Saturday: Today was sadly similar to Friday. I took a long shower, did some laundry, wrote a bit, and was going to go get some groceries but by the time I was ready to leave the store was closed. I keep forgetting how late the Sun stays up during the summer. Sunrise is at 5:12, sunset is at 21:01 but it is light from around 4 to 2200. This evening was better though. I hung out with one of the Study Abroad students, Katharina, who is from Hamburg Germany.
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Interestingly, Hamburg also has a large Ferris Wheel. I wonder who has the largest Ferris Wheel? Check it out!
Hamburg
Anyway... I hung out with her and her sister, Victoria, who had flown in to visit for the weekend. We had a couple drinks and an adventure in town looking for more alcohol and tobacco, neither of which were we very successful at attaining. Came back to the flat and called it a night.
Sunday: Today I have to go do something. I'm in London for cryin' out loud! Can't be tired anymore! (I'm blaming allergies...) So, today I caught the train to Waterloo and was going to just hang out at the South Bank and write but I got a text from Katharina that Victoria was leaving and I should come join them before she had to go. Alrighty! hopped the Jubilee to the Picadilly and rode that to Knightsgate where they were shopping in, the closest thing to Hell I've ever seen. It was a gigantic shopping mall called Harrods. It was horrible! The humanity!
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However, we did find a very nice little pub just around the corner called Tattersalls Tavern! I was standing right here!
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Also, the little hole-in-the-wall shop right behind us was an O2 top up location so I got to add money to my phone and make it useful again. Convenient!
After a tea, the ladies headed off to Heathrow and I zipped down to Trafalgar Square where I came across a huge, free concert in the Square. The police were there and I finally broke down and did the touristy thing and took my picture with them. Though the man who was taking the picture had some trouble with my iPhone...
Does show the difference again between the regular and the HDR mode of the iPhone, ha ha!
I meandered across from Trafalgar Square to sit on the steps of St. Martin in the Fields and write some.
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Wrote a short story that really needs some work and then went and got some coffee at a Caffè Nero where this place used to be.
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Don't worry, they didn't close, just moved to a better location on South Bank. Guess they've gotten pretty good business too!
Katharina joined me after that and wanted to get sushi so we went on an adventure to find YoSushi and instead found Hi Sushi.
Just a neat church we passed on the way.
After she ate we grabbed a tea and then walked back through Leicester Square, had an interesting conversation with the police as I got directions to Russell Square to go see the Imperial Hotel again, where my grandfather stayed years ago. I have passed it a few times in my meanderings but I want to go inside and take some photos. After I got directions we caught the tube to Waterloo and train back home! Dropped some postcards in the mail and went to bed.
Ciao for now!
Now I am off to write a paper!
::EDIT/ADDITION::
I completely forgot to add this in and I'm pretty stoked about it! When we scanned into the station to catch the tube to Waterloo, Katharina told me about her Oyster Card. I was so intrigued by this that I talked to the guard who was keeping an eye out to make sure people scanned into the station instead of hopping the gates and he filled me in on how they work. Generally they are about 1/2 the price one would pay for an individual ride. £2 instead of £4 to ride the train from Waterloo to Surbiton during off-peak travel times for instance. They also have a daily cap on what they charge you, the same amount as a Travelpass, which costs a decent amount but allows you unlimited access to train, tube and bus as well as getting discounts on tram and boat rides. The Oyster Card caps its withdrawal amount from your Oyster Card account at what a one day Travelpass would have cost you. So, if you ride less, you pay less, if you ride more, you pay the same! Not bad huh? Top this off with the fact that it's a pretty bitchin looking Special Edition 2012 Olympics little scanny card that you just touch to a reader plate instead of having to run a paper Travelpass through a reader and worry about bending or ripping, it's a pretty cool deal! And I can put whatever amount into my account I want and just top it up as I go! The card cost £5, but if I give it back to them I get my money back. Realistically though, I think I'm keeping it. Special Edition and whatnot. Besides, the money on there has no expiration date, neither does the card, so I can keep the thing and use it every time I come back to London!
Ciao for now!
::EDIT/ADDITION::
I completely forgot to add this in and I'm pretty stoked about it! When we scanned into the station to catch the tube to Waterloo, Katharina told me about her Oyster Card. I was so intrigued by this that I talked to the guard who was keeping an eye out to make sure people scanned into the station instead of hopping the gates and he filled me in on how they work. Generally they are about 1/2 the price one would pay for an individual ride. £2 instead of £4 to ride the train from Waterloo to Surbiton during off-peak travel times for instance. They also have a daily cap on what they charge you, the same amount as a Travelpass, which costs a decent amount but allows you unlimited access to train, tube and bus as well as getting discounts on tram and boat rides. The Oyster Card caps its withdrawal amount from your Oyster Card account at what a one day Travelpass would have cost you. So, if you ride less, you pay less, if you ride more, you pay the same! Not bad huh? Top this off with the fact that it's a pretty bitchin looking Special Edition 2012 Olympics little scanny card that you just touch to a reader plate instead of having to run a paper Travelpass through a reader and worry about bending or ripping, it's a pretty cool deal! And I can put whatever amount into my account I want and just top it up as I go! The card cost £5, but if I give it back to them I get my money back. Realistically though, I think I'm keeping it. Special Edition and whatnot. Besides, the money on there has no expiration date, neither does the card, so I can keep the thing and use it every time I come back to London!
Ciao for now!
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