LONDON!!

So this is almost a month late, but here goes. London was amazing! I've never been to a city with so many places to see, things to do, and people to meet. It's such an international city. There are literally people from every country imaginable. More than a few times I asked someone for directions and they didn't even speak English. There are so many people there from other cultures. It's great! Probably my favorite part was seeing all the black Brits. They are so cool. I saw a lot of black schoolgirls with super cool accents and hair and accessories.

So I'm gonna try to organize this properly...let's see. When we first got there we were picked up by a family friend and it took about 2 hours to get from the airport (Gatwick) to Bower in east London! Needless to say, I slept the whole car ride. That day it was pretty cold and rainy, which is what the weather was like for pretty much the rest of the trip. But I wasn't expecting it to be all sunny and warm either. We met up with our friend Baria and we stayed with she and her husband at their house in Romford for the majority of the trip. She was a wonderful host!

The next few days I spent with Baria and her husband while my dad and sister went to Wales for a church college-age conference. I wanted to go but I heard that the camp didn't have the nicest accommodations so I didn't go, which I now regret, because it was really nice! And there were sheep! It was really cold though and at one point the wind was howling around the building (according to my sister). But I stayed back with Baria and we basically hung out. She took me grocery shopping with her and then we walked around and went to some secondhand stores which I discovered are really prolific in London. Which is great because my favorite thing to do is thrift/resale shopping! So I got a few nice things from there. I got two black sweaters and some more bangles and an awesome ella fitzgerald record and a scarf for my mom.

The next days we went sight-seeing in Central London. We were supposed to go to Paris for a day and a half, but on the way to the airport Tuesday morning, I realized I had forgotten my passport! We were already halfway to the airport so needless to say, by the time we turned back to get it, we had already missed our flight. I felt horrible. My dad had asked me if I had wanted to go on an earlier flight at 8am or take a later one at 2pm. I said we should take the 8am flight so taht we could see a bit more of Paris, since we were only going to be there for a short time. In hindsight, I think having to wake up at 4:30 am and be ready to leave by 5am was too much for me. I wasn't even thinking properly about what to bring. SO we were thinking of trying to take the Eurostar out to Paris and then use our return flight, but it would have been 50 pounds each for a ticket, which adds up to $300 for all of us, plus the initial $500 my dad had paid for the plane tickets and any other expenses once in Paris. So we decided not to go. Everyone was sad and disappointed and kept trying to pretend for my sake that they weren't that sad about it. But I know my sister was. She was really excited about going to Paris, and so was I.

But that morning was one of the worst mornings of the trip. I was in so much pain that I was having trouble walking upright. I had the usual burning, twisting pain in the muscles of my neck, shoulders and back, but it was intensified to a level 8 or 9 on a scale of 1 to 10. I was also having a lot of shooting pain all over my eyes, face, hands, legs, and pretty much any other part of my body. It was horrible. I can only imagine how Paris would have been ruined by my condition. So in the end, I suppose it was meant to be that we didn't go.

Instead, we went to Central London to see the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. Then we went over to a family friend's house for dinner. The next day we did more sight-seeing. We saw Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square and The National Gallery. We didn't walk around much in the National Gallery because it was getting late, but I did get to see Van Gogh's Sunflowers up close which was a definite thrill! Van Gogh is my favorite artist of all time. I love his art and I love that he was a tortured soul. I feel we are kindred spirits (minus the genius painter part). LOL.

So I could write more but this post is getting long so I'll shorten everything else. London was nice, but the weather was horrible, especially for my condition. I never felt warm enough while I was there. I was in a lot of pain and I had to suck it up and go most of the time or else I would not have gotten to see all the things I wanted to see. I did get to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey, but this was all rushed, as it was getting dark. My best friend Ruiz took me around everywhere which was really sweet of him. My sister and dad had gone ahead and seen everything before me because I wasn't feeling well that day and stayed in bed to sleep more (didn't get much of that either being there). I also only got to see like 2 feet of Harrod's which was sad because of course I wanted to walk around and ogle all the stuff from my favorite designers. They had the Fendi Spy bags which are worth like $5,000 and I almost died when I saw the perfect white one. SIGH...

Things I did not like about London: 1) The weather 2) The separate hot and cold faucets-very obnoxious- it was either scalding hot or freezing cold, so basically there's no way to get warm water other than filling up the basin and splashing water on your face old-school style (eww) or cupping your hand under the cold water first and then moving on to the hot water which doesn't always work the way you want it to 3) Milk in tea- I want my tea with honey and lemon-this was like an almost foreign concept to Londoners- sadly 4) Prices- OMG everything was so effing expensive! I almost died. It's basically double the dollar there so things were sooo expensive. I barely got to buy anything. 5) The food; Yeah I know it's a cliche that British food is gross and bland, but it's a cliche for a reason-it's true. Not enough spices were ever used and the condiments at Quizno's did not have pickles (wtf?!) so there ya go.

Things I loved about London: 1) People's fashion sense; I swear I was in heaven! Everywhere I looked someone was wearing something straight out of Vogue. And the people that weren't that fashion forward were at least making a concerted effort to be stylish, which I totally appreciate. No one tries hard enough in Texas. It makes me sick. 2) The transportation system- it's super fast, convenient, and not that difficult to navigate. Only downside: cost. 3) There's so much to do and see! So many restaurants! So many tourtisy places, so many theaters (my great love) and so many other things to do. Can't wait to go back (in the summertime next time though).