After a Looooong Weekend...

...of sleeping ^-^
no joke, I literally slept most of the weekend - it was QUITE exciting!

After I left off on Thursday, we went back to the flat and hung out for a few hours and then headed over to the Tube and got off on Tower Hill - across the street from the Tower of London(!! I know, I was excited). As fate would have it, we were able to take the tour with Shaughn (the same guy who lead the Shakespeare one) and it therefore far more brilliant that it would have been otherwise - with the exception that the man walks REALLY fast!! Honestly, he is about sixty years old and he was faster than EVERYONE in the group - we were all run walking to keep up with him. The tour was quite exciting - we walked around London town learning about the different murders and the facts of the case. I think I have been too desensitize to gory stuff because I watch so much CSI related things with Michelle - they were telling us what he did to some of the victims and I kept thinking 'oh, that sounds soo cool! ... ya know, aside from the fact that they were dead and tortured...' (mac...stop laughing! I know you are :p). Then, after the tour ended, the guide brought us to what he labeled pub row - there was a pub on every corner for quite a few blocks (think the number of Starbucks on any given block and double it). We decided to go into The Ten Bells - a pub that has been around since 1666!!! I had a strawberry beer here, and it was actually quite yummy (as always, pictures to follow...eventually). We kind of hung out there just chatting and hanging out. After awhile we decided to move down the block a bit - it was getting FAR too crowded. We ended up at The Golden Heart - where a bunch of us took a shot of tequila and danced to REALLY bad American music and talked to some REALLY drunk brits...iT WaS aWeSoMe!! Then we decided to try one more, so we went to this bar/club we had passed on our tour - since there was only 20 minutes left until they closed, we decided to just leave - plus their drinks were WAY over priced.
This is when the real adventure started. See the tube here - while completely awesome - stops running at midnight. Well, we realized at 23:45 that we were still blocks away from the tube stop, but if we ran we might make it. So we headed off in the direction that Shaughn had pointed us...and then two of the girls (who were quite pissed by this time ^-^) did not see the rest of the group so they ran back to the last bar - what they did not realize was that everyone else was ahead of us! So Stephanie and I went after them - none of the girls had a mobile, so I figured I should stick around just in case. Well, Stephanie ended up catching up with them and we headed towards the tube - the four of us walking quite quickly, I was also on my mobile trying to get a hold of one of the other girls to let them know that we were alright and on our way. As it turns out, two of the other girls (there were a total of 10 of us) also got separated. Eventually we asked a city worker (who was in the process of finishing up relieving himself...yeah...welcome to the other side of London (: ) and he pointed us in the right direction of the tube. So we thought we had made it in time...we were wrong...sort of. So we follow the signs and are waiting for the train when Sara reads a sign and that says that we have to go to the other side of the track to get to our stop - we get there just as the train is arriving. As we are just starting to relax, the voice of the tube (yeah, apparently everything here talks...even my phone. When the alarm goes off in the morning it says "it is time to get up the time is 7:30" and just repeats that. It is quite amusing) is saying the next stop...yeah we realize at this point that it is going in the very much wrong direction. So we try to keep our cool and not panic...and with the help of a really nice British lady we managed to figure out where we were; and when we got off the train we found one that went in the other direction...sadly, it did not go to our stop. So we ended up going to Paddington station (which is on the other side of Hyde Park from where our place is...UGH!) where we were suppose to look for a bus to Kensington. Well, after a lot of walking and a lot of *not* finding a bus (they have these things called Night Buses (Harry Potter is making SOOOO much more sense now!!) that run 24/7...so no matter what you can always get where you need to go) we all gave up and ended up taking a black cab (after checking the boot to make sure he was licensed) and it was about 4£ a piece...so it really was not bad.
We had finally made it home around 2 in the AM, enough time to eat a quick sandwich, change our clothes, and then go to bed.
