Sunday 4/11

Day two of the U.K. trip:

After the action of the night before, we took the chance to sleep in Sunday morning. When we did get up, the awkward Russian guys just laid there and watched us, like they did later that night too. Guess it's a sign that we should date American guys? Anyway...

Since we opted to take the Underground the night before, we missed seeing Hyde Park. Doesn't sound bad, except our hostel was the Hyde Park Hostel...so it was kind of RIGHT THERE in front of us. Our game plan for the day was to find a tour bus that Kelly suggested called the Big Bus Company and buy tickets so we could hop on and off all day. Eventually, after a lovely stroll through the park, we found one and got our tickets. I would describe all the stops to you, but it'd just be easier to explain with pictures.

First stop was at Speaker's Corner, a part of the park where every Sunday anyone who has something to say can do so for the crowd as long as they something to stand on so they're more than six inches off the Queen's soil. And since it was Sunday, we lucked out and got to stand and listen to a couple speakers.
Right across the street was an arch reminiscent of the Arc d'Triumph in France. Seems like they're everywhere after seeing one in Dublin too.
Another stop was at Madame Tussand's, the famous wax museum. Unfortunately, most of these really cool and famous exhibits are also really expensive, so I've just pictures of the outsides.
Oh man oh man oh man--Hamley's toy store, the biggest in the world apparently, has this magnificent candy shop on the second floor. Needless to say, we each got a bag filled with ones of our choosing. And then some more on Monday...mmmmm.
I was so tempted to get a wand there too! I really like Dumbledore's and Hermione's wands, although Harry's is pretty cool too.


In the afternoon, we went on a walking tour with the bus company based on the Beatles. The guide brought us through Soho and around to lots of famous music places. We had lots of laughs at the signs in Soho, like this one behind the man who must think it's funny too.
So cool!
I was in heaven on this street. There was a sax store down the street and other music shops. I could have spent all day there.
Weird building. I dunno.
A mural about one of the streets.
Carnaby Street was celebrating its 50th anniversary. I'm still not sure how streets have anniversaries, but okay.
Trafalgar Square was where the three different walking tours met and where to catch the bus to the British Museum, so we ended up here a lot.
You knew it was coming.

And the London Eye too.
It amuses me that there are all these apartments--and then a musical in the middle. That's coo.
This one corner gives you a taste of several house fronts in the city. Unlike Paris, where they were all designed to look alike, London was quite eclectic.
One of the dragons marking the entrance to the city of London proper. There used to be gates here, and when they were closed for the night you couldn't get in or out until the morning. Outside of one of these is where the woman from Sweeney Todd sold her meat pies--but we didn't find that out until our ghost tour later.
Look! Remember when planes still flew above the U.K.? Those were the days...
One thing that I love about the U.K. is that they mark the streets so nicely. Boo Galway for getting me confused constantly.


What an epic job.
Wish we could have gone in here too.
And some modern buildings for variety.
The Tower of London! Look at those beautiful cross arrowloops. Someday I'm coming back to this city. Anyone want to go in 2012 so we can see the Olympics at the same time?

An Underground and bus stop sign. They all look the same basically.
Random shots (and I have a million more that I'm omitting, thank your lucky stars):







Like in Dublin--or was it Paris?--they set out paintings on Sundays to sell.
On our second walking tour, the ghosts one, we stopped at three pubs en route so the guide could get some beer and so we could take in British pubs. They have a much different vibe than Irish ones. This was our first, and frankly my favorite just because of its name.

Another of the pubs.
Guess that was the end of the tour bit! The ghost tour wasn't scary; most of the "ghosts" or places were actually like the area where Tiny Tim lived, or some historical people, or things like that. It was still really interesting though. After it finished, we took the Underground back to the hostel and once again bought lunch at the convenience store. While getting back, we decided to give ourselves code names for the week and to have Alice speak in an Irish accent the entire time. It did last for a couple days! My name was Gabe, Alice's was Mairtin (her boyfriend's name), and Courtney's was Beno (the guy who would like to be her boyfriend). Very original, we admit it.

While doing our acting, we used my computer to get a Wifi signal and do some emailing. We ran into the infamous Italian man while we were in the lobby, but he just left the room without saying anything. Good riddance.

Shall we move to the next day?

Oh, heads up--I have completely forgotten what's in these videos. I apologize if they're random.