The Adventures of Amanda and Heidi - International Gong Show!
I have SOOOO much to share that it might take me a few days to get it all down here! I was going to post some pictures first but thought that it might be easier if I just write and explain it all first and then post them after. Although most of this posting with focus on our trip to London, the adventure actually started in Galway last Thursday night. Heidi spent 2 nights in Dublin having a great time, and we met back at my house Thursday night. We decided to go to Milano's for dinner, which is Orla's favourite restaurant because of the food and the attractive waiter! After a yummy dinner of pizza we headed over to the Front Door for a drink. In order to experience as much as possible we decided to only have one drink per pub. The Front Door was really busy and was playing pop music, but because there was no where to dance it was a little boring. After our drink (I got Heidi hooked on Vodka and Sparkling water with lemon - you get tipsy but stay hydrated! Amazing!) we went over to the King's Head where we got the best seats in the house, right across from the bar...perfect for people watching. While there we had our hands frenched by a drunk 60 year old celebrating his birthday, watched a guy grinding with a girl who was clearly not interested, and almost ended up with an Aussie girl's top because I liked it so much! Not a bad time. Our last stop of the evening was Neachtain's (the scene of my blind date). We should have known there was trouble ahead when we ended up sitting on a counter within arms reach of the bar. With one drink down, it was getting a little busy and as an Irishman was trying to make his way past, another guy with questionable fashion sense was blocking his way. I told him to just push the guy out of the way, and he said he was too polite for that. I responded that I was Canadian and was usually too polite for such a thing, but desperate times called for desperate measures! We started chatting and it turned out that he was with a guy from work that was also Canadian. Heidi and I noticed that when he got back to his friend they kept talking and looking at us until they finally made their way back over. Their names were Adam (Irish) and John (Canadian). We chatted with John for a bit, but bad breath made it a little hard to handle, but Adam kept us very entertained. He made fun of my height (nothing new), how I got mad when people weren't paying attention to me for 5 minutes, and my kleptomania. The other highlight was that they serve CC!!!! I was in HEAVEN!!!!! Of course I ordered a Rye and Coke and tried to savour it but it was just too good to slow down! The bar finally swept us out (literally) around 12:30am and Heidi and I decided to head home. Friday morning we both slept in, and then it was time to try and pack our stuff to go to London. After changing my bags 3 times we took a taxi down town and met Orla who drove us to Shannon Airport on her way to Limerick. Our flight didn't leave until 8pm, and we arrived at around 4:30pm so we killed the time on the internet, having dinner, buying chocolate, and reading our books. We finally arrived in Stansted at 9:30, took a train into London, and then took the tube to Notting Hill where our hostel was located. It was raining when we arrived, but the walk only took us around 15minutes so it wasn't too bad. Advice to anyone going to London in the future...stay at a place in Notting Hill...it’s so beautiful and so close to everything!
Anyway, originally the plan was to stay with some friends in London, but that fell through so Thursday night before we went out I had called a few hostels and booked a place. I had thought it was the Leinster Inn hostel, but when we arrived they told us we had no reservation and that our confirmation number didn't match theirs. We were really confused, but they put us in another room and promised us we could get a refund on Monday when the management was in. We poured ourselves into the horribly uncomfortable beds and finally fell asleep around 1:30am.
Saturday morning dawned semi-sunny so we packed our bags again (we decided to move down to a 10 bed dorm because it was cheaper) and headed out to the Portobello Market....oh, but the hostel bathrooms were so GROSS! The drain had exploded in one of them and there was no toilet paper in the other...needless to say it took me almost 10 minutes to find a washroom to use in the morning! Ok, back to our day. If you have ever been to Portobello Market you will know what I am talking about, but if not it is SO amazing. It is over a mile long and has everything from antiques to fresh fruits and vegs to clothing (both new and vintage) to accessories. Whatever you want you can find it there. It took us over 2 hours to just get through the market, only spending a few pounds! After the market we walked back to where our hostel was and decided that we had had enough of the grossness that was Leinster Square Inn. We went and checked out another one of the hostels we were going to call and finally figured out that we had in fact made our original reservation at a completely different place! So we booked a room at the new hostel for Sunday and Monday night (Tuesday too for Heidi) and then went and got changed back at the hostel (confused yet?). We were a little stressed and really needed a drink.
I had heard from a few people that there was a Canadian Pub in Covent Garden and I thought it might be fun to check it out. Before we went we had the most amazing Pad Thai at a place across from the Tube, and then headed out. We had no idea where the pub was so ended up asking a rickshaw driver who pointed us in the right direction. On our way there we saw a bunch of guys attempting to ride a mini BMX bike but failing...although interested in what was going on we had drinking to do! We found the Maple Leaf (no joking) without much trouble, and made a bee-line for the bar where they serve all beers Canadian (except Keith’s and Moosehead!). I of course went for the Sleeman's Honeybrown, forgoing the Molson. The bar was really smoky so we decided to get a place by the door and introduced ourselves to a guy from London and his friend from Wales in an attempt to have somewhere to put our beers down. No idea what their names were but we got lots of good advice as to what to see in London while visiting. Unfortunately I could barely understand the guy from Wales so spent a lot of time just nodding and smiling! They took off around 10:30pm so I sent Heidi back up to the bar to get round number 3 (or was it 4?). While there she picked up a few more guys (I think one of them was named Andrew based on the comment posted on a previous posting, but for anyone who knows me, after 3 beers in an hour and a half I start to forget things) who came and sat with us. They were great fun and we chatted away with them until once again the bouncer not so subtly started dropping hints it was time to leave. We said goodbye to our new friends and headed back to the tube station, stopping off at the bike so I could try my hand at it. Apparently there was a trick to it, but in my inebriated state I could not figure it out!
