As the stories go, it rains in London. Always. On tuesday, those stories sure seemed to have some truth to them. Leaving the hostel after breakfast, it was pouring. My new friends Klaas and Anne and myself wanted to go see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. We did not want to walk, so we went out the door a hundred meters through the cold rain and wind and into the tube station at Piccadilly Circus.
We took the Bakerloo line two stops to Embankment, right beside the Thames, and as it turns out, much further from the palace than anticipated. It was in fact further than the hostel. We walked up the river to Big Ben, then went up into St James Park, and walked down the south side to the palace.
We got to the palace just before the change of the guards. The coolest thing was their hats. They didn't really do much. They just marched in then marched out. It might be because of the rain, but it really wasn't really very exiting. The hats were sweet though.
We wanted to get back in the as soon as possible, but we couldn't find Victoria station. We ended up walking all the way to Charring Cross at Trafalgar Square, and ended up freezing and soaking wet by the end of it. After drying off for a bit at the hostel, and heading back to the tube, we headed to Covent Garden to go to a store that Klaas wanted to check out.
The store is called Forbidden Planet, and if you like sci-fi, fantasy, comics, or action figures, it would be a dreamland. It had two huge floors jam packed with everything you could think of, and a whole bunch you never would.
That was just a small selection of the Harry Potter wands they had.
From there we headed to a pizza joint and had 2 for one pizza. It was pretty good, although the server was defiantly not from Italy, or even western europe in general.
Two stops on the tube later we were back at Piccadilly.
Klaas dropped of what he had bought, and we were on our way again, this time to St John's Wood. Just outside the station is the Beatles Coffee shop. They also have tons of shirts and stuff too. We all got the same Abby Road hats, and headed out on a pilgrimage to the famous crosswalk.
We were the total knob tourists, and loved it.
That was awesome. We signed our names on the wall of Abbey Road Studios, and headed back to the tube.
From there we went to Notting Hill. Anne was looking for a pet shop to buy a hat for her dog. We walked and walked and walked. Along the way we found a Poundland, the UK version of Dollar Stores.
Notting Hill is one of the prettiest little places I have ever been. The main street winds around and on both sides there are eclectic shops painted in nice colors.
We eventually did find a pet shop and an appropriate hat, but by this time we had walked so far that we had no idea where the closest tube station was. We asked the clerk at the pet shop, and an other kilometer further we finally found it.
We went right in without looking which direction we were getting on, and ended up heading further out. We had to get out at the next station, and cross over to come back.
We got off at Paddington which also has a huge train station. The connection to the line we wanted was literally another kilometer away through the station and down and around and down some more. It is crazy how deep some of the lines are. When I first got off at Piccadilly, I walked up some stairs and expected to see the exit around the corner but it was the longest escalator I have ever seen, then at the top of that the next corner yielded another escalator the same size. Then still more stairs to get to street level, and that is not even the deepest line at that station.
We ended up back at the hostel, and said bye for a while to go do our own stuff for a bit.
I met an Italian guy from Puglia, a state I want to spend some time in later in my trip. He and I went out an walked for a bit before settling in the Duke of Argyle. Near the hostel, it is a nice English pub with a nice atmosphere.
We had a drink, then headed back to the hostel as neither of us could really understand the other.
I met up with Klass and Anna again, and we ended up, after a bit of a walk, back at the Duke of Argyle. That was not before we went through Soho though. That is really funny.
It is full of peep shows, table dancing clubs, and xxx video stores, all with a booming business.
Even the Telephones are decorated with xxx advertisements.
We sat in the pub until it closed at 11.30, then went for another walk. After much pondering we ended up at a club that was very loud and crowded.
We sat down at the downstairs bar, and Anne found a Pink Ladies jacket from Grease.
That about wrapped it up for the night. It was quite a day.
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