London again

I've been running around so much that there has not been enough time to do anything more than post photos of places I've seen recently.  Today's another day with two posts - the previous one was to catch up from earlier this week.

Early Thursday morning I flew out of Madrid (definitely experiencing withdrawl from my roommate again) and got two more stamps in my passport, one for departing Spain and another for entering the United Kingdom.  The customs agent who interrogated me looked like an older Amy Winehouse who is meant to intimidate.  The moment I walked up she claimed, "So you said this is your first time in the UK?"  I wanted to retort, "I haven't said anything yet," but nicely corrected her.

My hostel was really hip and in Camden, an up-and-coming, on-the-fringe part of London full of concerts, bars, and flea markets.

With only a day and a half for sightseeing, it was a difficult balance between seeing as much as possible and taking my sweet time to linger at each site.  I splurged and had a swanky lunch at Hibiscus in Soho, complete with waiters pulling out the table and putting the napkin in my lap for me.  The restaurant has a fix priced lunch menu with five courses (amuse bouche, appetizer, main course, dessert, post-dessert) and a sommelier to pick out my wine.  I felt like a queen.

Ater lunch I walked around the old town and saw the main sights: Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Houses of Parliament, London Eye, etc.

 Then I found an underground used bookstore and got distracted for a long time.

 While walking around to find dinner at Abeno Too, a Japanese restaurant, I walked past the British Medical Association.  If only.

 At 10pm I returned to Trafalgar Square and the Houses of Parliament to play around with my camera.

 I have never been so aware of my American accent before Thursday.  I have a feeling of being the imposter - not the real deal.  Every time I hear Americans walking by, I keep mum and try to avoid them, since Americans sound whiny and fake to me amongst all of these Brits.

Yesterday morning I met Valerie, my penpal of ten years, at Liverpool Street train station.  We decided to be tourists for the rest of the day.  First up was the British Museum, where we gazed at The Standard of Ur and the Parthenon marbles (wowzers!)

 Then we toured the Tower of London to see the Crown Jewels, the infamous towers, and the resting place of Anne Boleyn.  Forty three yeomen still live in the tower and they are charged with keeping it up and giving tours.  Our yeoman was in the middle of telling a scary story about a beheading and thunder sounded on cue at the climax of the story.  How perfect!

 We spent a half hour on the London Eye at sunset and had amazing views of the city.  The sun was still up when we left and it was dark by the time we reached ground level again.  This is the best view I've ever had.

We took a train back to Norwich, which is where Val lives with her boyfriend Rich, and we're having a grand time pretending to be British together.  Rich keeps rolling his eyes at us for being so foreign but it's a lot of fun!