Now a little update about Barb's visit of MAYHEM!
I flew out of Prague in the morning to meet her in London, though we didn't exactly know how it would all work out. She was supposed to have a through flight to Copenhagen, but she only packed carry-on and we though she could basically just get off the plane on her layover, then come to meet me. Not the case, apparently.
They were mean and couldn't help her in SF, and told her to try her luck in London, and she sorta did- the guy only charged her $200 to change the flight instead of $500+ or re-booking an entire ticket. Anywho, she got off, and wandered over to the hostel right after I got there, so I came downstairs, and she was sitting there with the saddest look on her face...but we were on LONDON!
No time for sadness, it was on to fish n' chips and beer at an Irish pub. Not great, but cheap-ish and well deserved in our opinions.
We headed back to the hostel for a quick bit where we met our cool roomies, Ben Child (name-for serious.) and Arturo, 2 guys from MN who were in London looking for jobs after graduation. Good luck! Ha.
Anyhooter, Barb had seen a sign for karaoke and was pretty determined that we get'r done. Karaoke virgin that I am, I was a bit skeptical as we walked into "The Queen's head," an Irish bar run by an Indian guy with only about 7 people and a crazy DJ that was all about his karaoke. Needless to say, we got up there and sang our little hearts out, (Dancing Queen!) and made friends with some characters, one of which was an old man who wrote his number on Barb's forearm. And it didn't wash off for days. Lucky girl!
Next day we got up early ish, had a n EB (english breakfast! mmm..) and meandered down to the tourist areas, like Trafalgar Square and the Royal Gardens.
We passed this place, called "The Spice of Life," which tempted us, but was nothing more than a bar with pub food, so we quickly walked the other direction.
Laughed at an Italian boy band taking cover shots for their new album (stalker much?)
Then rolled around in the dafs for a bit eating ice cream before walking to Big Ben.
When we got back, we met up with Ben and Arturo, and went out on our search for Indian food. We tried a nice-ish hotel nearby, and walked in to a large room full of tables, though only 5 or 6 were occupied. The host came up to ask if we had a reservation, which of course we did not, and he replied that they were booked for the night. It was 8:30, and 6 full tables. Apparently we didn't look like big spenders :(
We found somewhere else around the corner, and Barb decided to order the HOTTEST INDIAN DISH, just because she thought she could. It was intense, and one little bite was all the spicy I needed for about 3 months. Either way, she powered through and only broke a bit of a sweat.
Later that night, we ended up in the hostel bar, where we met some of the coolest kids! A whole load of young gents from Cardiff, who were the silliest and most sarcastic I've met in this European world. One guy looked like Patrick Swayze, the other a skunk, and one kept taking his shirt off and we couldn't understand a word that came out of their mouths, but had a great time.
The next morning we had to move to our other hostel near by, so we walked over, carrying my new bag with which BOTH shoulder straps decided to break, and Barb's "rolling" bag that's top speed was -3.4mph and would start wobbling if you walked at anything faster than normal pace. It was an issue. Anyway, cool place and we met 2 extremely good looking Swedish blokes, and another American girl named Kelsi from Seattle who just arrived that day to start her study abroad term.
That was the day we walked up to Camden, a part of London I've always wanted to go, so I was super excited! The weather was still nice, and it was a Sunday so the place was PACKED with shoppers! There was something for everyone- it was like a giant flea market/underground shopping center/restaurant area and perfect for people-watching!
This is part of the street, where vendors exploded onto the sidewalks and walking was made virtually impossible.
We sat to enjoy some delicious coffee and take in the scene, which included not only people hassling for bargains, but some sort of "Native American"-esque band, and groups of people drinking their day away at the bars/restaurants across the little canal.
In the flea market parts, there were nicknacks of all kinds, and I was tempted to buy a Swiss Army knife, but I refrained. I just want to have one not only to show how cool I am, but because they are so darn handy! Anyhooter, besides all these cool gadgets, the food was off the hook! Every corner of the world was represented. You had your choice of:
Succulent Asian drinks.
and bubbling South African pots
Thai food, Indian food, cupcakes, cookies, hamburgers, fries, waffles. Anything your heart desired! It was heavenly, heavenly I tell you!
After another long day of walking, we went out with the Cardiff boys again, if only to mock and attempt to understand their accents.
Barb, me, and Kelsi
The whole load of them, Patrick Swayze included.
It was an interesting night, but we were looking forward to more exploring the next day! It was a bit rainy so we weren't too thrilled, but we headed to get some grub, an ended up with something resembling pot pies in a random pub. (No beer, sorry G-parents.) Kelsi headed back, but Barb and I hopped on the Tube to the British Music Experience across town, located in the 02 Arena, something I've never seen in my life!