On Friday I did SOO much...sleeping! I was quite excited! Ok, so I did not sleep ALL day, I woke up every few hours and read my book, but then I promptly fell asleep again. It really was quite lovely! Then a bunch of the girls decided to go out clubbing, but I decided to just stay in the flat - I did not want to have to navigate London in the rain...and it was really threatening when they were leaving - Lisa went though. As it turns out, it did end up raining...so I was glad that I stayed in.
On Saturday, we slept in until about noon...at which time Britney came to see if we wanted to go to the Tate Modern and Westminster Abby. Of course we said yes! The Tate Modern was eh...then again, I am not a big fan of modern art (yes, I was bored out of my skull!! I tried I really did); plus it was really really crowded - I think it had something to do with the Brits bringing their kids to museums on the weekend to culture them...I do not know. So we ended up going to the cafe on the first floor and it was quite good - and cheap! I got a panini and chips - which I shared with Lisa. As we were sitting at the table a whole bunch of people dressed as pirates walked by. Seriously, there was SOOOOO many! AND THEY KEPT COMING! Then there were none. Just as we were moving on they all came back! So me being me I starting snapping pictures...and some of the pirates even posed! It was awesome.
We then got back on the tube and headed towards Westminster Abby. OH. MY. GOSH. IT. WAS. AMAZING!! I can know officially say I have gone to service in THE Westminster Abby!! (ok, it was Evensong, but same thing). I walked on Darwin and waved to Newton...and given a hats'off to Churchhill. It was so COOL!! We then went in search of a toilet; we ended up finding one in Methodist Hall! It was quite an adventure!
Eventually we made our way back to the flat - with a quick stop at Tesco to get some amenities. A couple of the girls decided that they wanted to go out again, but Lisa and I decided to stay in and work on papers. Yeah, funny I know right?! I rang up Shells to say hello and she had said that she and Kylie were going to walk down to KFC cause they had a coupon. That made Lisa and I realize that we too wanted KFC...and there actually is one here! What we forgot about was the fact that our pants were all in the wash...and we were in pjs. But the desire for chicken, biscuits, and mashed potatoes was far too great! We grabbed an umbrella, put on our shoes and coats and headed out. It was not until we got there that we were disappointed. The KFC only had chicken and fries; but we had walked so far to get the chicken we decided we would get it any way. Yeah, it was HoRRiBLe KFC, but the chicken itself was not too bad. Since we did not want to just sit there we decided to watch X-Files: I Want to Believe (we tried to watch something on Netflix, but apparently you cannot Watch Now outside the states...BAH!). We ended up getting about half way through it when Lisa's bf called...so we agreed to finish it another night.
On Sunday we really did not do much of anything...until 15:00...when we went on a London Walks HaRRy PoTTeR eDiTioN!!! It was not what I had hoped for, but it was quite amusing, interesting, and factual. I can now say I have been in Diagon Alley, stood outside of Gringots bank, and I know where the entrance to the Ministry of Magic is...exciting, I know right?!! Our tour guide was quite interesting and amusing...and he looked a bit like Hagrid's brother or something. :P
We then realized - at the end of the tour that were really quite hungry...so we found this little hole in the wall Indian place called Maharajah of India. If you are in London DO NOT GO THERE!! IT IS HORRIBLY OVER PRICED!!! They charged us 3.95£ for a 1.5 L Evian water bottle - if we had crossed the street we could have gotten three of those. UGH! But I did find out that I really like Nan (it is kind of like bread) [: .
This morning I woke up and went to check my email but the internet would not connect...it was 20 minutes later when I realized that it was because stupid T-Mobile was charging us 2£ a day instead of the 15£ for the month that it was suppose to...UGH! Now we have to go and have a few words with the Carphone Warehouse people. BLEH! So if I can get that fixed I should be able to get pictures up by tomorrow...if no, idk.
Off to the Carphone Warehouse and then maybe H&M and then Argos to get a straightener and hair dryer...fun yeah?! Wish me luck!!

cheers, amanda

PS I have a new picture to put as the background and as soon as I can get pictures loaded I will...and this one will be more clear...promise! (: