Choose Your Own Title… 1) Man Down 2) Exquisit Beast 3) I want to wee February 18, 2007

Friday was so much of an adventure that we are having a hard time chosing a title to express the days events. We therefore chose to use them all: 1) Man Down 2) Exquisit Beast 3) I want to wee.

A group of my friends (Melanie Watt, Stephanie Weller, Rachel Ooms) from the US were arriving on Friday morning so I decided to take the day off and get ready for the long weekend of tourist activities. After everyone was rested (30 minute naps where allowed) and cleaned up from travels, we hit the road for day one. Considering the girls had not eaten since they left Atlanta, the first stop was Wagamama, one of Londons notable noodle houses and a must eat.

After stuffing ourselves on some great food, we headed off to Baker St. to become official tourist; we were taking a double decker bus tour. Since we had some time before the next bus arrived and some of us needed a bathroom break, we stopped into a tourist hot spot called the Metropolitan Bar for a few pints before the tour. I am not sure what metropolitan look the bar was going for as they seemed to have a mix of old English crests adorned with neon lights. It was definitely a place to remember.

The bus tour was great, but note to self: bundle up as you are on an open top bus with lots of wind. We rode around the city until we found a nice little pub to warm ourselves up called the Coal Hole. We departed from the tour and began the night of bar hopping. From the CH, we headed to Covent Garden and met up with Olivia Berger. The rest of the night was a bit of a blur so I have invited my guests to help fill in the blanks and relieve you of my mundane writings. Enjoy…

London, England
Day 1

After not sleeping on our flight over the Atlantic we decided that the best remedy for exhaustion was pints of beer and a double decker sightseeing bus. I highly recommend this. The wind and slightly drunken view of the city allowed us to decide what places we would want to visit later. But most importantly it gave us a chance to create our very own pub crawl. It is because of the many pints sampled that the fact that I ended up lying on my back in the middle of the street in front of a rickshaw in Soho (or where ever the hell we were) completely tolerable. Fortunately as fast as Brandi was working to get her camera out to document this memorable experience – I was faster. There is no proof it ever happened and I will further more no longer speak of it.

Piss on.

RO
The Rickshaw Recovery

Total exhaustion and pints of Kronenburg Blonde = drunken fun in London! I think I was mute for the first 2 hours of our day as I could not find the energy to speak…but then after the first pint and a windy ¼ double-decker bus tour…I was ready to go! Coming to London…DO THE BUS TOUR! We got a partial lay of the land…partial because we got off to drink in Covent Gardens and drank our way thru the city and into SOHO before Rachel took a dive off a sidewalk and into the street. Loud Americans…licking fake ice cream cones and actually speaking on the Tube. I swear it’s really against all law to talk while traveling from spot to spot. I give us total props for lasting 36 hours without sleep…Day 2…here we go!

Cheers!
Sweller
Licking the Icecream

I think you get the point from Rachel and Stephanie’s blogs above. I personally enjoyed just being back in this fabulous city, all of the sites, sounds and tastes. The girls discover “thanksgiving flavored” crisps…and ketchup, prawn (shrimp) and cheese, onion crisps…new flavors of beer (leffe, kronenburg, bitters, etc)…the gorgeous wagamamma…the lovely smells of sweaty tube rides and gritty kabab and curry houses, and SoHo. (Sort of a mix of all of the above). We were as obnoxious as the blogs indicate, but we tipped when we weren’t supposed to so it’s all good. Today we are doing the markets in the East End today – we’ll practice our Cockney and tell ya how it goes. Cheers mates! Mel xx
Hey This Is My Picture

Some additional shots:
Sherlock and the girls
The Bus Tour
The Jump Part 1
The Jump Part 2
Red Phone Boths

Happy Birthday To Me!!! February 11, 2007

Although Sunday was my official birthday, we decided to celebrate on Saturday evening as that allows for more drinking time and recouping on Sunday.

Before we get to the partying, I must go back to my tourist adventure. Since we weren’t going out until 8 PM, I figured I would spend my day visiting a few of the lesser known markets at Brick Lane and Petticoat Lane. I ventured out from my house, grabbed a quick pie off a street vendor (which was amazing) and hit the road. As I was walking down Brick Lane, I didn’t find much of a market atmosphere. There were a ton of little Indian clothing stores and restaurants but not much in line of a market feel. I was about to give up and head towards Petticoat Lane when I realized I recognized the voice of a gentleman walking past. It was one of the Australian guys I met on Wed. evening at the bar named Duncan. I called his name and low and behold, he remembered me. He and his friend, who I had also met on Wed. and just happened to be from Ashville, NC, were headed to a local Indian restaurant and insisted I join. While I was still full from my pie, I decided to join for the company. We made our way through a few back allies and ended up at a wonderful little Indian joint which I doubt I will ever be able to find again. The food smelled amazing.

Through conversation, I realized that Brick Lane and Petticoat Lane were both locations for the infamous Jack the Ripper killings. Glad I didn’t walk the streets alone. Duncan told us of a few pubs in the area that were historic sites to the Jack the Ripper story so we headed that way when they were through eating. One of the pubs we hit was called The White Hart and was the home to one of the girls who was killed as well as the last place she was seen before she was killed. It was a stellar tourist afternoon and the streets still gave off an eerie vibe of the mystery held behind Jack and his killings.

From there, the guys headed on their way and I headed on to Petticoat Lane. There wasn’t much to be found there besides a bunch on empty stalls. I guess they close fairly early in the day. I made my way home down Liverpool St. to begin getting ready for the night.

I met up with some friends at the Covent Garden Hotel which was the starting point of our night. Although Clive Owen had been spotted here two weeks earlier, there were no celeb sightings this evening. We headed on to China town where we found a wonderful little back alley restaurant and grabbed a bite to eat along with some Tiger beer. Definitely not what I was use to but good none the less. By the time we finished dinner, it was almost 11. Come to find out, this is when most of the pubs in London close. OH NO, this is my big night out!!! We made our way around SOHO through a plethora of pubs which all had the same storey, “sorry, we close at 11.” After a few laps around the neighborhood, we found a little dance club which stayed open all night. While it wasn’t our usual scene, we enjoyed every minute of it. They played a mix of salsa and rap along with a few pop songs in between. There was a heavy Indian crowd so there was a 10 minute Indian dance off as well. It was a wonderful night and I enjoyed every minute.

Sunday I awoke to a bit of a headache but no worries, I was headed to a rugby game so that made me happy. A friend from work invited me to join in a day of rugby viewing, Ireland v. France, and we were rooting for Ireland. Sadly enough, France won in the final moments of the game but it was an incredible game all around. We also met a few Irish folks in the pub and I learned a whole lot about the game of rugby. My friend Ros even got the folks at the bar to sing Happy Birthday to me which was brilliant (awesome in american english). It was a wonderful birthday and definitely one I will never forget.

China Town
Emily and Brandi
Greg, Olivia and Brandi
Brandi, Rod and Ros
New Friends – B and Mark