A Good Time in London

Thursday night I found an awesome little place to have dinner. I had fish and chips and the prices were very reasonable. Also, it must have been a hangout for the local cops because the place was full of them and they were having very amusing conversations. The British accent and quick quips were straight out of a movie. There was even man in the corner reading the paper and calling out stories, to which each person would have a comment.

Friday morning I got up early to have breakfast, still just bread and jam. Then I set out to walk around the city and ended up passing by some of the landmarks, Big Ben, the Parliament Building, and Buckingham Palace. I even found a gorgeous park across the street from the Palace and ‘had a nap.’ After getting back I again ate fish and chips, this time from a take-out place, and ate at the bar with some of the other hostel guests. After dinner a few of us headed towards the college section of town, which is about thirty minutes by bus. We found a cool underground club with 80s music. It was hilarious and fun to see all the crazy dancing to the old school songs like ‘Red Red Wine,’ ‘Grease Lightning,’ and of course the necessary Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believing.’ The bars close at 3:00 a.m., which the two Brazilian hostel guests found very strange, to close so early!

Saturday I woke up late and just did some souvenir shopping. At night two of the other hostel guests and I went to see a show, Danton’s Death, at a nearby theater. We ended up with great seats for only 10£ because we arrived slightly late. It was an interesting show, about the French Revolution and Robespierre’s friendship with Danton. The theater was small and it was a very personal experience. After the show we decided to walk back to the hostel, which was about three miles through town. It was a nice night though and we picked up some sandwiches for the walk back. After getting back to the hostel we all sat around talking for awhile, drinking wine that one of the others guests had bought, since they close the bar itself at 11:30 p.m.. I—once again—found myself in an existential conversation with one of the guests who had gone to the play, spurred on by the character of Danton’s views.

Sunday I again woke up late, starting to see a pattern here. I had a nice long talk with Kim and then headed out to Shakespeare’s Globe Theater to see King Henry IV part 2. The theater is a replica of Shakespeare’s theater which was taken down in 1644. I had to stand in the yard, which has the closest view, because all of the other seats were sold out. But, the yard tickets were only 5£ so I can’t complain. The show itself was just ok, not one of the best Shakespeare plays. After the show I walked to Trafalgar Square. The square is like any other, a large open area with statues, fountains, and a museum, but the people hanging out in the square were somewhat different. It was packed with kids sitting on the statues, some playing music, there was even an area with break dancing roller-bladers. From the square I walked to Piccadilly Circus. This area is much more about restaurants and bars, although most seemed to be closed at 11:00 p.m.. The area was lit by huge neon signs and was packed with people. I wandered down the side streets and ended up in the China-town sort of area. I found a little Vietnamese place and had some phở. By this time it was about midnight and I was curious if the trains were going to still be running to take me back to the hostel. So I headed for the nearest train stop but ran into a bus stop instead, which just so happened to be having a bus that was headed for my area at that exact time (they have 24 hr buses here). So, I hopped on the bus and made it back just as it started to rain.