Day 2 & 3

When I'm in a new place, sleeping in a bed with another person, I tend to wake up several times in the morning but force myself back to sleep if the other person isn't awake yet. It is that reason that I didn't wake up until 11am. The sun was out and the sky was bright blue, something I had yet to see. We had planned to start the day out in Camden but since it was a beautiful day we called to see if there were any tickets still available for the London Eye.

We had a quick breakfast and made it into central London by 2. The day before when I had asked I was told we wouldn't be doing much walking more tubing, well apparently when our plans changed so did that meaning I made the wrong shoe choice. We went up in the London Eye, which in my opinion wasn't great. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it but with the time it takes to get through the line, etc. I could have found a better way to occupy my time. Oh, and the sun was setting to the West, making any pictures in that direction difficult to capture. If you aren't from here you don't really know what it is your looking at, other than a few landmarks, there is no guide, etc. It was fun, but not worth the 30 bucks.

The inside view of the London Eye -

The Green Gherkin -

The other side of the London Eye -

Walking to Westminster bridge -


After that we walked across Westminster Bridge and by the Houses of Parliament and my new buddy Ben. (Dad you might know Ben-day-ho but mine buddy Ben is Big - don't mind my humor ppl I know it's bad).


Turned around to get one more of the London Eye - I love this pic -


Had a breather at Westminster Abbey.



Then we walked up to Trafalgar Square and down the Strand. We found a TGI Fridays and had a cocktail. I had something called a Gremlin - it was good.


Dinner was at Sabine's friend Laura's house with their friend Kate. Laura cooked us steak, roast potatoes with carrots and parsnips. The dinner was very good - and we started on a bottle of wine as well. I want to first say that they were both very nice to me and did their very best to make me feel comfortable. We had a good time and Laura let me borrow some shoes and steal a little perfume.

We went out to a pub, to have a few drinks and met up with their friend Sam. I left my cameras at Laura's - so I stole this one from her. Pictured back row (l-r) are Laura and Sam. Front Row (l-r) are me, Sabine and Kate.


Everyone proceeded to get pretty drunk. I didn't care to be that drunk so I stopped after a few glasses. We moved to another pub, then to a bar. Along the way Sam told Sabine that she didn't think she was English anymore but American. This became the topic of conversation for the rest of the night. I personally don't think Sabine could do anything to become American that includes obtaining our citizenship. In my mind she will always be English.

Along the way the topic of my nationality was brought up. I started to get more and more pissed off. The general consensuses of almost everyone I met that night was that they disliked Americans. I've never been in this situation before. In Australia everyone loved me, they didn't condemn me from their prejudices against Americans. Laura told me that Americans are arrogant. I'm not saying we aren't but I think everyone is. I've met Australians that pitied anyone not lucky enough to have been born in Australia, Canadians that have told me their country is superior, and to this day I have yet to me and English person that doesn't know they are superior to the rest. I really felt that I wasn't given a chance but immediately stamped as American.

Throughout the night the girls got too drunk for my taste. Kate tried to dance on a table and spilled everything including a beer on to my nice new coat. I had given my wallet to Sabine to carry and at one point in the night the club employee picked it up off the floor and asked whose it was. We closed down two bars. I've never been in a bar when they turn on the lights and tell you to leave. I guess that just isn't who I am, or what I'm interested in.

Kate found herself a Kiwi that joined us on the journey. Stephen, the Kiwi, was obsessed with American Football. He heard me talk and asked where I was from. Sabine interjected with, Tennessee, so he made a reference to the Titans and how much he loved Vince Young. I came back with the only thing I know about Vince Young and that is that he went to University of Texas. Stephen then proclaimed that he was an Oklahoma fan and we spent the rest of the night debating College Football. The irony here is that I hate American football, sorry if you love it, but I just never have.

He also got a kick out of mimicking my accent. By the end of the night I had obtained the most patriotism I've ever felt in my entire life. We stopped at KFC (the only thing open at 3am) and grabbed some food before getting a taxi back to Laura's. Laura got this pic of Sabine apparently in the wee hours of morning (according to the clock behind her head).


Once we got back to Laura's we were sitting around in the living room and Laura knocked over some champagne glasses and they landed on me. My new pants were covered. I felt lovely. I didn't have anything to change into either. Sabine and I shared a full size bed and wore Laura's husband's shirts, and I slept in champagne covered jeans. We woke around 11am and Sabine had a nice old hangover. I tried to get out of my funk about the anti-American day I had before.

We got our stuff together, I put my painful shoes back on, and we hopped the train to Hampton where Kamal came and picked us up. We showered, and then headed back out again. Sabine's friend Amy had a birthday the day before we were meeting here at a pub in Twickenham called the White Swan for a roast.

I have to say I do love this pub culture. I love pubs. I can handle pubs. It's bars and clubs I don't car for. I met Amy, the birthday girl and their friend Jess. Then Sue came in, who I had met in Nashville in August when she came to see Sabine. It was good to see her again. Then Anna and her husband Rob came along, with Sarah. The whole group went to secondary school together and I just love that they are still so close.

I noticed something at lunch. I don't want to over generalize, but every English person sitting at that table ate their meal in the same way. They had their fork in their left hand and their knife in their right for the entire meal. The difference, I usually situate my utensils in that manner only if I'm cutting something, then I set my knife down and move my fork to my right hand. I very rarely, if ever, eat with my fork in my left hand. I found it funny that there is this difference between the two cultures.

They ran out of Chicken roast so Sabine and I had the pork. The meal was good, the meat I don't care for to begin with, but I did eat some. The roast came with roast potatoes, carrots, turnip crisps, gravy, and the meat. It was very good. We sat and talked with the group for hours. I had a blast. We walked back to the bus station and took it back to Sabine's parents house where we walked back form that bus station.

I called home and didn't have that nice of a visit because my cousins were visiting my parents and being very loud in the background.

Sabine's mom made us a WONDERFUL diner. This woman can cook. She made us salad, with gnocchi. I had never had gnocchi before but it was wonderful. I must find a recipe and make it myself.

During dinner we watched an Australian film called Strictly Ballroom. I thought it was pretty poorly acted and written, but it was something to pass the time. We are going to bed early tonight, in hopes of waking up early and doing some more stuff in London.