Perfection!!

The London Dungeon

So after we spent our life’s savings buying tickets for Phantom we remembered that we purchased tickets to the London Dungeon that morning. Jemma recommended the dungeons and I was game! I love anything that can attempt to scare me!! Where is it?? I am there. So we ate a quick lunch at Mcdonalds. ( I mean come on its quick and cheap) and hopped on the tube down to the London bridge area.

Since we bought out tickets at the hostel we got to go to the “priority line.” Umm excuse me but this line was just as long as the regular line. The lady told me that the regular line was a 3 hour wait! Oh hell no! I am glad i bought my ticket here. I will not wait in a 3 hour line for nothing. (well maybe a few things)

The “London Bridge Experience,” which was right across the street was working hard to get people to come to theirs. You see, the dungeon had people wrapped around the block for days and their was absolutely no line for the bridge experience. I guess that tells you which one is better. They had great costumes and gimmicks to try to pull people from the lines. Finally it was our turn to go into the dungeon.

It was quite brilliant how they do it. You get into groups and go into rooms that explain London’s history to you. The dungeon was right at the London Bridge and was actually used for prisoners and bodies once. It was quite creepy and still had the small of dead bodies. ;)

It was also educational but in a fun way. They took you back in time to explain the london fire ,and the black plaque and etc. It was quite fun. THey also used people in skits and of course I was chosen for two. The first was in a courtroom and I was being charged for sleeping with a horse. Let’s keep it real this is something I would totally get caught for doing. Ha kidding. The judge was quite funny and I played along to the best of my abilities. I explained to her that I was in love with the horse and that was the only reason I would have intercourse with it. ;) she let me off the hook because she said I was cute. I was supposed to meet up with her later, but to be honest she really wasn’t my type. ;)

Jack the Ripper room was my favorite. I will not give it away in case some of you go but it was fun and it made Caitlin scream at the top of her lungs!! I was chosen for another part where I was burned on a stake. Fire literally engulfed me and my stage even turned around to reveal i had turned into a skeleton burned to death. It was fun. They also had two rides one on a river. It was all quite fun. The last and final ride was new for 2010 it was the gallows. It was just like a drop zone and was super fun. The picture they took was PRICELESS. We looked soooo funny but I was not about to pay 10 pounds for one picture. I defiantly recommend doing the dungeons if you have the chance. They were fun. :)

Piccadilly & Leicester

The night was filled with people coming in and out all night but did I hear them?? NO! I was out cold for the entire night. I woke up in a haze a couple times. It was like waking up in a operating room coming out of the meds. I looked around and went right back to sleep. Our alarms went off at about half 8 because the free breakfast ended at 9:30. I did not know what to expect for breakfast. It was quite crowded and consisted of stale corn flakes and buttered toast. I mean I was not complaining because it was included in the price and I could fill myself up until lunch time.

We ate and then showered. I wanted to get to the Buckingham palace so that Caitlin could see the changing of the guards. Of course since Caitlin is a girl she took FOREVER. I mean she looks good all the time so I dont understand why it takes her so long. Maybe it is because I am a guy but I feel like girls look the same when they get up and straighten their hair or when they take hours trying to “fix” it.

We got to the palace about 11:45. It was sooo crowded and pretty much over so we just decided to go ahead and venture to other parts of the city. I remember going to Piccadilly circus before so I wanted to take Caitlin there. We went and took a few pictures to prove we went to London. ;) Caitlin went into Barclays to get more money out and of course forgot her PIN. Luckily she was able to get her money out and continue spending lots of money.

We hopped back on the tube and went over to Leicester square to look at theater tickets. We were not sold on going but wanted to see if any good deals were going on. We walked around a bit just taking it all in and see what there was to offer. It

was a rainy day so we knew that going to see a show would be a good idea. When we looked at the options we talked about and ended up giving up going on the london eye and the wax museam to go to see a show. We got tickets to Phantom of the Opera and were soooo excited to go see it. I had been obsessed with this musical for years so it was passed the time that I actually see it live. Seeing it in London was just the icing on the cake.

First Night in London

I decided since we had not seen Parliament or Big Ben we would take the tube there and find somewhere to eat long the Thames. It was already late evening by the time we got there so we got to see the clock tower and the London eye glowing in the dark sky. It was all very beautiful. We just took in the sights and enjoyed the night air. I was still pretty tired from our long journey so I just honestly wanted to find a place to eat and go back and get a long night’s sleep.

We took a few pictures around the river and walked towards the eye and waterloo area to find a place to eat. I think we were so hungry and tired that we spent a good hour reading menus and walking around. Some places were starting to close their kitchens to make room for the bars so we had to choose fast. We ended up going back to a Mediterranean restaurant that we found before. We sat down and ordered our food. We of course ordered a bottle of red wine, which was not a good idea.

Troia, the lovely place we ate dinner

From the lack of food and our sleepiness the wine was just making me more tired. On top of that i was getting a buzz from my first class since I had not eaten in a while. The place must have been a good one because it was pretty packed. We were squeezed right next to another guy that just so happened to be American as well. We only chatted with him when he was leaving. The waiters always sat his food down at our table so that was quite annoying.

