colin also spent some time telling me how kind this guy "matt" was that we would be staying with, who was a family friend... nicest guy he ever met i think he said. and i again (doubting my all knowing husband) thought, "yea, yea - you think everyone is kind and nice". mr. murphy proved me wrong again - matt is in fact, the nicest guy i have ever, EVER met. and he made our london trip just that amazing.
we started by meeting matt at his flat in the shoreditch area of london - which is full of tiny cobblestone alleys, beautiful graffiti artwork, delicious food and coffee shops full of live music. we had a yummy meal of gorgonzola and pene pasta, a pear and hollumi salad, and then a quick sleep at matts flat. now of course this guy being the best ever - turned out to be moving out of that flat the next day and over to his new place (ALL WHILE HAVING HOUSEGUESTS!). so while matt moved into his new place (and you know he wouldnt even hear about us helping - too nice), we spent the day catching up on a quick run - trying to find the river, getting lost, and ending up at a little cafe called The Breakfast club splitting the best veggie burrito - watching the people next to us order milkshakes with Kailua for lunch (awesome). we then found ourselves at a coffee shop called the book club - planning our week out, enjoying coffee, good music, the vibrant london vibe and eachother. later that night we went below the new flat to wait for matt, and met our sweet little virginia for a drink @ Beard & Tail - an awesome old fashiony saloon type bar that had crazy cocktails, smokey wooden walls, lots of mason jars, and internet;). we caught up with our friend virgina, who is just a doll and moved to London about 2 days before we got there - what are the odds!! She - being a rockstar at her job - got offered a 6 month position in London to help them out with some stuff. We couldnt have been happier to see such a loving, familiar face. We spent the next many hours all getting to know eachother better - you know... Matthiew from France, Virginia who lives in London, and The Murphys who are jobless traveling the world. It's fun taking some time to explore another side of you (you sometimes didnt even know existed) even if only for 6 months - so that's what we did... while eating some yummy dinner at The Diner.
The next day was packed with ooing and awwing at Big Ben, Westminster Abbey & the house I hoped to see Kate in. Who knew I was such a lover of Will & Kate till I got there?! We watched the guards walk around - and be completely not still... yes you heard me. Those guys were swatting flies and itching their noses like it was their job... but isn't it the opposite? we wandered the streets a bit more and then headed home to grab some local turkish food around the corner - i had falafel b/c i was trying to vegetarian and be healthy - good move kels.
the next day was even more packed and more exciting with fun phone calls in the moring, delcious porrige & yoghurt breakfasts at the book club, and museums museums museums. we started off at the london tower getting fish and chips and staring at the london bridge. it was awesome... and the london tower tour was one of the best we have been on. they actually have the Royal Guards (aka Beefeaters) take you through the tour, tell you about their life (23 years of service, then they can try to become a guard), tell you about where they live (which is in the tower), and all about the history. it was so much fun - and our guy was a real gem of a nut. we left that area and headed over to the natural history museum where we saw HUGE dinosaur bones, and giant armadillos, and a bunch of cool stuff. It was such a cool museum and if it hadnt been for the million - and i mean milllllllllion - kiddos running around and accidentally wacking colin in his you know what - we probably wouldve stayed longer. but we appreciated the dinos (and the added birth control) and said adeau. next was the british museum which again - i thought was amazing. i dont know very much about history so i am currently reading a book called something like "a little bit of everything" - and its an wonderful history book that gives you a basic outline of, well, a little bit of everything that has to do with history. so all of this stuff is super relavant to me - and i wandered wide eyed in the Egyptian section for a while, then moved on to the mesopotamium section, then right along to the greek & Roman Empire. since thats as far as ive got in my book, my mind started to wander a bit after that and cols belly did as well... we headed out in search of some food - indian food to be exact. and boy was that an adventure on its own. all we wanted was indian food. we'd been talking about it for weeks at this point, and we just wanted to sample the London indian food we heard was so good. so we asked about 5 people - all of which said no, can't help you, as if we were speaking a different language. we finally, a few tubes later, stumbled upon a local cafe that pointed us in the right direction. we walked and walked, and ended up passing our flat, then wound up in the strip club section. it was lovely... just what i was looking for! no, no - it wasnt that bad, just a couple boobie signs and we passed through them rather quickly. then we finally found Brick Lane - a quirky little alley with a ton of curry houses. it was worth the adventure as we had authentic, awesome indian food - move over Shalimar! We went to bed with full bellies & full minds from the day.
The next two days Col & I took some time for ourselves and i went to a great conference for the weekend that i had been wanting to attend, and he took in lots more culture and sights, plus walked the town like a manimal.
when we met up for dinner we were spoiled with the best company - Virginia & Matt - in an adorable (as it all is in london) and very traditional restaurant (where matt proceeded to order a $9 seagull egg) followed by drinks on top of a building that had a stunning view overlooking the city (plus a killer orange tree on the champagne only balcony - oooo, fancy pants it was). we joked with matt for a good hour about the different ways we all spoke - there was a lot of "dudes & awesomes" from us and a lot of "brilliant & chaps" from him. they beat us on sounding sophisticated every time.
all in all our short week in london was exactly as it sounds, short... but oh so sweet. there are still so many things that i want to do there (mainly take a picture in front of a red phone booth), so i know we will be back and making a couple weekend trips in the next few months to this charming place with so much to offer. thanks again, matt for showing us so much warmth, love and hospitality - we will never forget it - and can't wait to return the favor in the states. see you soon DUDE!
No comments:
Post a Comment