easyLondon

Last Friday, I went for a lovely visit to London. Alex has been studying there since the end of January, and seeing as we've been friends for 7 years now, I decided it would be nice to spend time with someone I know and love...

Friday afternoon, I made my way out to the Vienna airport, which took about 45 minutes. It was kind of a funny journey out there because the only other time I'd done that trip I was sleep deprived, jet-lagged, and full of nerves--the first time around I didn't even notice that you ride the train for about 20 minutes through pastures and farmlands. Arriving at the airport, I checked in, went through security--my boots set off the metal detector and I forgot about my Leatherman on my keychain (which they promptly confiscated)--so Austrian security didn't really like me that day. My flight was on easyJet, some no-frills airline where there are no assigned seats or complimentary beverages or snacks. Boarding was quite the experience

 because everyone races across the jetway, hoping to get the PERFECT SEAT! Lucky me got first row window seat with some smelly boy reading porn magazines the whole time...I

 thankfully fell asleep. Once I arrived in London Luton, I found the bus I had booked a ticket to Central London on, called easyBus (obviously the same company I had just flown on). In about an hour, I was dropped off amongst the largest crowd of people I have seen in a while, at Marble Arch.

This was about 5:30 in the evening now, and Alex had class until 6:30, so I decided to just sit at a deli and read a crappy, free newspaper and eat some chips (or crisps....is that the British term?). Alex met up with me about an hour later, and since I am on a college-student budget,

 we decided to walk back to her flat, which was only about half an hour away. We made dinner, and I met some her friends and crazy roommates and politely nodded along amongst all the theater talk (did I mention Alex is in a program called The London Dramatic School?). Exhausted and perhaps coming down with a cold, Alex made me a nest of couches in her living room and I fell asleep.

Saturday was full of Tube riding, gap minding, walking, National Portrait gallery viewing, G-20 riot avoiding, more walking, BUCKINGHAM PALACE, tea-drinking, walking, and rain, of course. We started off the day going to Trafalger(?) Square, where it was sunny for at least a little while. This is also where we saw part of the massive parade of some 50,000 people marching for Put People First. There were lots of smaller groups, I think. Like teachers unions,

environmentalists, anarchists, communists. I saw Tibetan flags and banners proclaiming "Capitalism Isn't Working". There were loud chants, drum beats, trumpets, whistles. It was just chaos everywhere, and it went on and on and on. While this march was a peaceful one, there were police everywhere, in anticipation of violence--which apparently did break out today in front of a bank in London. 

But after we got out of that crowd, Alex and I just did a lot of walking and picture taking--I wanted to be pretty much as touristy as possible, which I realized is kind of what you have to do when you spend only two days in a city. It was nice to have someone who knew where to take me! That night, we did a little bit of pub-hopping in Alex's area of town--Westminster--and we ate fish and chips, which were 

accompanied with "mushy peas". The name turned me off a little, but I've heard good things, and they were GREAT. I want more mushy peas.

Sunday was not quite as sunny as Saturday, but we spent a majority of the day in the park anyways--Hyde Park. I have never been to a park so large, but I think that maybe this is the parks of all parks. Alex explained to me that pretty much everyone in London wishes they lived in the country, so they just make themselves really incredible parks instead. There were daffodils, statues, and English Sheepdogs everywhere. I loved it! Westminster We then met up with my friend Christine from Whitman (though unfortunately nearly an hour late because we forgot about the time change that morning) and got lunch at a French place near Alex's school. Because everything is cheaper take-away than sitting down in London, we got our sandwiches to-go and ate while walking around. Not far from where we got our lunch was T.S. Eliot's house, which I was super excited about. I love T.S. 

Eliot. We were going to go to Abbey and see his grave, but it is apparently 15 Pounds to go inside, and we did not particularly want to do that. Then we walked around the park some more and parted ways with Christine who had essays to write, and Alex and I went into this shop called "Hotel Chocolat" and it was the most amazing place...CHOCOLATE EVERYWHERE. It was all really expensive chocolate, but we got free samples of something I can't even describe, other than that it was incredible. Hazelnut was involved. Next, we hopped on a series of double-decker buses (which I was also really excited about) and made our way back to the flat. We drank tea, made a curry dinner, Skyped with Alex's family, and then went for a nighttime walk through a park called "Little Venice".

Monday morning, we had to wake up early so I could catch my easyBus back to the airport to get on my easyJet and return back to Vienna...Next, it's Alex's turn to come visit me--IT WILL BE FANTASTIC!

All in all, as Alex and the British would say, it was a lovely weekend.

Friday, I am off to Venice for a few days, then to the Croatian coast! I love European spring breaks already...