Saturday, March 13, 2010

Losing £’s

On Wednesday night I decided to be spontaneous and book a flight to London for the following morning. Carpe diem, right?

For those of you who do not know, I am one of the worst travelers, besides of course my dad. Nothing ever seems to go smoothly. So, in typical Farrell fashion, I arrive to the airport where I was informed that my flight reservation was never confirmed, and they had no record of my booking. I was determined to get to London, so I told Lufthansa airlines that I was getting on the next flight. They said fine and I was off.

When I arrived in London, I was greeted by my roommate Tina, who rushed me to drop off my bags, and we headed out to the Tower of London. By the time we got there, it was

45 minutes until closing. To get into the Tower of London you must pay 18£, and the guy in the ticket booth (approximately our age) said it wasn’t worth it. Tina read the sign on the window, where she discovered that it was only 5£ for children under 5 to get in. She then smiled and asked, “Is there anyway we could be 5 years old for the next 45 minutes?” With that he said “Do you have 2£?” And the next thing we know we are perusing the crown jewels for the bargain price of 1£ each. We documented for the nonbelievers.

After the Tower of London, we went back to see Alex and Liz (my roommates we were staying with). We cooked dinner, and then went out to this amazing club. We didn’t stay out too late—for Tina and I wanted to tackle the city tomorrow, and we did just that.

We got up at 9 am and were ready to go. We started with Westminster Abbey, where we spent a majority of the morning. We then headed to the British Museum to see the Rosetta Stone, and Cleopatra. Afterwards, we met Alex and Liz, and ventured to Buckingham Palace. It wouldn’t be a trip to London without shopping, so we hit up Oxford Circus for some much needed retail therapy.

That night, we went to a club called Proud, which is an old abandoned barn. It was very cool, and we were VIP.

The next morning we went to Portobello Road. I was determined to find something special there, and I spent all day looking for the perfect little something. While we looking around one stand, I saw a ring out of the corner of my eye. It was in an itty-bitty heart-shaped box. I asked the woman if I could try it on. It was a garnet ring from 1950s, and was exactly what I had been looking for. It has had a new home on my left middle finger ever since.

We decided to be touristy and head to Abbey Road, where we got a picture of us crossing the street. It was so touristy but such a fun thing to do.

On the train home, we stopped at the infamous Platform 9 ¾ for all of you Harry Potter fans. We also made a pit-stop at Harrods. For dinner we went to a place called the Churchill Arms. You walk into a quaint little pub, that is authentic in all aspects except for one thing.

As you make your way to the back, being pushed and prodded as it is so crowded, you discover a delicious Thai restaurant that has amazing pad thai.

To my dismay, I had to leave early the next morning. I lost quite a few £'s, but gained wonderful memories in return.

cheerio, chrissy

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