rakka and leff do europe, day nine, london

soooo...what do you do when you are staying in a horrid student flat that 1) smells like stale piss and rancid beans and rice 2) has mold all over the shower including the ceiling 3) is sinking in the middle so that everything slants down 4) has a window that will not open all the way (so that you can air out the stale piss/rancid beans and rice smell) because the outside wall of the house gets in the way 5) has someone's hair all over the place 6) makes you afraid that you will catch trench foot, fleas, bedbugs, mange and maybe, idk, rabies? WHAT DO YOU DO?

well, if you're me and leff, you try and stay out as long as possible. this is how we ended up at the hardy tree super early in the morning.

we sat in the old st pancras churchyard for quite a while planning our day and trying not to be stupid depressed. (because, YES IT IS STUPID TO BE DEPRESSED WHEN YOU ARE ON HOLIDAY! (esp in london)(this did not stop it from happening, however.))

anyway, leff had the idea to head to camden town. on the way there, we passed a tennesseeland!

i almost went inside and claimed the store for myself with a nando's toothpick flag that i had in my bag. "I CLAIM YOU FOR THE COLONIES AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, ME!!!, A NATIVE TENNESSEEAN!!!" *slamming toothpick in counter*


buuut, i didn't.

want to know something fun? CAMDEN MARKET IS THE SUCK!! oh god. it is SO FULL of tourists and all of this "<3 you, londony!!" crap. so many teenagers being so...teenaged. ugh. it reminded me of high school field trips to the mall. (YES, NON AMERICAN READERS!! WE SOMETIMES TOOK SCHOOL TRIPS TO THE MALL!! it was...educational? no, that's not the word at all. bullshit. yes, THAT is the word.)

but here's a cool thing. near the market are the camden locks.

which are part of a canal system that is just, you know, THERE IN THE MIDDLE OF LONDON.

see, leff and i didn't know about this? (haha! we are sometimes pretty clueless about london.) we had crossed a small bridge near the locks and saw that the pathway just...kept going. "what is this?" we asked each other. "LET'S FIND OUT!" we both replied.

and so we walked! past regency era houses and canal boats!

past some giant floating barge type thing!

and then up some stairs to...REGENT'S PARK AGAIN!! this time on the zoo side of things where we sat and had some sandwiches that we had picked up at a waitrose earlier in the day!

bt tower was there!

and it was just a fantastically GORGEOUS day!!

we walked and walked and walked and got sunburned and walked and walked. then we took the tube

to embankement 'cause i thought it might be time to take a thames cruise. PRO TIP! travel and oyster cards will get you a discount on the fare.

while we were waiting for our boat, we listened to some busker playing the bagpipes?!

ugh, i am really not feeling well today as i've come down with leff's cold so i'm gonna' let you just look at pictures and video of the thames cruise. apologies.

the tour ended at parliament where we hung around until big ben tolled.

then it was a tube to...YES, ANOTHER NANDO'S!! this time we got our own loyalty card instead of using shed's since, well, he and his card were in cardiff. *shoulder shrug*

one sad thing about this day:  we did not go to the summer camp show.  we had purchased tickets before we left the states but 1) my left foot was swollen 2) i had knocked my spine slightly out of whack and had to be in traction for a few hours 3) leff's achilles tendon was swollen. in other words, we were a couple of olds who could not make it to the club. which is really too bad because i've read that it was an incredible show. *icepo moping*

tomorrow on rakka and leff are too old for the club but can still manage to take a train:  we take a train to brighton! GROOOOOOOOC!! the beach!! piers!! the insanity of royal pavilion!!! PIMM'S CUP IN A PUB!! *fingers crossed that i will not be too ill to write about things tomorrow!*