london is magic

london is a beautiful city to cover by foot, and jeff and i did a lot of walking. our prayers were answered because it didn't rain at all. the weather was chilly, but that just made it feel like we were in europe and not california.

we arrived friday afternoon at heathrow, and immediately took the tube towards picadilly circus. we checked in to picadilly backpackers, which is right in the center of the west end. we grabbbed dinner at balans cafe, then walked down soho to trafalgar square, stopped in front of big ben and westminster abbey, and finally to the london eye. our nighttime "flight" on the eye was breathtaking. to see the city from that high and all the lights down below, reminded me of the peter pan ride at disneyland. our next stop was wagamama for dessert (i recommend the coconut raika and jeff loves the mango parfait), and finally off to bed.

we woke up early on saturday to get tickets for a bus, sorry, COACH tour of windsor castle, stonehenge, and bath. i highly recommend a package tour for these three places. it's a gorgeous drive out of the city and through lush green landscapes, quaint stone-walled towns, and ancient architecture. the queen was at windsor castle when we were there (the queens of hollywood), and we knew that because her personal family flag was flying, and not the union jack (which would have meant she was at buckingham palace or another place). the castle held so much history, art, and extravagance, that it would take all day to cover every ornate detail. we even witnessed a changing of the palace guards on our way to st. george's chapel, the burial place of the queen mum, and where prince charles married camilla. we also saw the court where elton john and david furnish got married. then, it was off to stonehenge (about an hour drive from windsor). we slept on the coach, and then arrived at stonehenge.

imagine a massive open space that is flat and green. somewhere in that plain is a pile of mysterious rocks that form stonehenge. this is the part of the tour we were most looking forward to. if you haven't seen it in person, it really is breathtaking. okay, it's just a pile of freaking stones, right? that's what i thought, too. but learning more of where the stones came from (there were two different kinds used, one from 19 miles away, the other from 240 freaking miles away), then the interest starts peaking. and when the audio guide starts on the theories on what stonehenge represents, then one just gets a tourist hard-on. they really are THAT HUGE and breathtaking.

on the way to bath, our coach stopped at the second oldest pub in england. we had lunch there, where we bonded with a few of our bus, er, coach mates. there was a filipino family, a couple from kentucky, and a girl who's interning at famous pictures in london. another 30 minutes and we arrived in bath, known as the site of ancient roman baths. for a pound, you can even drink "bath water." i didn't but jeff wanted to. he said it tasted sulphuric (or is it sulfuric). anyway, egg-flavored water? no thanks.

we arrived back in london around 8 pm, and we had dinner at yo! sushi at harrod's. it's just like sushi kai-ten in santa monica, with the sushi runway. very cute, very good, very quick japanese food. we rested for a bit, and then it was off to heaven, the biggest gay club in london. it's on charing cross, right by trafalgar square. there were 4 dance rooms, the biggest one dedicated to techno and house. gag me. again, our prayers were answered because there was an r&b and hip hop room. we found a spot and just danced. the mix was good, although it's weird how they would play songs by the same artist back to back. justin, beyonce and pussycat dolls are big there. as far as euro acts, they still love kylie, robbie williams, jamelia, sugababes, etc. i started dancing with sotiris when they played "sexyback" (of course). his friend giuseppe told me later that sot thought i was cute, and that's how we started talking.

sunday morning, jeff and i walked around camden market. we grabbed a quick bite at pret-a-manger, then walked all of camden. imagine santa monica, venice, and farmer's market crowds, but three times bigger. it seemed everything was sold there, from rare punk rock records, to vintage tees (i got mike a morissey shirt), antiques, harajuku-style fashion, fake gucci and louis purses, i'm talking EVERYTHING. plus, it seemed like every londoner was there. the tube stop had to be closed for three hours because of congestion. while walking around the side streets, still with plenty of shops, jeff spotted a sign that said "John Lennon lived here." it's now a store selling girl's clothes. so random. we stopped to take a pic, and basically everyone that walked by after us started doing the same. later on, we met up with sot back in soho. he took us to dinner at balans (not the cafe where we dined on our first night), and then we found out more about him. he works for banco inesa in the city, and he even gave us a personal walking tour of the financial district that night. it may sound boring, but jeff is an architectural nerd so he learned more about the buildings in london. sot also showed us stuff that normally wouldn't be talked about in tours you pay for, such as a part of the london wall (constructed by the romans) that is now sticking out of a parking garage! he also brought us to a spot where a scene from mary poppins was filmed. we took the tube back to soho, and had a couple of drinks at club g-a-y.

monday was our last full day, and we wanted to stick to schedule and see st. paul's cathedral, the national gallery, notting hill, portobello, and finally, souvenir shopping. we got all of that done (so we didn't actually do the st. paul's tour, and only saw the modern art portion of the gallery), but we definitely did and saw all we wanted, and then some. we ended up at selfridges department store, where i spotted alice cooper shopping. he was by himself and no one paid any attention that alice freaking cooper was at selfridges' men's department! it was a bittersweet day, because i knew i had to say goodbye to sot that night. he picked me up around 10 pm and we just had a few drinks and danced a little bit. i got a little wasted. ok, a lot wasted, and barely managed to walk back to my room after he dropped me off. we said goodbye and i barely slept a wink before jeff wakes me up to get ready for the airport. david hasselhoff was on our flight home. i saw him at lax after being cleared for customs. i wonder what the hoff was doing in london. maybe he was in germany (he's HUGE there) and stopped by my absolute favorite city in the world.

photos to come...