BLOGMAS DAY 3: I REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT

I was briefly going to talk about cultural perspectives and such, but then I was like eff that noise. Let's talk about London, which I basically just drew out of a hat just now. Also I just got reminded that I promised you pretty pictures. So I guess we'll talk about London.

I headed out towards London... well, later than I'd thought. I actually screwed up and missed my initial (cheapish for Eurostar) train, and had to buy another ticket for a substantial sum in Gare du Nord. But then I got on the train and started sleeping, which sounds freaking amazing right now. NOTE TO READERS: ROB IS TIRED. THERE WILL LIKELY BE MANY REFERENCES TO WANTING TO SLEEP.

Actually, Rob's going to go grab a spoonful of Nutella, because that sounds delicious right now. Details as they come. Okay, so I had like 3 spoonfuls of Nutella, and I feel much more alert, so let's see if I can do this before my sugar high turns into a crash. Oooh rah.

This view was like 10 minutes from my hostel. Also, I feel
like there should be Tchaikovsky.

Anyhoo, I was staying in a hostel in Lambuth (which was in a pretty decent location, all things considered), and given how pricey transport gets in London, I decided that I would walk just about everywhere (once I had gotten to my hostel of course). Starting with the British Museum. I really wish I had a map to show you how absurd my walking was.

Pictured: Not a children's toy.

Of course, due to the absurdity of my walking, it was rather late before I got to the museum itself, so I didn't get to see too much. I did see some sweet Elgin marbles (fun story: Rob thought that the Elgin marbles were not things made of marble, but rather really nice spherical things that were from Greece that looked like things kids from the 19th Century would play with. Rob has some silly ideas about history and art. Silly Rob.), and was intruiged by the British justifications for not giving them back. Overall though, I was tired and thirsty, because it took me for freaking ever to find the darned place, and I'd also just gotten off the train a few hours ago. So I wandered back to the hostel (by way of Parliament and Big Ben), and went to the nearby supermarket to grab a... pie I think? I feel like I got a pie there, and possibly something for a dessert-ish deal. It was good. I found that I quite like pies. I still should make one, but not before I'm back stateside most likely.

Gray Room or something? Yeah, I feel like I remember
internally singing some Damien Rice, so Gray Room.

Of course, after that, I crashed rather hard. Next day, I got up and got my first serious jibe about being an American. Seriously. It was from a British schoolkid. It was basically her scoffing at how I'm American. But it was made up for by the fact that I had an absurdly huge breakfast, which was great- you don't realize how much you miss cereal until you grab some at a hostel (note: Rob doesn't eat cereal at home in Europe because it requires buying milk, more fridge space, and time to do dishes in the mornings). Then I headed out and did the Tate Modern, which had some pretty stuff, but let's just pick one (more are in the Picasa albums). And there it is off to the left, but you probably saw it because it's off to the left of the start of this paragraph since I'm lazy like that, or something. The crash has started.

Anyhoo, after that I went a-wandering for a while because I didn't want to pay for the tour of The Globe, but then I recalled that Dad/Cousin Bob/possibly Cousin Susan/Aunt Martha/Zack/Ian/The cast of Macbeth from Houston/Mrs. Parker-Lawrence/others would quite possibly kill me.

I wasn't too disappointed actually. The tour guide was really good (and kinda cute- should have tried for a phone number or a pub date or something, but that would require a level of courage that is JUST TOO MUCH FOR OL' ROB- but maybe not NEW ROB. Maybe I should call Ol' Rob Rob Classic. Worked for Coke, but I don't drink Coke, so how well did that really work out for them? This tangent was brought to you by the number Platypus.), and we got to see the stage for the (then) upcoming production of Macbeth, which was cool.

And then I went to a pub. Specifically, the Malborough Arms, recommended to me by one Kara Stewart. It's up somewhere- I could find the underground if I had a map/googled one, but I'll just say that it was pretty solid. I wish I had gotten to try their treacle tart, but alas, such things could not be. I did however have a phenomenal steak and ale pie and tried several British beers there. I also got to talk to the also cute bartender about the sketchy probably married dude who was hitting on her (I went there three times while in London- good times). But you don't care about that, do you? No, you care about the pie and such. So fine. Here it is.

ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?

I was VERY entertained.

Anyhoo, the next day was another day of walking and museums. Namely, I walked from: Lambuth, up to Buckingham Palace, over to Nelson Square or whatever the name of that memorial place is, and then over past a park to the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the V & A. All in all, I was a bit museumed out by that point, which is tough for me to do. Natural History and Science Museums were a bit too kid friendly- there was some interesting stuff in both, but it wasn't detailed enough for me to have sufficient nerdgasms over it. V & A had lots of pretty art, but it was rather huge, and my feet hurt. Seriously- I'll count myself lucky if my shoes last through when I leave (I'm still hoping they do- I want to wait until I'm stateside to buy more shoes).

And of course, if your feet are feeling rough, what better way to spend your last day in London than doing lots more walking?

Yeah, my feet will live, even if I'm wearing orthodics at 25. Totally worth it. Anyhoo, on my last day, I went around and looked at the Tower of London (but didn't pay the absurdly high price to go in), and then decided that I wanted to do some stairs. Sooo I did the Monument (which apparently few people have heard of), and the Tower Bridge. Basically, I got a lot of stair-work in, and I had some pretty great views, like the one to your left (taken from the Monument, which I guess I did after the Tower Bridge. It was basically me paying a few pounds for the privelege of climbing about 300 stairs and taking pictures at the top.

ALL THOSE STAIRS.

Anyhoo, after all that, I still wanted to do some walking, so I did Evensong at Westminster Abbey (but didn't have time to look at pretty graves), and then headed off on a pretty solid Jack the Ripper Walking Tour that was led by a Beefeater. He was worth the 7 pounds. And after another beer at the pub and the walk home, I got a good night's sleep before catching the bus to Edinburgh the next day.

BUT THAT'S ANOTHER BLOGMAS MIRACLE GUYS.