rakka and leff do europe 2012, day four, london

surely after yesterday's post you are not surprised to learn that paris wore me out. (if you are, go read it again?) thankfully, we had planned our fourth day as a buffer day. i needed the rest!! in fact, leff and i both slept in until noon. unheard of. WERE WE ON VACATION OR SOMETHING?! oh, right...


anyway, once we were out the door and on the tube to marylebone, i spotted an ad for the david shrigley show that i had planned on seeing.

spoiler alert!  i did not make it to the david shrigley/jeremy deller exhibits. sigh... wonder if i can make it back to london before the end of summer?

what i DID manage to do was get a few pictures from the baker street station. you know i love this platform. the tube and sherlock! if i ever get married, i'll have the damn ceremony here. (ed note:  NO, DAD. I AM NEVER GETTING MARRIED. I AM A BACHELOR AUNT 4 LYFE!!)

leff and i got turned around a bit once we exited the station because of the stupid wax museum. every single time it confuses me to see such a long line outside of it and i get flustered? IT IS WAX PEOPLE! WAX, PEOPLE!! who gives a flying fuck? stop giving me the confusions!!! *shaking fist at madame tussaud*

right, right, we found a tiny pocket park on our way to regent's. paddington street gardens?  (if you map it, you will see how off the track we were.) it's a sweet little park. you should maybe sit there and look at an a-z sometime. have a drink of water. but be forewarned! the lady who holds the key to the loo is a bit odd.

we eventually found regent's. oh, it was lovely and relaxing. they have many kinds of ducks and geese! some of them have feet that look like they belong on dinosaurs! i love dinosaurs! these are not dinofoot ducks though.

also worth noting:  spring was happening in london. IT'S MY FAVORITE season.

were you aware that you can see bt tower from the rose gardens?

we stalked that tower all over london. every time we saw it, we lamented the fact that you can't go inside unless it's open house weekend. *sads*

we sat in the park for about thirty minutes watching magpies, listening to a guy talking to pigeons ("no charity here, mate!" hee!) and filming tiny birds.

then it was off to the marylebone high street for BOOOOOOKS!! have you ever been to daunt? no? you should ABSOLUTELY go to there! not only are there tons of travel books but it is BEAUTIFUL!

leff picked up...uh...i can't remember the title. sorry. i just know that i didn't get a copy of either londoners or tired of london, tired of life because i did not have room in my luggage. (i plan on rectifying that situation now that i'm not living out of a suitcase anymore. sadly, they will be the american covers which, you know, are usually inferior to the british versions. c'est la vie.)

after daunt, we ducked into the oxfam bookstore where leff got two more books and i almost fell asleep. what? i was overclocking 'cause i was still translating things into french by accident. *shoulder shrug*

near the shops was the chotda recommended nordic bakery. oh, but it is a slice of awesome!

we got some coffee

and i had the rustic oatmeal cookie that chotda wanted to know about. (leff got the cheese and pickle which was delicious!)

anyway, this cookie is sooo goood. the hazlenuts do not make it grainy. it is not too greasy. it is pretty much perfect. i wish that i lived close enough to eat it again RIGHT NOW. thank you for the tip, chotda!!

fed and watered we decided to track down a pub that served london pride. this was a good idea as it's good beer but OMFG WE ENDED UP ON REGENT STREET!!!  0_x

word to the wise? avoid this place. it is SO CROWDED. the fucking apple store is there. i wanted to claw my and everyone else's face off because i couldn't WALK i could only shuffle along AND TRY NOT TO BRAIN THE PERSON IN FRONT OF ME WITH MY FISTS OF IRON!! RRRRRAAAFDL;KJFDA;LKJ!!

still, we made it to the pub. THERE WAS LONDON PRIDE! I DRANK A LOT OF IT!

i also had an AMAZING chicken and mushroom pie that i'm going to try and recreate tonight.

we stayed in the pub trying to work up the courage to face regents street again because, yeah, tube stop was there. also FRIDAY NIGHT RUSH HOUR. blargh. still, the pub was relaxing. BUT I SHOULD NOT HAVE HAD THAT MUCH LONDON PRIDE!  BECAUSE...

...once we made it to the tube station (and i grabbed a free paper like i did this commute all the time. heh.) i half assedly swiped my oyster card over the reader and it didn't scan properly? and instead of reswiping it, like a normal person? i, um, kinda' just...jumped over the barrier? (you cannot take me anywhere when i have been drinking and have become slightly belligerent due to large crowds.) HAHA! THIS DID NOT CAUSE ME ANY PROBLEMS LATER! (ed note: it did cause me problems later.)

so, word to the wise, don't jump the barrier? IT IS A STUPID THING TO DO! the dudes at elephant and castle were really nice about it though. i, uh, may have done that horrid, shameless "oh no! i'm sorry! i'm an american! *blink blink blink* *sheepish smile* *foot scuff*" thing. I AM SORRY, EVERYONE!!  I TRY NOT TO DO THIS TOO MUCH!!

seriously though, you cannot take me anywhere. I AM WORSE THAN ALL OF THE AMERICANS IN PARIS!! i'm terrible.

anyways, tube debacle over, we hit the tesco metro for snacky snacks. our hosts had headed to paris for the weekend and we had the flat to ourselves. this meant... MICROWAVE CURRY AND TELE!!!  AND TESCO VALUE LAGER!! WE ARE LIVING THE LIFE!!

speaking of tele, were you aware that there is an entire channel in welsh? it is so great! also! the way that bsl is done for programs is FABOOOO!! i love how expressive the interpreter is!

bullet:

1) the nordic bakery follows through on design. even the areas where customers are not typically allowed are incredibly well designed and clean. LOVE THAT PLACE!

2) also at nordic bakery, shared a table with a nice young couple who had a small child. I LOVE SMALL BRITISH CHILDREN! THEY ARE SO QUIET!!!! if i could be assured of having a small british child and not a squalling american brat, i might actually consider having a kid of my own. (ed note: DAD! THAT IS A JOKE!!)

tomorrow on rakka and leff laze around london: not much happens because the weather was shit and there was rugger to watch. we go to iceland (the store, not the country)! i drink canned scrumpy! I HAVE TERROR DREAMS IN FRENCH!! I WILL MAKE THIS AMUSING, I PINKY SWEAR!