Last Week

Last week I had a visitor and I got to play tour guide through the windy streets of London.

As you may or may not know, Andi made the 4,000 mile journey across the Atlantic to see London and more importantly, yours truly.

Sunday

Sunday I made the journey to Gatwick airport to pick up Andi. After waiting in the international arrival area I spotted her and walked up behind her and asked her if she needed someone to carry her bags for her. To say the least we were both excited to see each other.

After purchasing tickets and making the journey to Victoria station, we boarded the tube for her initial journey on the London Underground.

Soon after we made it to the flat and quickly departed for a long walk through Hyde Park and then down Oxford Street where we picked up the no. 15 bus.

For those of you not in the know, the no. 15 bus is one of the most scenic routes. We took the 15 down Oxford Street, navigating through Oxford and Picadilly circuses as well as Trafalgar Square, the theatre district, Fleet Street, past St. Paul's Cathedral and ending at Tower of London. The entire time I played tour guide telling Andi about everything she was seeing and also throwing in stories of my adventures at all the individual places.

Once we arrived at Tower of London we headed toward the Tower Bridge, which is adjacent and then turned after taking pictures of course, back toward Tower of London, where we began our river walk back toward the palace of Westminster.

Along the way I told her about all the sights along the river, throwing in facts that I remembered from the walk that I took all those weeks ago with Lyndon and the rest of our group. We also talked about the week and it was so nice to have her there to finally share some of what I have enjoyed for a couple of months.

After we got to the Millennium Bridge we crossed it and headed into Tate Modern Art Museum, where we warmed up a bit and walked around. I showed her the highlights and then we continued on the South Bank of the river. Once we got to Westminster Bridge she was ecstatic at the sight of Big Ben and the sunset that seemed to be timed just right behind the palace.

Continuing on, slowly, we passed the palace having crossed the bridge and headed past Westminster Abbey prior to walking to Pimlico station where we hopped on the tube and came back here. That night we got Chinese food, Orange Chicken and King Prawn fried rice and talked about the week ahead.

Monday

We headed to my class, which wasn't meeting that day as we soon found out, and instead headed down Edgware Road and then down to Maida Vale where we walked on the canal's of Little Venice. We stopped at a traditional famous British establishment; Starbucks, for a bite and cup of coffee. Afterword we walked back to the flat and then headed back toward Hyde Park in the pouring rain. After walking and taking the brute of the storm, we escaped into Primark and some other stores along Oxford Street prior to heading back to get ready for dinner that night and the musical we were to see. I bought tickets to see Spam A Lot at a discount ticket broker off Shaftsbury Ave. that came with a special deal. For 25 pounds a piece I bought two tickets for the show and for a 2 course dinner at Sugar Reef restaurant in Picadilly Circus, a short walk from the theatre.

We departed for dinner after cleaning up back at the flat and had our dinner at Sugar Reef, which was surprisingly good. I had a baked chicken with roasted potatoes while Andi had a pasta. Soon after we finished we walked to the Palace Theatre for the show, which did not dissapoint. The show was a compilation of original story from Monty Python and the Holy Grail along with original songs that were every bit as ridiculous as the original movie. Very funny however and I think she enjoyed it as well.

After the show we walked through Soho and Chinatown prior to walking back to Oxford Street and taking bus no. 94 back to Leinster Terrace.

Tuesday