Okay okay. So I've done a lot in the last two weeks that hasn't necessarily been documented via this blog. Whoopsies!
Alma took the bus from London (bless her) to visit me in Edinburgh. She arrived at 6:45 in the morning and we didn't stop until 10pm that night. I took her all over Edinburgh. So firts we went to Snax cafe and got a breakfast to fuel us for the day. Then Arthur's Seat, Holyrood Park, the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle Terrace, Elephant Cafe, Grassmarket, various alleyways, the Meadows, dinner at my flat, and then over to the movie theater to see The Imitation Game (which was utterly fantastic). At the end of the day we totaled up everywhere we had walked throughout the city and we walked a whopping 14 miles. It was insane. But so worth it. We crammed all the sites of Edinburgh into a day. Freaking fantastic. I still feel really proud of ourselves for that! Unfortunately Alma had to leave the next morning :( I walked her to the bus station and said my goodbyes. I wasn't too sad though because my train tickets had been bought for months to visit her in London then following weekend. After dropping Alma I made my way back to my flat and finished a paper that was due the next day, like a boss.
November 21-23 (Friday - Sunday)
This is the weekend that I took the train out to visit Alma in London. I left Waverley Station at 2:30pm and arrived at Putney station at 7:30pm. From there Alma and I pretty much continuously missed each other for about an hour. Both of us can only use our phones when there is Wifi. So I was wondering up and down Putney street until like a beacon in the darkness I see someone walking towards me wearing a red scarf. I yell a choice expletive, which Alma acknowledges and we run towards each other like a scene from Baywatch but with many more layers and it's sorta raining. So glad we found each other. I was at the point where I was just going to try and take a bus to her campus and hope she would eventually return there and let me in to her dorm. But beside the point, we found each other and made our way to Rhoehampton University. After I put all my stuff down Alma made dinner and we watched an episode of How to get Away with Murder before going to bed at a (semi) reasonably hour.
The next morning we woke up and made our way to the Barnes Station where I bought a day Oyster card. Literally the best purchase of the whole trip. For 8.90 pounds I had a pass for the Tube, the Train, and the buses. Probably paid itself off at least 4 times. But we did so much in London. Solid 12 hours on my feet. We went to numerous sites (pictures on my Facebook) and I saw more of Van Gogh's works in the National Gallery. I was able to see Sunflowers, Van Gogh's Chair, and Wheatfield with Cypresses (one of my new favorites, I really enjoy his Wheatfield works). After the National Gallery we stopped at the TARDIS, Baker Street and then made our way to Notting Hill and walked through the Portobello Market. It was sprawling. I got a really cool art print of a painting of the famous scene from The Matrix. You know, where Neo stops all the bullets in mid air? And then there was this stand that was selling Donuts and the like. Alma, Christy, and I all agreed that we would buy one and then split it but then the lady started yelling, "REDUCED TO ONE POUND EACH. REDUCED!" And before we knew it we each had a donut of our own. I basically inhaled my chocolate donut, with chocolate pudding. My god it was so good. After the Portobello market we continued on. Throughout the day we would stop anywhere that we wanted. We also went to Camden Market, which was a definite high light of the day. That place was so cool. It was like a punk market, and so many cool things were available. We got food from this really nice lady running a Chinese food stand. 3 pounds for a ton of noodles and all this other stuff. She holds a dear place in my heart for that. Eventually we were Downtown and saw all the beautiful Christmas decorations on the buildings and streets. We went to Picadilly, where I thought I lost Alma (I continually got distracted by everything around me and would stop to look, while they walked on) and I'm sure I looked like the lost 5 year old in the crowd, creased forhead, downturned mouth, squinted eyes. Turns out Alma was right next to me and saw my whole shift in demeanor. She was cracking up. See the thing about London is you hear how big it is. How something like 8 million people live in the city. And you know all this but it doesn't really connect until you are there. I've never been constantly surrounded by so many people in my life. They were all nice! But everywhere you went there were just swarms of people. I had never experienced anything like it.
Last on our list was Hyde Park. We made our way over there and I filled up my water bottle at this drinking fountain and then had the sudden realization that it was the exact same fountain from a picture of me drinking when I was last in London in 2012. It was a weird overlapping of my life. But I got a similar photo. I'll post it. Anyway, we walk through Hyde Park and it was dark, but since it was cloudy all the lights from the city were reflecting and it was actually pretty light out. It was really weird because it didn't look like any type of light you would see during the day...but it wasn't dark. It was dream state surreal. Eventually we ended up at the Christmas Market in Hyde Park, which was amazing. I was blown away at how large it was. We got candy and chips there,but also just looked around at all the stands. By this point our feet are casually killing us. After the Christmas Market we go to Buckingham Palace. It's about 10:30 and it's basically deserted. It was so calm. We sat on the ledge of the fountain and just relaxed and ate cookies for a few moments. I really enjoyed this part because it was the first time all day that there weren't people coming at me that I had to dodge. I could really see myself coming there to journal late at night. There was still traffic, but it was more ambient. While I don't think I would live in London, if I did I would definitely find spots where I could have quiet moments like that. IT was really the perfect end to the day. Eventually we walked back to the station, caught the train, and then the bus back to Alma's campus. We said goodnight to Christy and after we both showered we had tea and talked about the day and other things. It was really good to talk to Alma. We are on the same page about a lot of things, so much so that sometimes words aren't even necessary. So many things happened in London that I saw and then would glance at Alma and we would share an understanding. Most of them were hilarious, like those people passionately kissing on the up escalator and we had to awkwardly pass them as we were going down. But yeah. Somehow we also got sucked into watching like 45 minutes worth of One Direction music videos, none of which I actually understood? But that was great fun. I didn't fall asleep until like 3am.
The next morning we woke up and had breakfast and left for King's Cross early so I could get my picture at 9 and 3/4. Unfortunately, that was so crowded that I wasn't able to, but no matter. We looked in the Harry Potter shop next door, as well as the bookshop, until it was time to get to my train. I said my goodbyes to Alma (I'll be seeing her in about a month, so no worries :D) and was on my way.
I really enjoyed taking the train. I was able to read for class and work on some art. I sat across from an older man and we chatted as well. He told me about the good music venues in Glasgow, which I will check out after my finals.
But yes! Very good two weekends. I leave this Saturday for a week long trip to Barcelona, Berlin, and Dublin and then I come back and have to start studying for finals. My time here is wrapping up...but I'm packing as much as I can in to this last month!
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