The Fair Isles Part 2

Apologies once again for the delay, but I'll start by picking up where I left off. After our Ulster fry we said goodbye to the Burns family and headed to the airport for our 30-some minute flight to London. Once we arrived at the airport, Jackie and I spent a half hour or so trying to get in touch with James who arrived just as our restlessness was starting to get out of hand. He picked us up, took us back to his place to drop our things off and once that was all said and done we hopped on the overground and headed into central London.

Our first stop: Leicester Square, where all the major movie premiers are held in London. Unfortunately, it was undergoing some renovations for the 2012 Olympics, so most of it was fenced off due to construction, but we still had a chance to see most of the major cinemas. We met up with Fiona and Caoimhlin and headed to Nando's for a bite to eat. After dinner, we went through Piccadilly Circus - basically the Times Square of New York - which was a lot smaller than I'd imagined it. When you see it in movies, you always get the sense that it is as impressive as Times Square, but definitely not the case.

The next stop was Hamleys one of the world's largest toy shops. Maybe I'm growing up, or America has just set some really high standards for what a toy shop should have, but I wasn't that impressed. Just typing this I feel old, but the selection wasn't that great and everything was ridiculously overpriced. For instance, anyone remember those kits for make your own balloons? They sold them at the dollar store and you'd get three or four tubes of the plastic stuff and the straws to blow it up with, but in Hamleys they acted like it was this great new toy that could be yours for only 15 £ (roughly $25)!

After Hamleys we headed up Carnaby Street, one of the main shopping streets in London, before taking the tube to Camden Town. Camden Town pretty much embodies everything that you'd expect a kitsch neighborhood to be. If I had to think of an American equivalent, I would suggest that you think of Cowtown as an actually community with buildings rather than stalls, add a heavy dose of punks, pubs and tattoo shops, and maybe you'd have something kind of close. What was probably most interesting about this neighborhood though was the fact that you saw people from all walks of life: everything from homeless people to rahs. We wanted to go into a bar to get a drink, but couldn't because they were carding and Jackie didn't have her ID. So, we ended up in a pub instead. Just sitting there with everyone people watching, I decided that I could live in London too.

The next day we did all of the touristy stuff - the London Eye, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey (which unfortunately was closed to visitors since it was Sunday), Buckingham Palace (where we were treated to an impromptu parade), Trafalgar Square, 10 Downing Street, Harrods, and the Natural History Museum all followed by dinner at Garfunkels.

Westminster Abbey

When the flag is raised the Queen is inside

Trafalgar Square - 2012 Olympics countdown clock in the background

Dinosaurs!

I can't forget to mention though, our amazing lunch at Wagamama. While I didn't sample any "typical" English food (besides fish and chips), from what I did taste, I'd honestly have to disagree with the stereotype that English people have terrible food. Case in point:

We spent our last full day in London walking alongside the Tower of London, across the Tower Bridge, over the Millennium Bridge, at Pizza Express and inside the Tate Modern. After a final round of drinks up in Camden Town, we said goodbye to Fiona and Caoimhlin and grabbed some sandwiches at Prêt-à-Manger and Marks & Spencer. When I finally returned to France, I went through some serious M & S withdraw, not only because of the amazing food, but also because of the convenience (doesn't close at 7.30 like every store in France).

The next afternoon, after a quick stop at Platform 9 3/4 (although not the same one used in the first Harry Potter movie because they're renovating that part of the station), Jackie and I boarded the Eurostar back to Paris. Strangely enough, while at the station I was more comfortable speaking in French to the people working there rather than in English, since American English would give me away instantly as being a foreigner.

Like I mentioned before, I had no expectations at all of what the UK would be like, but after such a memorable experience I can easily picture myself living there, even if it does rain all the time and they drive on the wrong side of the road.