Back on the tube we munched on some chocolate in my purse, made friends with a guy named Jack and found out that Monopoly was originally created in London. This last point was told to us by Jack when he was explaining how he had created a pub crawl based on the board. Basically he got a bunch of people together at 9am and they went to a pub on each of the streets from the game (including the stations) and had a pint or shot. It was then midnight and he couldn't remember how to get home. I also (apparently) kept telling people that I was really drunk...and apologizing for it! When we got off at our stop, Heidi ran into 2 guys that she had met in her hostel in Dublin. We chatted with them and then headed back to the hostel. On our way we met up with a group of women dressed in matching Latin dresses, but they wouldn't tell us why. In order to get a picture of them on the down-low Heidi told me to try and steal a plant from outside a hotel. Ridiculous. When we got to the hostel I flopped into bed, only waking up at 4am for a bathroom run (no vomiting though!).
Sunday dawned gray and rainy. We were the last out of the bedroom and as we were just about to leave the ceiling started gushing water. Needless to say we bolted from there and will NEVER recommend that place to anyone! We dropped our bags at our new hostel and then went and caught the bus for the Hop-on-Hop-off tour. It was really great! We saw SO much of the city and learned a lot from the commentary of the guides. We got off a few times, once in Westminster, then to go to the London Dungeons, and we had a free Thames river cruise. There was just SO much to see that we didn't get to see it all, but were really happy with our day. Sunday night we needed a break so went to see the new movie 'Confetti' in Leicester Square, and after that walked over to Piccadilly Circus to take a few pictures.
Monday morning was once again rainy but we were up bright and early for a tour to see Stonehenge. We took a coach tour that was the same price as taking the train out to the city of Salisbury where we would then have to take a bus out to Stonehenge...awesome deal! Our first stop was Winchester to see a Cathedral and then to see the house where Jane Austen lived her last few years and died. While we were taking pictures I heard a teenage girl ask her brother who Jane Austen was...I almost died! What are they teaching in schools these days?????? After Winchester we went out to see Stonehenge which was really cool. It crazy to think that it is so old that we have NO idea why it was built and taken care of for so long! It was so freezing out at that point though that it was hard to just stand and take it all in. Our last stop of the day was in Bath to see the Roman baths. This was also really cool to see and I could understand why it was one of Oprah's top 5 places to see in the world. Such a beautiful city!
Monday night we got back to London late so Heidi and I went out and grabbed some delicious Sushi to eat then went to a pub for a pint (or 2). It was our last night in London (and of Heidi's visit with me!) so we reminisced about the good times and chatted about what was going on in the next few months. Tuesday was actually really sunny so before I had to leave for the airport we decided to go and do the London Eye. For anyone who doesn't know what it is, it’s a GIANT Ferris wheel where you ride in capsules. It takes 30minutes to do the full rotation and you get some amazing views of London. It was really worth it in my opinion! After the Eye we were going to go into Westminster Abbey but decided against it when we realized it was £10! Instead we took the tube back to Notting Hill and hunted for the Travel Bookshop and the Blue Door from the movie. So much fun.
It was a really incredible trip and already I miss having Heidi here. Thanks hun for being such an amazing friend and sharing a fabulous trip with me! I can't wait to do it again!
I will post pictures soon enough, so stay tuned!!
Love to you all!
Anyway, originally the plan was to stay with some friends in London, but that fell through so Thursday night before we went out I had called a few hostels and booked a place. I had thought it was the Leinster Inn hostel, but when we arrived they told us we had no reservation and that our confirmation number didn't match theirs. We were really confused, but they put us in another room and promised us we could get a refund on Monday when the management was in. We poured ourselves into the horribly uncomfortable beds and finally fell asleep around 1:30am.
Saturday morning dawned semi-sunny so we packed our bags again (we decided to move down to a 10 bed dorm because it was cheaper) and headed out to the Portobello Market....oh, but the hostel bathrooms were so GROSS! The drain had exploded in one of them and there was no toilet paper in the other...needless to say it took me almost 10 minutes to find a washroom to use in the morning! Ok, back to our day. If you have ever been to Portobello Market you will know what I am talking about, but if not it is SO amazing. It is over a mile long and has everything from antiques to fresh fruits and vegs to clothing (both new and vintage) to accessories. Whatever you want you can find it there. It took us over 2 hours to just get through the market, only spending a few pounds! After the market we walked back to where our hostel was and decided that we had had enough of the grossness that was Leinster Square Inn. We went and checked out another one of the hostels we were going to call and finally figured out that we had in fact made our original reservation at a completely different place! So we booked a room at the new hostel for Sunday and Monday night (Tuesday too for Heidi) and then went and got changed back at the hostel (confused yet?). We were a little stressed and really needed a drink.
