London Calling - London, UK
After the British Museum on day 7, I geared up for a night out at the bars! I visited a whole bunch of places around the Soho neighborhood on Thursday night.
The Nordic Bar had folks sitting and watching a football (soccer) game and a live guitar player near the entrance stairwell. It was an average sports bar, but with a twist: a giant wheel full of different shots with incredibly raunchy names.
I was unfortunately poured a “Dirty Beaver” which consisted of some kind of white liqueur topped with a bit of Jäegermeister. I hate black licorice, but the Dirty Beaver really wasn’t that bad. Worth the £5 of alcohol.
Oh, and the wallpaper in the men’s toilets were full of photos of nude women. Classic.
I hopped between a couple other pubs and had some beers and a little small talk with strangers before I headed to the gay bar scene in Soho. The places were small and too loud to have a conversation without stepping outside. I still had enough drinks to have this classic American experience though.
Day 8
The following morning, I slept in a bit, had a quick breakfast, and hightailed it to Buckingham Palace again. Why? Well, for the Changing of the Guard ceremony, of course! I don’t really know what it means or why they do it, but all I knew is that the Royal Guard Band was performing and I wanted to see the silly fuzzy hat guys do a march.
I arrived right at the start and watched the band turn the corner and march into the palace gates. I was able to push through the crowds and get a close standing spot when they started their concert performance. The wind was blowing a bit and pages of music started shifting on their stands and flip folders. I expected the Royal Guard Band to have memorized their music like we were required to in Marching Mizzou, but I can understand if the arrangements aren’t written to be easily memorized.
Then, to my utter surprise, the British Royal Guard Band began playing Believer by Imagine Dragons! I fully expected some kind of posh classical wind ensemble piece written by a British composer, but here I was laughing to myself about this prestigious band playing a pep tune. They still sounded great though - wonderful performance!
My dogs were barking by the end of the market adventure, so I took a short nap at the hostel, and then went back out to meet some people. This time, I went back to The Royal George from Day 7, and by coincidence, I stumbled into another drag show in the basement! This was a much smaller audience, but still fun nonetheless. I tried to make conversation with the queens, but they all seemed very preoccupied with talking to all the friends they invited.
I went to bed early after the long days and tons of walking. I’m averaging about 9 miles of footwork per day!
Day 9
I got some well-deserved rest on the morning of day 9 and prepared for something I have been waiting to see for a long time: The Book of Mormon!
For those who don’t know, the creators of the TV show South Park, Trey Parker and Matt Stone, wrote this musical and also happen to be from the Centennial State. As a resident of Colorado and as a fan of Matt and Trey’s work, I knew I had to see this. It was phenomenal! The music was very entertaining and the script was hilarious. Huge props to the London cast for their amazing performance!
After the show, I took a walk around London’s West End - The Theatre District, Chinatown, and Leicester Square were all reminiscent of Times Square. Though the buildings were not nearly as grand, the amount of people was certainly comparable.
When I returned to the hostel, I chatted with two guys staying in my room - Michael and Dexter. Michael was a prison guard from another place in the UK, visiting London for a work exchange program, and Dexter was a young traveler from Singapore. Michael and I made plans to meet up later in the night for some Friday night clubbing.
I went to a pub called Duke of York not far from Oxford Circus. I met a gang of people there - David from Ireland, his wife Alex, and a bunch of Alex’s cousins. Among the cousins was Sam, a gregarious fellow who very drunkenly wrote me directions to his podunk village outside London and invited me to “see what real England is like”. They were quite a fun bunch!
Michael hit me up shortly after, and we met up for a drink at a pub before setting out for the nightclubs! It was… expensive, which was expected, but still an absolute blast! Michael got lucky and danced with a woman on the dance floor (atta boy) but I was less fortunate in my escapades. Him and I ended the night at NQ64, an arcade bar with a cool variety of both arcade games and retro console setups.
Day 10
The sun came up on day 10. I was hungover, rain fell from the sky, and I finally ran out of clean clothes. This was going to be a classic Lazy Sunday. I slept in and took my sweet time waking up and getting ready to go.
