Going to have tea with the queen? No. Better. We travelled to London to see our friend Dickfer Dave who was in town for a conference from AZ. It was really nice to see a familiar face and to be in the “English” speaking world.

Our first realization that we have started to shed our “American” identities was our reactions to the portion sizes. Even a cup of coffee was three times the size we receive in Barcelona. Only three months and already we have become accustomed to smaller dining! The next was our inability to stop speaking Spanish. We are in a town where we can speak our native tongue and there we were, asking for a “cafe con leche” and saying “gracias“. Very strange. Apart from those small changes, we had a wonderful time.

Our hotel was in Kensington, a beautiful quiet place in the hustle and bustle of London. We were within walking distance of the Victoria Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the Science Museum. We chose the V & A for our first outing. A very interesting museum, all I have to say is that I now know what an original hurdy gurdy looks like. Like an accordion and a violin had a mutant baby and nothing like the boxes you see the “organ grinder and monkey” with.

Our first full day, we decided to hit the Tate Modern. I was really excited to see their collection, after MOMA and SFMOMA it was next on my list. The artwork was amazing! Unfortunately our art-awe was interrupted for an hour when the fire alarm went off while we were in the first room. It was a bit scary being quickly escorted down the back stairs of such a prestigious museum not knowing whether it was a false alarm or not. I humorously wondered if everyone should have grabbed a painting to save from the flames.

Once we were allowed back in, we continued our tour of modern art for five hours! If you ever go, you should make sure to take a break and hit the cafe on the fourth floor for a particularly gorgeous view. The museum is directly across the Thames from St. Paul’s Cathedral. The new Millennium Bridge, designed by Norman Foster and some other blokes, spans the river and is a beautiful footbridge. The whole skyline was gorgeous, with many buildings viewable from the terrace. While we sipped our coffee we had fun trying to match the buildings to the legend provided. It was the 32 large construction cranes in our view that were the most amusing. I didn’t think there was anywhere left to build in downtown. But there they were. It made St. Paul’s look just a little pitiful.

Once we finished, we started to make our way back to Kensington. Being in the habit of walking around most of Barcelona, we figured that walking back was an option. We should have consulted a map a little more carefully. We thought there would be plenty of places to rest and have a pint. Ha! After walking through the theater district, there was nothing but high-end houses and gardens and, oh!, some stupid palace. Ugh, in the dark they are not very fun to look at! The Kensington High Street was a welcomed sight, we stopped at the first pub we came to. British cask ales, mmm….

Our last full day, we had made plans to meet with Dave in the afternoon for a ride on the London Eye. We decided to check out the British Museum until then. Jason was interested in seeing the Aztec and Inca exhibit. Unfortunately they closed that particular room right as we walked through the door. Bastards! Oh well. We had fun touring the vast collection, and even learned a little about the history of the Celts and Vikings in Britain.

Well, onward and upwards to the London Eye! What a giant ferris wheel! OF DEATH! Not really an exact description but I have nothing else to compare it to. It is huge, and there’s a hell of a view from the top!

After finishing our bird’s eye view of London, we took a stroll through St. James Park and met some of the locals. Squirrel Nutkin and Cranky Goose. The squirrels were amazingly tame, a bit too much. They crawled up the fence right to you looking for food! Gorgeous park, although not sure what the cottage was for?

After that adventure I was ready for a relaxing dinner. A buddy of Jason’s, Matthew, came up with a spiffy cafe owned by a friend of his. Cumin burger, wow-yum!

All in all, an excellent adventure to merry old England. And, go check out some more of our pictures!

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 11th, 2007 at 7:19 pm by Corrie and is filed under Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.