I had heard from a few people that there was a Canadian Pub in Covent Garden and I thought it might be fun to check it out. Before we went we had the most amazing Pad Thai at a place across from the Tube, and then headed out. We had no idea where the pub was so ended up asking a rickshaw driver who pointed us in the right direction. On our way there we saw a bunch of guys attempting to ride a mini BMX bike but failing...although interested in what was going on we had drinking to do! We found the Maple Leaf (no joking) without much trouble, and made a bee-line for the bar where they serve all beers Canadian (except Keith’s and Moosehead!). I of course went for the Sleeman's Honeybrown, forgoing the Molson. The bar was really smoky so we decided to get a place by the door and introduced ourselves to a guy from London and his friend from Wales in an attempt to have somewhere to put our beers down. No idea what their names were but we got lots of good advice as to what to see in London while visiting. Unfortunately I could barely understand the guy from Wales so spent a lot of time just nodding and smiling! They took off around 10:30pm so I sent Heidi back up to the bar to get round number 3 (or was it 4?). While there she picked up a few more guys (I think one of them was named Andrew based on the comment posted on a previous posting, but for anyone who knows me, after 3 beers in an hour and a half I start to forget things) who came and sat with us. They were great fun and we chatted away with them until once again the bouncer not so subtly started dropping hints it was time to leave. We said goodbye to our new friends and headed back to the tube station, stopping off at the bike so I could try my hand at it. Apparently there was a trick to it, but in my inebriated state I could not figure it out!
Back on the tube we munched on some chocolate in my purse, made friends with a guy named Jack and found out that Monopoly was originally created in London. This last point was told to us by Jack when he was explaining how he had created a pub crawl based on the board. Basically he got a bunch of people together at 9am and they went to a pub on each of the streets from the game (including the stations) and had a pint or shot. It was then midnight and he couldn't remember how to get home. I also (apparently) kept telling people that I was really drunk...and apologizing for it! When we got off at our stop, Heidi ran into 2 guys that she had met in her hostel in Dublin. We chatted with them and then headed back to the hostel. On our way we met up with a group of women dressed in matching Latin dresses, but they wouldn't tell us why. In order to get a picture of them on the down-low Heidi told me to try and steal a plant from outside a hotel. Ridiculous. When we got to the hostel I flopped into bed, only waking up at 4am for a bathroom run (no vomiting though!).
Sunday dawned gray and rainy. We were the last out of the bedroom and as we were just about to leave the ceiling started gushing water. Needless to say we bolted from there and will NEVER recommend that place to anyone! We dropped our bags at our new hostel and then went and caught the bus for the Hop-on-Hop-off tour. It was really great! We saw SO much of the city and learned a lot from the commentary of the guides. We got off a few times, once in Westminster, then to go to the London Dungeons, and we had a free Thames river cruise. There was just SO much to see that we didn't get to see it all, but were really happy with our day. Sunday night we needed a break so went to see the new movie 'Confetti' in Leicester Square, and after that walked over to Piccadilly Circus to take a few pictures.
Monday morning was once again rainy but we were up bright and early for a tour to see Stonehenge. We took a coach tour that was the same price as taking the train out to the city of Salisbury where we would then have to take a bus out to Stonehenge...awesome deal! Our first stop was Winchester to see a Cathedral and then to see the house where Jane Austen lived her last few years and died. While we were taking pictures I heard a teenage girl ask her brother who Jane Austen was...I almost died! What are they teaching in schools these days?????? After Winchester we went out to see Stonehenge which was really cool. It crazy to think that it is so old that we have NO idea why it was built and taken care of for so long! It was so freezing out at that point though that it was hard to just stand and take it all in. Our last stop of the day was in Bath to see the Roman baths. This was also really cool to see and I could understand why it was one of Oprah's top 5 places to see in the world. Such a beautiful city!
Monday night we got back to London late so Heidi and I went out and grabbed some delicious Sushi to eat then went to a pub for a pint (or 2). It was our last night in London (and of Heidi's visit with me!) so we reminisced about the good times and chatted about what was going on in the next few months. Tuesday was actually really sunny so before I had to leave for the airport we decided to go and do the London Eye. For anyone who doesn't know what it is, it’s a GIANT Ferris wheel where you ride in capsules. It takes 30minutes to do the full rotation and you get some amazing views of London. It was really worth it in my opinion! After the Eye we were going to go into Westminster Abbey but decided against it when we realized it was £10! Instead we took the tube back to Notting Hill and hunted for the Travel Bookshop and the Blue Door from the movie. So much fun.
It was a really incredible trip and already I miss having Heidi here. Thanks hun for being such an amazing friend and sharing a fabulous trip with me! I can't wait to do it again!
I will post pictures soon enough, so stay tuned!!
Love to you all!
posted by Traveling Amanda @ 5:45 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home