Throughout the entire dinner I was trying to just make it through. I had some chicken dish with spinach with was very lovely but with the wine and everything else I was just pushing myself to shove it down and make it through the meal. I sound so pathetic but I was really exhausted and I do not do well under these circumstances. We soon paid our bill and ran to the waterloo tube station to get home. I just wanted my cubby and sleep!! I needed to be well rested for another full exciting day in London.

Sleepless in London-Town

Caitlin, waiting on her man.

After we got settled we decided just to walk around a bit. We were really close to Hyde park. I decided to make a walk through and go see the Buckingham Palace. So arm-in-arm we started our treck. We were pretty loopy and when we are like that we become our own comedy team. We say the dumbest things and just die laughing at any and everything. Every dog we passed, Caitlin wanted to pet. I told her no mainly because she was my support system holding me up so I wouldn’t fall asleep. Plus you can never be too careful of who has rabies.

oh Hyde Park

It was kind of a muggy day so the park was not too crowded but it was still nice. Of course Caitlin would run off to take pictures, not of monuments but of grass, squirrels, and trees. HAHA. She reminded me of my sister Tahlia being so amused with

squirrels. I will admit that I am SCARED of England squirrels. They are GIANT and will come right up to you. Caitlin was playing with one and it kept harassing her. I am such a parent screaming at her to come back and not get bit.

WE walked all kinds of around Hyde park. I forgot how big Hyde park is. We walked the entire park from one corner to the other. Looking at monuments and the little ponds full of birds. London has a lot of runners, well just like any other city but Caitlin expressed her want to run. Every runner prompted Caitlin to say she wished she would have brought her running shoes so

she could go for a run. With every one of those comments I just gave her the, “Bitch, you crazy!” look and kept on walking.

We finally made it to our future home and took some pictures. Caitlin texted the Queen a bunch to invite us in for tea but we had no response. Caitlin demanded we wait and go in so she could have dinner with her future husband Harry, but I couldn’t wait that long. ;) It was mid-day so the Palace was not too busy. I just know in the mornings with the changing of the guards it is SOOO crowded. We stayed a bit but then decided to go back to the hostel to take a nap. We needed it and decided on what to do that night for dinner and exploration.

Lost in London

So we got off the bus and went to go get breakfast. After a delicious breakfast and horrible service it was time to go to the Bayswater area to find our hostel and check in. Since I had been to London before I was already well aware of the tube system. We got on the underground and got off in Bayswater.

Since I am SUPER smart I realized that I had not written down the address or EVEN the name of the hostel. I knew I read that it was a minute walk from the tube station so I knew it was close. We were both just really tired and wanted to drop off our heavy bags. We walked around for quite some time. Down random streets back and forth along Hyde park trying to find this hostel. I

was getting a bit frustrated at myself for being so irresponsible. The one thing I just wanted to do was find it. I tweeted Kimber and my sister because I had sent the info to Tahlia and hopped that she could tweet me the address. Thank god for mobile twitter because it saves me. HA! It was only about 12pm local time so about 7am back home. Of course everyone was getting ready for work.

I told Caitlin to just find a Starbucks because with my ipod I could get on the internet and check. We found one that was at the entrance to the tube station and went in. As soon as I got on Tahlia tweeted me the address. I google mapped it and found that it was right across the street. Seriously right across the way was our hostel. We were too tired to get angry so we just laughed it off. WE went and and checked in. It was small and quite cozy.

The woman showed us to our room. It was quite dark because there were people still sleeping. Come on! You are on vacation its the afternoon why are you still sleeping???!? We were in a 14 bedroom room. (It was the least amount of money) We choose our little cubbies and decided to go out. Caitlin wanted a bit of a nap but I said since we got lost that time that we spent

took up our nap time and it was now time to go out and take in London. Sleepy and All.

Buses Hate Me

So the cheapest and easiest way for Caitlin and I to get down to London was on the Megabus. Oh good ole megabus. They are everywhere. We even take the megabus to Washington DC and NY from North Carolina. Caitlin and I decided that we would go down to London from Tuesday to Friday. To get the most out of the day on Tuesday we picked 6:15am to leave. We were so used to staying up late at night that neither of us got ANY sleep the night before. We packed and met outside around 5:30 to make sure we got to the coach station. Usually on a Monday night the streets are popping because Monday night here is a good night to go out....The streets were completely empty. We could not find a taxi anywhere. I called the service to try to get one but they said the earliest would be at 6:00 which would not give us enough time to do anything. I was freaking out a little bit. Luckily once we made our way down oxford I hailed a cab and we were on out way.

We got to the bus and got on it. Of course we were surrounded by mid-20s irish guys who were traveling somewhere. They had bags and bags filled with beer and jager. Of course this would happen to me. I would want to sleep on the bus since it would be 4 and a half hours down to London but No. These guys popped open their beers at 6:15 in the morning and began drinking. I knew this would be quite a long journey. Mid way through the bus driver stopped and made them all chuck their beers off the bus. Lets get real though did he honestly think that they threw away any of the unopened ones??? No. We did fall asleep for a bit and once I woke up I realized we were already in London. :) I couldn't wait to get off and get my luggage dropped off at the hostel and go out exploring. That is if we could even find the hostel.........