From the outside it looked like a huge white tent, but inside was almost an entire little community. There were restaurants and bars, Starbucks and gift shops. It was crazy..a person could probably live their whole life in there! Eww. The BME was pretty cool, especially since it wasn't crowded and we could spend as much as time as we wanted on every exhibit, and they give you these cool tickets that you scan for everything you like, and then can go visit all the info online! Pretty spectac.
Pretty tuckered out, so we spent the night in the bar in the hostel, watching this crazy guy dance for hours by himself, with a growing crowd watching him, though he was seemingly unphased. Met a really funny Dutch guy, and our entire conversation consisted of "yaaaaa" and "naaayy" (yes and no in Dutch, and maybe the 6 other words I could remember. But, it was an experience.)
Next day we had to check out, but we went to wander the British Museum and Tower/London Bridge area and the Globe theater, which was a total let down, but whatevs.
Pretty intense looking from the inside
and the outside!
We could only handle a brief walk around of the museum, and then it was on to the bridge!
Its weird, it's located in a completely refurbished business area that looks more like New York than anything else.
We walked by the castle nearby, took a little nap in the sun :) and then my camera died, which was really cool. NOT!
By then it was time to go get dinner and back to the hostel to pick up our things before we headed down to Victoria station where my bus left for the airport, and Barb could head back to Heathrow.
BUT THAT WASNT THE END OF THE TRIP!
No no. Just us sucking at life and logistics in general. With Barb's whole ticket fiasco, I had to book a flight out of a different airport, though they left around the same time. Unfortunately, neither of us could sleep, so by the time we met up in Copenhagen, is was exhaustion central.
We got to a Starbucks but Barb fell asleep right away. Then I tried to do the same thing, and we basically got kicked out. It was still early, but we had to wait until 6 or 7 to meet up with Troels, the guy we were staying with. This led to a myriad of cafe-hopping, in which we received multiple weird looks for sitting in one place for 3 hours, but were too tired to move or carry our obnoxious bags around.
He called around 7 and we finally got to his house to put our stuff down, and then went out with him and to meet up with some friends at the coolest little bar/performance area, with a very intimate crowd. It was a bit TOO crowded though, so we went to another place nearby that had a really loud metal band, and then a nicer Danish band that sang in English, which was cool for us. By then it was just the 3 of us, and we ended at one last local place, and tried to new April/Spring/Easter beer (a tradition for Danes- Christmas AND Easter beer) with a little chick on the label and the words "kylle kylle" which is sort of like clucking, I'm guessing.
The next day we woke up and wandered around his area of Norrebro and walked towards the city center, though the weather was MISERABLE! It was still nice to see, especially since I could sort of navigate us around. We ate dinner at the Hard Rock cafe, and, lucky for us, a group of about 30 of the most beautiful Danish boys, so life was good.
Typical Viking.
That night we went out with Troels and his friend Jacob, and the other 2 Slovakian girls who were staying with him as well. It was a long night of butchered languages and confused expressions, especially since the Slovakians were the most Russian people I've met (if you're picking up what I'm throwin down) Nonetheless, it was a good time.
"This is typical of our relationship"
The whole group! Jacob is crazy, T-money is the tall guy in the back, and the haters are the Slovakians.
There was a naked butt! Better than the U2 poster next to it...
Barb by the end of the night. Umbrellas and her aren't friends, and neither is drinking and walking :)
One of my favorite sculptures in CPH..
The next day we decided to go explore Christiana, the little hippie community I wrote about before. We went to a second hand store first, which was so pricey! I don't understand how people get off charged such absurd prices for clothes that SOMEONE ELSE HAS WORN! It boggles my mind, but Barb found it fun
We went deeper into Christiana than I'd been before, and around the lake that is behind it. Still a cool place, but I felt like such an obvious tourist that it kinda sucked, but was still gorgeous.
Another long night was in store, as X-Factor (The European version of American Idol) was on, and Troels had a group of friends coming over to celebrate. We watched, cheered, and were preparing to go to a cool euro electronic concert, but got there only to find that tickets were sold out! We parted ways, and Barb and I hung out with Klaus, Troels' neighbor, and went back to all the bars we visited the weekend of my birthday, basically. It was our last night, and we just wanted to have fun!
Next day was a late start, but we made it all the way over to the little mermaid. Unfortunately, all the walking took a toll on Barb, and while she had stubbed one of her toes really bad, all of a sudden her other ankle swelled up to the size of a cantaloupe! Ok, not really, but it was big and gross and walking was not the best for it. We had a yummy pasta dinner, and when we got back to Troels the party was just starting, again. We hung out for awhile before heading to a party at one of the dorms of the nursing students, which was insane! Everyone was in black and white, and tons of people were painted. Like, all out "no clothes but this black paint will cover everything AND make me look like a Siberian tiger" sort of deal. It was so euro, we were delighted!
But it was an early night, especially with the damn time change! We slept for 45 minutes, then messed around with public transport while Barb went to the airport and I caught a train back to Aarhus. It was a long ride, and I miss Barb already :(
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