Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Monty Python Style! Touring London in Three Days: Saturday the Second

This past weekend, I traipsed about London with my Canadian second cousin Kaitlyn and her (also Canadian) friend Alison. A quick recap of Friday: Kaitlyn and I did silly walks all over Leicester Square, bought geek souvenirs, and saw a movie in Polish. Good times.

On Saturday, we met up bright and early (it was 10:00 AM, which on a Saturday is bright and early as far as I am concerned, thankyouverymuch). We took the bus to Camden Town, which had been recommended to me by a stranger on the phone at my bank, no less. Who gives better advice than a stranger at your bank, handling your personal finances thousands of miles away?! Anyway. We took a bus to Camden Town, which I am still not entirely satisfied was not in fact located in the Twilight Zone, or an alternate dimension, or possibly the futuristic world in which Firefly takes place.

Camden is probably a place where I should spend more time of my life, though. It's a world full of bohemian-hipster-hippy-young people. There's no end to the tattoo and piercing parlours, the sci-fi market stalls, the goth clothes, the food stands...it's like Bumbershoot every day. With less live music and comedy, I guess.

We wandered aimlessly throughout the stalls, investigating and discovering. Getting lost and finding the street again and delving into other dimensions and through time portals and everything. Until we stopped for lunch, anyway. I had a delicious crepe, because when there are food stands around and I'm expected to eat my food standing in the middle of a market, I always opt for crepes.

After lunch and Camden, we decided to pop over to Baker Street (probably because I told them how terrifying I find that station to be). Baker Street, of course, is home to the world's most famous psychoticly lovable detective Sherlock Holmes. So naturally, we paid a visit to 221b Baker St.

There was a long line out front, but a lady near the front told us she had only been in line about 20 minutes, and it was only 6 quid to get in anyway, plus The Beatles Store was right next door, so we decided to wait in line. I took that opportunity to peruse the Beatles store, and am still seriously contemplating going back to purchase a yellow submarine ice cube tray.

The museum itself is a little silly, and a bit small. It's full of dummies posed to recreate famous Sherlock cases. At least I got to dress up like Sherlock and say "I say" and "elementary" a lot. Still, I can now add Sherlock Holmes' house to my list of famous houses I have been to (he joins the likes of Charles Dickinson, Shakespeare, Anne Hathaway, and Paul Revere).

Before leaving Baker Street entirely, we had to stop in at The Rock 'n' Roll Shop (I know it's only rock 'n' roll but I like it), across the street from 221b. Naturally. As I was buying a Sex Pistols fabric poster, the sales lady asked where in America I'm from. I told her Seattle. So naturally, she was like "oh cool, I'm going to New York." That's cool, it's only 3000 miles away. There is something about non-Americans, you guys. They hear I am American and they want to tell me all about their trips to America, even though none of them have ever been to the same part of the country as me. Never mind the fact that America stretches the entire width of a continent, it's all the same country so I must have an opinion on a place, right? Fortunately for this particular lady, I have actually been to New York, so I was able to suggest things to do and places to go. The night before, my Australian bar-tender informed he was going to LA. At least that one's on the same coast, eh?

So we departed from Baker Street and worked our way to Piccadilly Circus. We were strategically working our way back towards Hammersmith, so our commute home would be shorter. In Piccadilly Circus, we experienced a gay pride/free love type rally, and then split up for an hour to wander around Chinatown. I wandered through the M&M store, got a beer at an Irish pub, and bought a caramel shortcake in a coffee shop (something I discovered in Scotland and am now officially addicted to).

Finally we returned home where we said goodbye to Alison, and Kaitlyn and I got ready to go see (spam, spam, spam, spam...) Spamalot. We got dinner in Trafalger Square before heading to the theatre for a night of Monty Python humor. It was utterly amazing, you guys. The show has everything from classic Monty Python to contemporary jokes (including horse-riding Gangnam Style and jokes about good ol' Boris).

Saturday has now been covered, so stay tuned for Sunday. In the meantime, I leave you with this:



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