ahh, london. the land of meat pies, our pop culture nerd mecca, and the home to the best variant of all english accents. from the get go, we were thrilled (partially because london, duh, and partially because the boy who sold us our shuttle tickets into the city was very probably a burberry model). we spent one day doing touristy tourist things, and the second doing nerdy tourist things. altogether it was a smashing vacation.
double decker bus tour, because we’re into authenticity thank you very much. hilarity, the bus was more maroon than red. our ticket broker tried very persistently to become nora’s boyfriend, which was great. he also gave us lovely sexy ponchos and silly branded earbuds, so wins all around.
the tower of london, where we did a minor moriarty photoshoot with the crown jewels because there’s nothing wrong with starting nerd day a bit early if the location permits. our beefeater tourguide was hilariously charming, and the history of the grounds was incredible.
fish and chips on a restaurant off the tower bridge! also, we saw the tower bridge.
we tried to do a thames cruise but mechanical errors pulled a giant party foul so it’s just gonna have to wait til next time, globe theatre.
we hopped back aboard our bus to westminster abbey - whoa. glimpsed the incredible parliament complex and, of course, big ben.
searched high and low for the new scotland yard sign (again, sherlock took over a bit of touristy day but who can blame him). a lovely salty drunkard in a park proposed to me during our search, so that was exciting and whatnot. eventually we found the sign, only to learn it was a point of interest on the very bus tour we had just hopped off. bugger.
then came buckingham palace! and the oh so lovely balcony where kate and william shared that oh so lovely kiss! disappointed the palace guards were much further away than expected so we couldn’t misbehave to try and get them giggling. ah well.
spontaneity led us to a brief picnic of waffle and nutella goodness in the park beside the queen’s digs.
we walked to the london eye, got tickets which included something called the “4D Experience” - upon asking the ticket girl what that entailed she could only respond with a look of “ungh” and an “it’s to the left”. hilarious. think 3D mixed with spurts of water/confetti/lights flashing to simulate a firework show (i think). also some sort of bionic seagull which was maybe terrifying but who’s to say. a tiny child was sobbing for the entirety of the 2 minute show so take that as you will. the ferris wheel itself was great, and allowed me to take approximately 20 pictures of the same view of Big Ben because you know how i get when i fixate.
touristy day ended with bangers and mash and cider, followed by more cider and great live music in picadilly circus. met some other traveling lads, and two adorable irish girls who brought back nostalgia for my days of irish gaelic studies one year ago. the best.
the real london - nerd tour:
of course we began with king’s cross station to check out platform 9 3/4. though saddened to find out it was not, in fact, located between platforms 9 and 10, we were overjoyed with the two blokes working the prop hogwarts cart slammed into the wall outside in the lobby. they’d hand you the house scarf of your choosing and help you take the perfect picture after throwing it in the air behind you. naturally, i dubbed scarf boy “Scarf Tosser” which was silly because british slang etc etc and they definitely got a kick out of the two americans. when the girl in front of us picked up the hufflepuff scarf, more hilarity ensued. “ah yes, definitely the cleanest of the scarves, that hufflepuff one. about every six years or so it happens.” ah, those two. delightful beginnings.
weirdos that we are, we took the underground to st. bart’s hospital because any good bbc fan knows that’s the scene of sherlock’s untimely (faked) death. felt a tad weird taking reenactment pics outside of an actual hospital but the bits of other fans’ notes written in window dust and post it notes let us know we were not alone in our oh-so-serious pilgrimage. as nora wrote, “sherlock lives.”
then came time for the baker street shooting location on gower, where we stopped in speedy’s for lunch and gawked at the set that really wasn’t a set at all. people live there and were probably confused for awhile. too funny.
of course we trekked to the real baker street and had a blast at the sherlock holmes museum. from the uncanny wax figures reenacting various mysteries to the fully costumed docents, it was a perfect setting to feel somewhat at home amidst other complete and total geeks.
we made our way to abbey road, took the obligatory crosswalk photo, and wrote our favorite beatles quotes in the graffiti wall outside the studio. all in the rain. all smiles.
we almost missed it but found a TARDIS booth next to which nora could pose seductively. my knowledge of dr. who stems entirely from its parody form - inspector spacetime on community - but this just felt right.
it began to hardcore pour london rain so, in what was probably the best possible way to end nerd day, we saw iron man 3 before capping the day off with soup from pret a manger and more cider at a pub down the street from our hostel.
london was very, very good to us. cheers!
