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Salad Days (also, bap.)
Jul. 4th, 2005 08:42 pmSo, London was fun! There was a slight miscalculation on time and forgetting that this is the week that at least half of the population go on holiday, leading to mild panic while trying to find a parking space at the airport Sunday morning, but otherwise all went well travel wise.
Made it in good time for Eye, and meeting up with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vashti et al.
The eye 'flight' (stupid name for it) was fun and slightly unnerving. Should probably have bought one of those map things so we'd have had a clue what we were looking at, but nonetheless it was fun. Amazing views even on an overcast day.
Then our little group made its way over to Green Park and stood about trying to see if random passers-by werenou by Lawksing at them, in time honoured tradition, but eventually we tracked her down by means of that other time-honoured tradition, the phone ;p
We picked a Nice Spot and more people arrived (hurrah)! Then we sent out on the Quest to Procure Food. Sending 5 or 6 people off to buy food for 10ish may, in hindsight, have been a mistake, as we returned with enough food to feed us for a week. Particularly if we were all very fond of salad...
Having piled up the food mountain we set too and managed over the course of the afternoon to make quite a dent in it. Well, in the junk food slopes anyway. The salad and other Healthy Options largely remained pristine and untouched. After a while we just packed most of it away again, and got out the wine instead. Tho not many people opted for the wine either.
Once the park got chilly, some people went home (alas) and those of us remaining went to the pub (hurrah!) for smoothies and cocktails (hmm mohitos).
It being Sunday night tho, things did wind up relatively early, which was probably a Good Thing.
This morning, being full of energy - or at least not horribly hungover - and fortified by a lovely breakfast in bed, I went off walking about London, since all the travelling on the tube has left me with no clue as to where anything actually is, or how it connects. So headed for Piccadilly, then Trafalgar Sq and the National Gallery for the Stubbs exhibition.
The exhibition is GRATE, possibly even for those not obsessed with horses - the sketches of horse skeletons and muscles are amazing. After that I wandered aimlessly about the galleries upstairs (note for next time, get map thingy) til I was all pictured out.
From there I headed for Covent Garden, for lunch and SHOPPING, tho didn't have time to see much more than the main plaza/market thing. Got a bus from there (and possibly a Getting Around London Alone tm for doing so) to Tower of London which is a Very Impressive Place, even packed to the hilt with tourists.
Only had an hour or so to spend there, so contented myself with wandering about peering at Old Buildings and Ravens and so on. The queue for the jewels bit was huge so skipped that, even with the chance of exciting chases by Men With Axes on Sticks and went to the Armoury instead. Which (for me at least) was much more interesting, especially the displays of all the armour. Henry VIII was a big man ;p Plus they have a huge variety of Axes on Sticks on display.
In the end I didn't really have as much time as I wanted to spend in there, I'll definitely have to go back when I have more time and no planes to catch.
At the train station, a Nice Man gave me his travel card, since he'd finished with it, and off I went to Luton and home. Am knackered and feet are sore from all the walking, but it was worth it ;) And have lovely stuff from L'Occitane too!
Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the hotel had check-out-from-your-room thing going, so I never did find out if they'd take salad instead ;p
EDIT!
I forgot to add, in all my aimless ramblings, how good it was to see you all again (even the ones I'd never met before) and how much fun it all was! I'll certainly never view a bag of salad in quite the same light again ;)
Made it in good time for Eye, and meeting up with
vashti et al. The eye 'flight' (stupid name for it) was fun and slightly unnerving. Should probably have bought one of those map things so we'd have had a clue what we were looking at, but nonetheless it was fun. Amazing views even on an overcast day.
Then our little group made its way over to Green Park and stood about trying to see if random passers-by were
nou by Lawksing at them, in time honoured tradition, but eventually we tracked her down by means of that other time-honoured tradition, the phone ;pWe picked a Nice Spot and more people arrived (hurrah)! Then we sent out on the Quest to Procure Food. Sending 5 or 6 people off to buy food for 10ish may, in hindsight, have been a mistake, as we returned with enough food to feed us for a week. Particularly if we were all very fond of salad...
Having piled up the food mountain we set too and managed over the course of the afternoon to make quite a dent in it. Well, in the junk food slopes anyway. The salad and other Healthy Options largely remained pristine and untouched. After a while we just packed most of it away again, and got out the wine instead. Tho not many people opted for the wine either.
Once the park got chilly, some people went home (alas) and those of us remaining went to the pub (hurrah!) for smoothies and cocktails (hmm mohitos).
It being Sunday night tho, things did wind up relatively early, which was probably a Good Thing.
This morning, being full of energy - or at least not horribly hungover - and fortified by a lovely breakfast in bed, I went off walking about London, since all the travelling on the tube has left me with no clue as to where anything actually is, or how it connects. So headed for Piccadilly, then Trafalgar Sq and the National Gallery for the Stubbs exhibition.
The exhibition is GRATE, possibly even for those not obsessed with horses - the sketches of horse skeletons and muscles are amazing. After that I wandered aimlessly about the galleries upstairs (note for next time, get map thingy) til I was all pictured out.
From there I headed for Covent Garden, for lunch and SHOPPING, tho didn't have time to see much more than the main plaza/market thing. Got a bus from there (and possibly a Getting Around London Alone tm for doing so) to Tower of London which is a Very Impressive Place, even packed to the hilt with tourists.
Only had an hour or so to spend there, so contented myself with wandering about peering at Old Buildings and Ravens and so on. The queue for the jewels bit was huge so skipped that, even with the chance of exciting chases by Men With Axes on Sticks and went to the Armoury instead. Which (for me at least) was much more interesting, especially the displays of all the armour. Henry VIII was a big man ;p Plus they have a huge variety of Axes on Sticks on display.
In the end I didn't really have as much time as I wanted to spend in there, I'll definitely have to go back when I have more time and no planes to catch.
At the train station, a Nice Man gave me his travel card, since he'd finished with it, and off I went to Luton and home. Am knackered and feet are sore from all the walking, but it was worth it ;) And have lovely stuff from L'Occitane too!
Oh, and if anyone is wondering, the hotel had check-out-from-your-room thing going, so I never did find out if they'd take salad instead ;p
EDIT!
I forgot to add, in all my aimless ramblings, how good it was to see you all again (even the ones I'd never met before) and how much fun it all was! I'll certainly never view a bag of salad in quite the same light again ;)
