My friend went out of town the next day, but his "housemate" said that Nikki and I were welcome to stay the next two days. They were really welcoming, and it was great to save some "quid" on housing.
I didn't take too many photos in London, but here are a few...
Buckingham Palace! Nikki and I were standing between two French families somehow.
Also, "loads" of people seemed to be waiting around for something, so we did, too, for about fifteen minutes. Nothing happened, and the "bobbies" (is that what they're called?) didn't seem to know either, so we left, and ran into this:
Regal! We overheard that there have been "loads" of practice events for the upcoming Olympics.
Or maybe it was the changing of the guard. Not sure!
Saw Legally Blonde the Musical!
Unfortunately, my camera has "a bit" of a delay, and this girl stood up right when I took the photo, and right before I got yelled at for taking a photo.
Some kind of Occupy protest going on near St. Paul's Cathedral. Couldn't "manage" to "sort it out," but I also "couldn't be bothered" to ask anyone.
"Brilliant" store with lots of items in floral prints.
10 "quid." Bought this dress at a boutique that was going out of business! I liked pretty much everything in the store, but limited myself to this one and the one below.
8 "quid." "Safe."
Bought at a "shop" called Coolway.
One thing I thought was funny is how British people tack on questions to what they say sometimes. For example, when I was buying the half-price Legally Blonde tickets, I had a lot of questions, and the guy would answer, "Oh, but that's the full price ticket, innit?" and stuff like that. Then, at the amazing-going-out-of-business-everything-must-go boutique, one of the salespeople came to check on me in the fitting room, and I asked how much the pink dress was originally. She replied, "Probably 45 Pounds. But it's because we're going out of business, aren't we?" Funny.
We also went to the National Portrait Gallery. It's huge and free! Two hours was definitely not nearly enough time there, but we got a good overview. Also, we met our goals of eating fish and chips and Indian food from Brick Lane, a street with a lot of Indian restaurants. So much so, that each restaurant tries to entice you with a free something to get you to come to their restaurant. We got complimentary drinks.
Another thing I learned is that when you order coffee in London, they ask you if you want it black or white (with milk). Makes sense, but I'd never heard that before.
Early Saturday morning, we took the National Express bus to Stansted airport for our third (and final) EasyJet flight of the trip. We got to the airport about three hours early for our flight and there were no lines at check-in or security, so we decided to get a drink and sit in the airport Starbucks. We had been sitting there for awhile, and I go, "I think that's one of my students!" Oddly enough, it was a girl from the class of the teacher who took me to her family's home near Annecy two weeks earlier. So, her mom passed by, and I go, "Excuse me, do you live in Aouste?" and she was shocked, but she had heard of "Rebecca, the English teacher" before, so we started chatting. Too funny! She's British, and they were "on holiday" in England visiting her family.
So, we were talking for awhile, and she said she was going to go to the gate because it takes them "ages" to get there, but right before she had offered to drive us to Crest from Grenoble, which of course we said yes to!
Once Nikki and I got to the gate, we didn't see her anywhere, and then when we got off the plane, we didn't see them anywhere either. We figured out they must have been on an earlier flight. Too weird. So, on Monday, I had written a note for the girl to give to her mom. I was getting it out of my purse to give to her, and she came up to me with a note from her mom. Apparently, their flight was at 11:45, and ours was at 12:50, so we just missed them.
Today, we met up for lunch at Sur Les Quais, and we both got the plat du jour. I guess I already knew what the word "requin" meant (shark!), but today I learned what it tastes like. It was good and served with a puree of a root vegetable....another word that I need to look up.
Overall, a great vacation. Vivent les vacances!! :)
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