London London LONDON!

Last weekend was our very first Exeat and in short, it was amazing. The Thursday before, us boarders all had like a bit of a freakout, as we hadn't planned or booked anything, and spent hours (literally) searching for accomodation on the Internet. After weeding through places that operated under the delusion that 'Centre of London' could mean up to 30km away, and some who's reviews were somewhat less than flattering; 'F*** this f***ing place. Where the f*** is the hot water and the rooms are f***ing filthy...'; We resigned ourselves to simply doing a few day trips into London.

Woke up bright and early Friday morning – my day off – thanks to a fire drill at 6:30am, however this meant that I was awake in time for breakfast, which I always seem to miss on weekends and Fridays.


After catching a train into London, we started the day off by walking over Tower Bridge which was pretty cool apart from the cold. Our faces seemed to freeze a bit as we walked past the Tower of London and forming words was starting to get hard. I really regretted not bringing gloves (well they were hot pink in colour...) We walked along the Thames for a while and saw the sun for like the third time since we arrived in cold, gloomy England. We stumbled across the Borough Markets which were so so cool! Then we sought refuge from the cold in a small cafe where we had our lunch. Unfortunately my doener days are over, but the felafel wrap substitute was pretty delish.

After lunch we went to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre and did the guided tour. It was so amazing to actually visit a place that I’ve heard so much about and the Museum was sahhh interesting. Wow that kind of sounded sarcastic, but it actually was amazing. We took awesome photos with a bear (not a real one alas) and Yve and I spent over an hour using magnetic Shakespearean words to make a list of rules regarding sons. Hysterical. Don’t worry, we took photos. During this time I somehow became semi-obsessed with the phrase ‘Suffer ye mutual brow’. I’ve no idea why I found this particular combination of words so funny, but I must admit, I still have to suppress a giggle writing about it.

And after the Globe, we went back to the Borough Markets and bought brownies, cake etc which was absolutely delicious. We then ended up at Buckingham Palace, and did a bit of shopping before meeting up with Georgie to have dinner in China town. I guess reasonably priced, easily available asian food is something we just take for granted in Melbourne. You don’t notice how much you miss it until you go overseas. Once in Germany, I went to a Chinese restaurant and got sushi... coz you know, Japan is just a city in China... duh. cool story hansel.

(P.S. I literally first realised the true sarcastic implications of that phrase 2 days or so before Christmas. All those times that I thought I was telling my biffle actual ‘cool stories’... lies, ALL LIES)
Anyway, I really enjoyed a change from the heavy fatty school food, delicious though it is.

Saturday was even better than Friday. Yve, Caitlin, Greer and I went to catch a train into London. Turns out that it’s not just metro who likes to cancel trains. We ended up having to catch a bus and then a train from a fairly dodgy station which had urinals in the girls’ bathroom. And yes, I did double check the sign on the door. Twice.

We got off the Tube at Westminster station and walked along taking photos of Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. We rocked up to a random cafe for lunch, but we didn’t eat much. The soup was out of a Maggi container and tasted weiriirddd and my bread roll – well you could hit it with a hammer and it would probably shatter, it was that stale. Hate to be a food snob, but blergh. Ended up with a wrap from Pret a Manger.

The tour of Parliament took about an hour and a half, and was really exhausting. The building is so so beautiful, being originally built as a palace, and when we first walked through we were like oooh don’t those seats look comfy! Isn’t it great that we won’t have to stand the whole time! Ooh how lovely’ But then it was like uhhh no... you’re not allowed to sit. Not even in the House of Commons. Well I spose they’re very selective there. Like... your mum is the epitome of common, but even she can’t sit. (yeah I went there)

But overall it was really interesting and absolutely incredible! The floors, the roofs, the throne, the paintings and decor. I really enjoyed the tour.

Afterwards we went to Harrods. Just wondering... is there anything that Harrods doesn’t sell? And don’t tell me lions, because that 'Christopher' lion chap was totally bought there back in the day.
There were lollies, designer jewellry, clothes clothes clothes, scarves that costed over £500 - that is when they were on sale, handbags, perfume, food, icecream icecream, cupcakes, sparkley cupcakes, shoes, chocolate etc. It was fun but really crowded.

Then I ditched Yve, Greer and Caitlin who were heading back to High Wycombe and met up with Izzy, Georgie and Aisling for dinner. And afterwards... oh hang on... what did we do? It's totally slipped my mind. Oh right, now I remember, something to do with London's west end. OMG WE WENT AND SAW CHICAGO which was absolutely wonderful and just really great. The music and dancing was terrific!
Then we feasted on Mcflurries for 99p and went back home (that is, Godstowe). Such a good night.

And on Sunday... we kinda slept. and ate food. and worked in the evening. TMI? I know, I know, I probably shoulded post such things on the internet..

yep, that was my weekend. What'd you get up to?