london.

that blog title is inspired by the fabulous london eatery, "eat." that's seriously its name. it has mostly pre-made, packaged food (sandwiches, wraps, salads...you know the drill), which we were very hesitant about at first. turns out, the food there was delicious! i had a turkey/cranberry sandwich there and it was a piece of thanksgiving deliciousness in my mouth. "pret a manger" was pretty similar to eat (actually, i think it was the exact same stuff) but we avoided that one at first because the name of it is in french, and we were having a decidedly unfrench weekend.

the metros have been on strike since last tuesday or wednesday, so we had to wake up early to get to gare du nord to catch our 8 am train. after wandering around for half an hour in the dark and freezing cold, mal, chris and i found a cab and got to gare du nord WAY early. oh, well. we got through security quickly and got TWO stamps on our passport! that's an advantage to riding the eurostar: passport stamps. when we fly between EU countries, we don't have to get stamped :-(

anyway, the train left on time and we settled into the 2.5 hour-long ride. i switched back my clock (1 hour time difference between paris and london) and we all made funny jokes about getting train lag. ha, we're a riot.

i should probably mention that this was a communications study trip (both undergrad and grad students), so we were led by a few professors. once we got there, we got our first experience of professor doyle's excellent guiding skills. when i say excellent, i actually mean pretty awful. he's a really awkward guy and clearly not a leader, but he's nice and has good intentions, so i can't hate too much. he led us to the british library, right outside the train station, with all of us still dragging our bags. we were all irritated that we were doing this extra walking, especially since we were scheduled to go to the british library on saturday. but, no matter. we walked down to the celtic hotel, where we were to spend our next 4 days.

no, it wasn't a gorgeous hotel. i'd say it was a mix between a hostel and a hotel, actually. chris, mal, maddy and i shared a teeny room with four single beds and a sink in it (if you saw my house over the summer, it was like that...actually, yeah, pretty much that size minus the toilet/closet part). there was a shared bathroom and shower downstairs. the greatest part, though, was that we got a full english breakfast every morning: eggs, sausage, ham, hash browns, a mushroom and a tomato. when the housekeeper first told us what it entailed, we were kinda like, "omfg. nobody can eat that much food." but how wrong we were! i had the full english every morning and, of course, i finished it (except the mushroom...gross). and the housekeepers were these adorable fat and old women (and one old guy) who were incredibly sweet and helpful.

speaking of food...the english weren't skinny as a stick the same way the french are. in london, i was average sized, versus in paris, where i'm fat (no, i'm not just fishing for compliments...seriously, i'm larger than a big percent of the girls here). it was refreshing.

anyway, back to the london timeline. thursday morning, a few of us broke off from the group and wandered around london with no final destination. it was relaxing not having a go-go-go day, where we could just walk the streets slowly and get acquainted with the city. it was bizarre, but i felt comfortable in london almost instantly. maybe it was just cuz i spoke the language...but no, it was something more than that. the people there were just friendly and helpful, and to top it off it was a sunny, lovely day when we arrived.

at 330 we went to the bbc television centre for a tour. this turned out to be my favorite part of the trip. we watched them work in the newsroom (ooo how my newspapery heart wanted to be back in that) and saw some of the studios they film in. at the end, he called for volunteers to read the news/play on a game show. i volunteered for the game show (duh) and totally pwnd my competitors (would you expect anything less?).

mal, maddy and i went to a cute candy shop off oxford street thursday night (mrs klibber's candy shop or something equally quaint). when we asked the guy how long it had been opened, we were disappointed when he proudly said, "oh, about four weeks!" lol we went to a pub/restaurant he recommended for dinner just down the street. i ordered--what else--fish and chips. mmmmmmmm great choice. we were gonna go to a pub after that but were too tuckered out, so we just bought some bacardi breezers and wine and headed back to the hotel. stupid us, we didn't have a can opener, so we spent 10 minutes trying to weasel off the blasted caps. when maddy finally got one off, we screamed with joy. we were so laughy it was like we were already drunk...lol. good night.

