...in London!! That's right, just a few short days after our departure from Dublin, the two American's arrived in London and stayed with me for a couple nights before they went back to the States.
To see pics related to this post, check them out here: http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bbergey/LondonWithBrianneAndRyan#
Again, you can also read Brianne and Ryan's account of their time on their blog here: www.ryanandbrianne.com.
Ryan and Brianne's train was supposed to arrive around 5:30pm, so I decided on a meeting place at a bar in the nearest tube station to my office. Hayley and I left work early and headed over shortly after 5:00 to find them already there! They were able to get on an earlier train but had no way to contact me since the phone numbers over her are really confusing. After another appetizer and a few happy hour drinks at El Metro (our favorite local happy hour spot), we dropped their packs off at my office and headed to the river for dinner. We ended up at The Old Ship, a pub that apparently has been around for a long time. It sits right on the River Thames and had really good food. I had veggie skewers with rice over green curry and it was amazing! After dinner, we walked down the river and enjoyed three more pubs along the way. The pubs along the river in Hammersmith are really nice, as is the path and area that stretches along the river. Of course our walk home wasn't complete without a stop at the Kebab shop. Ryan and I enjoyed a rather tasty chicken kebab (basically a gyro for those of you not familiar with the glory of a UK kebab).
I got up on Thursday and headed to work, but left my keys and mobile phone with R & B so they could come and go as needed and give me a call when they were on their way to my office. Hayley and I took a half day, so they came to our office to meet us for lunch and then explore the wonders of London Town. We had a nice lunch at a local pub near the office and then caught the tube down to central London. We started at Green Park, which borders Buckingham Palace. We then walking through St. James park which connects Buckingham Palace the city. Snapping pictures the entire way, we walked to Big Ben and then along the river to the London Eye.
The London Eye is the largest ferris wheel of it's type in the world. It is 135 meters tall and is the 4th tallest structure in London. It provides the best views you'll get of the city as you can see by the pictures. It's amazing how loud and busy things are on the ground, yet how miniature and quite things were during the ride. The eye itself moves very slowly and it takes about 45 minutes to make it all the way around. It was a really cool experience and I'm glad we did it!
From the London eye, we headed toward the most popular area of central London which includes Covent Garden, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, and Soho. We started at Covent Garden and stopped at an Australian bar for a couple drinks. Ryan and I had the great pleasure of trying a special cider they had on tap. Unfortunately it tasted like vinegar and pee and it took all that we had to drink it all. The jelly bellies leftover from our snack on the London Eye definitely helped decrease it's impact.
Our dinner choice for the evening is probably the most eventful part of the entire trip! I did some research online to find the best Indian curry house in London, just for Ryan who was wanting to experience so excellent, traditional curry. After researching many list, I found a great prospect in East London which meant taking the tube a few stops away from downtown. However, we thought that it was probably worth it to get some excellent food. After getting all the way there (rather quickly since certain female members of our party had to use the toilet), we found out that the restaurant was actually closed for the entire month for Ramadan. What this actually meant was that they did not provide table service from their menu, but they did set up a line where you could still order food that they had already prepared. If you wanted to eat it in the restaurant, you could certainly do so and they would plate the food and serve it to you. So although we didn't get to choose from a full menu selection, we definitely had an excellent meal that was quite tasty. I would definitely go back to the popular and crowded restaurant (even though it was "closed") another time to experience all it has to offer. After dinner we went back downtown and finished exploring Leicester Square, the Circus, and Soho and ended our evening with a nice helping of some gelato on an outdoor patio.
Friday morning I headed off to work again which Ryan and Brianne had the day to explore on their own. Unfortunately the weather wasn't very good and their planned day at Hyde Park got cut short. They were very kind enough to stop at Whole Foods on their way home to pick up groceries for an amazing dinner we prepared that evening at my flat. I grabbed some Spanish red wine and a few beers on the way home and then we began making our meal of steak, pasta, broccoli, salad and bread. It was absolutely delicious and thank you guys again for getting everything! After dinner we went down to the local pub across the street. It was the first time I have been!! The pub is much nicer than you'd think from the outside and was a great place to enjoy a pint. Since the weather seemed to have stopped a lot of people from coming out, they were closing early so we walked down a block to the other local pub near my flat. Unfortunately we were all out of cash and found out that they did not accept credit cards. One of the locals heard our predicament and said they he would buy us a round! The following hour consisted of us accepting a couple rounds from the locals in the pub and chatting about everything from TV sitcoms to US politics. I have a feeling that the same 8 people sit on the stools of that pub almost nightly. I'll have to stop by again soon to see if that's true and re-pay John for his kindness. In reality, John was probably far to drunk to remember me at all.
Saturday morning we all got up and enjoyed some breakfast before heading to the airport. Things got a little stressed as we realized that we really didn't allow very much time to get from my flat to the airport, but we made it with time to spare!
I want to thank Ryan and Brianne again for coming to the UK and doing everything you did. It was great having visitors and I really hope you guys had a great time!
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