '08." And I was like, "I voted for him!" And he was telling me how he's a 7th year history teacher and he made a display after the election that was half about the Civil Rights Movement and half about Obama.

The next day we made it to the Tower of London. But we spent a lot more time there than we planned, so we still weren't able to make it to the Globe. It was the off season, and I'd actually really like to see a play there. So maybe I'll be able to go sometime later in the semester. But the Tower of London was cool. We took a Yeoman Ward tour and of course he was hilarious. I feel like that's a requirement to give the tours. So many years in the British army. And hilarity.

Rather than going out, we decided to find a nice Italian restaurant and just have a really lengthy dinner. Appetizer, meal, dessert, wine, tea. The whole works. We ended up staying at this restaurant for a few hours. But I love how you're just not rushed in restaurants here. You have to ask for the bill because they expect you to take your time and talk with people.

That night I went to the internet cafe in our hostel. The next morning, we were checking out and I looked for my wallet in my purse and it wasn't there. I took it out to pay for the internet, but I must have set it on the desk next to the computer instead of putting it back in my purse. So it was left there. It was gone in the morning. I asked the people working in the cafe and they said that no one turned one it. We checked the room, nothing. Finally we asked the woman at the reception desk if anyone turned in a long silver wallet. She looked and pulled it out from under the desk. All of my cards were still there, but it was completely cleaned of any and all cash. 200 pounds and about 30 Euro. And God knows how much in coins. Completely gone. That's definitely over $300.

Yes, it's my fault that I left my wallet sitting there. But why bother returning it if you're just going to completely rob it? I had this weird violated feeling. My wallet has never been that empty. The hostel handled it really well though. The manager came down and he told me that they were going to go over the surveillance tapes from the cafe and see who picked it up after I left. They also called for a car to take us to the police station to file a report. With insurance, I can get my money back. But I had to file a police report and get a crime victim report to send to insurance. Hopefully, I can get that money back. Because that was a severe hit.

So as shady as that hostel seemed, they really have your back. They know they're a cheap hostel and that things like that are more likely to happen there, so they really do their best to fully take care of those situations.

After calming down, we decided to go to the British Museum. We then decided to check out Harrod's (because really...you have to) before getting on the train to go to the airport.

We didn't get back to the apartment until about 2:30 AM.

And that was my weekend!