friday was jam packed. we started out with a talk with an editor from the guardian, which i loved because hey, that's what i do, but everyone else found rather dull. then we walked to the london museum, but were bored because i swear it was a museum for CHILDREN. there was an exhibit on the london fires and there was a bucket. "pick up the bucket. how does it feel? how does it smell?" god, i dunno, it smells like a freaking bucket.

globe theater, up next. i enjoyed this much more than i thought i would, because i'm not much of a shakespeare connoisseur. it was fun daydreaming and imagining myself back in shakespeare's day, sitting in the gentlemen's room (of course i have enough money for that...remember? i'm dreaming) and watching "a midsummer night's dream" in my huge dress, corset pulled tight.

oh, right, after that i went to the tate modern! that ruled...on opposite day. modern art is retarded. no, no, no, don't tell me i "don't get it." one painting was a canvas that someone literally THREW paint on. another was a canvas pulled tight with a slash in it. THAT'S NOT ART. i did that like 13 years ago. there was also a video of a naked woman washing herself in the corner. that's porn.

following that great cultural experience was the bbc radio taping of "buy me up tv," a radio sitcom. i'd never seen/heard a radio sitcom before, so i was intrigued. i had a lot of fun--the people were funny and the story line was easy to follow. you know who was there? that one guy from who's line is it anyway...no, not drew carey, not the tall guy, not the bald guy, but the other guy...greg proops. man, he's a riot.

it was late by the time we finished, so we just grabbed a meal (quick, but not cheap..8 pounds>$16. i realized that maybe i CAN afford expensive dishes) and went home.

ah, here we are at saturday. this is getting long, eh? ah, no matter. we headed to the british library around 10 am and had another "great" tour. lol actually, only the organization was awful; the professors were very knowledgeable about all the old texts (mostly religious) that we saw and i quite enjoyed everything they taught us. it made me want to take a religious studies class again.

after that was through, we hopped on a red double decker bus (tourists!) and dashed around the city. buckingham palace was not as grand as i expected it to be, but i bet the inside is wonderful. saturday we mostly just rode the bus around the city and saturday night we wandered oxford street some more.

saturday night=dinner in soho. i got to mingle with some of my coworkers, so that was cool. (that was a joke...like i'm a hooker...get it?) we went into a licensed sex shop (where do you apply for that license?) and giggled at everything. so mature. because english food isn't exactly delectable, we treated ourselves to an italian meal, complete with a bottle of wine and a dessert :-) i'm not thinking about how expensive that was in dollars.

we went to a couple pubs in soho, but wanted to catch the tube home (and didn't wanna spend money to get into a club), so we got back early and stayed up late talking. those sorts of nights are my favorite, anyway.

sunday morning we were supposed to go to the british library, but decided to skip out on that and see hyde park/harrod's instead. hyde park was vast and i wish it wasn't so damn COLD there, because i didn't enjoy it fully. despite the chilly temperatures (it must have been 1 or 2 degrees celcius), bunches of people were still running. they must be effing mad.

before noon, we headed over to harrod's, which is the biggest department store i've ever seen. it was only open from 12-6 on sunday, so people were lined up out the door at 11:50. as soon as the doors opened, we made our way to a café (and then to another, better café) and ordered some tea. ooo and i got some shortbread...scrumptious. now that we had energy, we made it to the christmas floor, which was draped with ornaments of every kind and tons of other christmas decorations. it satisfied my day-after-thanksgiving, crazy-shopping urges (though i didn't buy much).

we had to be back at the hotel by 4 to walk to the train station and catch the chunnel home at 530. fatigued and hungry, we flopped down on the train, set our clocks to paris time, and made more train lag jokes. we got to gare du nord around 9 pm, took a couple packed metros (yes, they're still striking...) and a cab, and i finally made it home around 10 pm. i opened my door to a clean room and a freshly made bed. there is NOTHING better than that. mme jeanson treats me too well :-D