Day 48

So Aaron and I had two touristy packed pretty amazing days.

Friday was the Tate Britain and Modern. We have a great system in which we judge the museum by it's cafe and tend to spend more time sipping lattes then actually seeing the exhibits. But no fear we do get to see everything we want and as a bonus are almost always strung out on caffeine. The Tate has pretty good coffee except the guy filled my cup too much so getting to a table was not an easy feat. The Tate Britain wasn't the most exciting museum. I spent more time people watching than really looking at the numerous portraits of British people and statues. I like seeing all the people there having to sketch for class. You get to see a broad range of skill. This little girl all of maybe 8 was trying to recreate one of the statues out of clay and let me tell you she was doing a better job than I could do. Another guy, probably my age was sketching one of the statues and doing a pretty good job. We kept finding ourself in the room he was in because for some reason museums really send Aaron and I in circles but every time we passed him we got to see the sketch progress.

The Tate Modern is on the other side of the river right next to the Globe. There was a boat we could take but it was like 4pounds so we decided to walk it. It was cloudy but otherwise rather warm which made for a nice...long...walk. We randomly came across a crepe place so I was able to get my chocolate banana crepe for the weekend. This is a tradition I think I need to end....my crepe intake is starting to outweigh my walking.

Walking along the Thames is pretty awesome. There's so much going on and so much to look at. There was a guy I think selling Devil Sticks. He himself was devil sticking and had a whole basket of them. Now that I think of it I'm pretty upset for now stopping to ask how much they were. I bed I could go stand on the street and devil stick for money. I think that would be a rather interesting experience.

We didn't have much time for the Modern but it was still pretty awesome. The main exhibit was a crack in the floor. Imagine one of the biggest rooms ever with a cement floor and then throw in a little earthquake that results in a big crack down the middle of the room and thats the exhibit. Modern art just baffles me. I mean I enjoy it but still, baffling.

We decided to have Fish and Chips for dinner because we haven't yet and are running out of time to do everything we have on our list of things to do. It's a mental list that Aaron and I add about 50 things to a day and in the end remember about 5 of them but still we're determined to do everything. Anways we really couldn't find a place for fish and chips...in London...go figure. Basically everywhere we could get them was packed so we ended up at Nandos. Love Nandos. I got the chicken sandwich this time sooo good and of course the best part Bottomless Soda!

Yesterday was Oxford. We went and got a bus at Victoria Station. The Oxford Express inStyle. It advertised soothing colored interiors to relax you. Really though as Aaron rightly put it "It looks like Roger Babson threw up in here." At least I'm pretty sure thats what he said, maybe I made it up. But that's what the inside looked like....Green and Gold. It was a nice 100min bus ride, I really do like riding in buses. When you get outside the city it really could be anywhere in the US. There was even a huge Staples. I really wish I had like a car and could just take off exploring. I think trying to figure out where to drive though would be enough to make my head explode. The whole wrong side of the road thing really throws me.

So 100mins later we arrived in Oxford. It's really just another English town but they're always fun to explore. For lunch we went to a Noodle Bar which was good except we were next to a bunch of maybe 16 year olds who were out pretending to be cool by eating at a real persons restaurant. They were obnoxious. Kinda like my friends and I were at that age but in Denny's. We had the sense to act respectable in actual restaurants. One kid decided to use his chop sticks as drum sticks and drum on everything in sight...that is of course until Aaron gave him the evil eye.

After we walked, got lost and then walked some more. The goals of the day were to go punting, see Harry Potters dining hall and get Rugby shirts.

Punting was great. I think I've already explained it....long boat you push around with a very long pole. I wasn't so good at it but I'm sure Aaron could be a pro. It was a little cold but we had a blast getting stuck in trees, attacking birds and getting laughed at by the locals. We didn't fall in though so I thought that was the biggest accomplishment. If one of us had it would have been a very short trip to Oxford and a very horrible 100min trip back to London.

We had a late start to the day and everything closed at like 5 so we weren't able to see the dining hall or Oxford Castle but we did get to go to a Cafe. Rating Oxford by Cafes it scores very low. First they were difficult about serving us and then a woman was breast feeding and the coffee was not so great. They did have very good baklava though so they got a few points for that.

We found Rugby shirts....not official University of Oxford ones though...they were 45pounds...we went for the cheaper knock off ones which I'm sure are just as comfy.

With nothing else to do I went to my first gay bar. It was dead but I got a great bendy straw in my coke so clearly it became the best bar/pub I've been to yet.

It was getting late so we made our way back to the Coach station and back to London. I finished the book I was reading...thank god.

When I got back to Wigram the day only continued to get better. I had Hawaiian Pizza for dinner and finished off my Ben and Jerrys and then NICOLE BOOKED HER FLIGHT!!! I can't wait. Shes going to be here the last week I am so now I get to go out with a bang. It's going to be soooo much fun.

Alright well I should go grocery shopping. Post Later.