While my clothes were at the launderette, I got a coffee from Pret and took a stroll through Hyde Park. The rain made the park pretty sparsely populated with people, but there were several different birds out and about. I stood on the shore of the lake, watching the birds all do their thing. The swans were beautiful, and you could get right up next to them without a care.
Then suddenly, the flock converged on a point behind me. Two people had a loaf of bread and were tossing crumbs all around. I turned back around to the sign I had seen just a moment earlier:
Don’t Feed the Birds
I sighed at the blatant ignorance, or lack of English understanding, but still enjoyed the mild feeding frenzy.
I packed up my fresh clothes and went to stow them in the hostel. While I was there, a new face appeared in the hostel. My go-to question when meeting new people has been “Where are you from?” His response? Boulder, Colorado!
I was so excited to talk to Max. He was the first American I had encountered on this adventure and being from the same area of the country, we had a lot to talk about! We grabbed some late lunch and I showed him NQ64 (I really liked that place). After some rounds of Tekken and Tetris, we parted ways - he had a show to catch a little outside of town, but they were sold out.
I opted to take an evening stroll to Parliament Square, where I saw Westminster Abbey and Big Ben illuminated in the night sky. I also walked around some dark London streets to see if I could maybe meet Jack the Ripper or something.
I turned in early to prepare for a fast-paced following day.
Day 11
I woke up early on my last day in London so I could really take advantage of my time before leaving. First stop was Tate Modern!
I won’t write about Tate Modern here, because there was a LOT to see there. I have a post in the drafts about my experience there - stay tuned!
After Tate Modern, I hopped on the bus and arrived at Tower Bridge! From the bus station, it looked like Cinderella’s Castle in Disneyland - a lovely sight!
I walked across the bridge and entered the Tower of London. This was a very unique castle with a rich history of a royal palace, a prison, a torture chamber, a mint, and now the home of England’s Crown Jewels and the Beefeaters.
What’s a beefeater? It’s the funnily dressed individual on the Beefeater Gin bottle, yes, but they’re more properly known as the Yeoman Warders. I don’t remember the specifics, but they’re some very loyal members of the British army that serve long enough to become great tour guides for the castle, among other things. With an outfit like that? It must be very serious business, I’m sure.
The Warder that gave my tour was very entertaining and informative. She went into great detail about the eras of the castle’s history, the people who lived and died inside its walls (LOTS of blood, death and dismemberment) and cracked jokes all along the way. Apparently the Warders and their families live in the castle itself - she even told everyone to wave to her son as he walked by.
Photos were not allowed in the Crown Jewels exhibit, but there were some very pretty pieces of bling in there. I then started chatted with one of the exhibit security guards and may have asked a slightly offensive question toward this British person - Can you tell me a bit about King George III?
They were very nice, however, and told me about him. He is actually known as The Mad King (that wasn’t just the Founding Fathers’ mean nickname for him), and his biggest claim to fame is actually losing the American Colonies! He did suffer from mental illness for a long time, so most of his reign was taken care of by his son, Regent Prince George IV and his wife.
One fascinating thing about the Tower of London was the ravens that live on the site. Legend says that 7 ravens must reside on the castle grounds. If they are to ever leave, the castle will crumble to dust and terrible times will befall England. These birds also let you get within an arm’s reach and are very intelligent. I bought a little raven pin because I like the birds, the legend, and wanted to support the place.
I left the Tower satisfied with my time in London and made my way toward the train station. But first, I couldn’t leave without having a bit of classic fish ‘n’ chips! I stopped by Gigs for a pricey but absolutely fantastic plate and a glass of Guinness.
Farewell, London! It is a fantastic city - I highly recommend it, so long as you have the budget. One thing I didn’t see that I wanted to was the Churchill War Rooms - that gives me a reason to come back someday!
Next stop, Paris, France! See you then!
Here’s the iconic song that inspired the title of this post.
