Stumbling and insomnia

April 22: currently sitting in St. Pancras station drinking a latte and waiting for my train to Bruges to depart. And boy, did I need a freaking latte this morning. The hostel I was staying in was also over run with a 10 year old French boys  rugby team. And they were the WORST behaved little snots I hav ever had the displeasure to come across. They were smoking in the building, running up and down the stairs, and literally SCREAMING through the halls. Oh, and one of the kids had gone into the shower outside my room, and his buddy figured it would be a good idea to pound on the door yelling "Ouvre!" And asking him about why he was in the shower. I don't know, maybe he was taking a GODDAMN SHOWER. He could be masturbating to pictures of queen Elizabeth for all I care, just get the HELL AWAY FROM MY DOOR. *rage*

It probably didn't help that I had a gingerbread latte at 9:00at night, but I wanted to go somewhere where I could get away from all the ruckus and just read a book. Although people here just seem to close their business whenever they feel like it. :S anyhoo, it resulted in me having more run just the above preventing me from restful slumber. Also, anytime I would juuuuust about to tip over the edge into sleep, some fellow traveller (let's call them d-bag mc-inconsiderate) would come in, slam the door and turn on the lights. Oh, but they would whisper. Thanks for that. No, it's 2:30 in the morning and I have a tiny curtain in front of my bed. It's practically a sound proof wall. *sigh*

Now that THAT'S out of the way...

London! It's pretty!

I stumbled upon some great stuff On Saturday. I had originally planned to see a west end show that night and spend the day on the south bank. However, I slept in until 1 in the afternoon after stumbling home from the always delightful Kim and Andrew Gibson's house at 6 am. And always the gracious hosts, they also sent me on my way with a crippling hangover. So once a shower and some Tylenol were had, my epic plans for the day got quickly rearranged. I figured I would pick up my ticket to Bruges at King's Cross, then head to Leicester Square and still see what show tickets were like for that night. Once I got to the west end, I noticed throngs of people heading towards Trafalgar and then saw that it was The Feast of St. George. Apparently all the local food shops that specialize in traditional English food were gathered in the square to show what London's farmers markets had to offer. EXCITING RIGHT?! So my hangover cure that day was a delicious shallot and parsnip pie on the sunny steps of a cathedral across from the National Portrait Gallery.

I didn't end up seeing a show that night as most of the cheap tickets to the shows I wanted to see were sold out. But I did meander over to the Tate Modern and took in some art. And stumbled across a gathering of furries. Super nice. The kids around were excited, it was cute.

Sunday was Brick Lane market. Fan-friggin-tastic. I pretty stuck to the main market in the old Truman Brewery, where I came across a designer sample sale (didn't buy anything) a 3 for £10 vintage clothing clearance (SCARVES!) and a Pop-Up art gallery where all the work was about coffee. I actually liked it WAY better than the Tate. There were watercolours made with coffee and typographs of Starbucks orders and clothing made from coffee. Some incredibly talented stuff. There's also a whole bunch of street food stalls where I got a solid helping of chickpea and veggie tagine for like, £4. Yay cheap eats!

I continued to explore the the area when I realized Brick Lane was more than just those 2 blocks. And then it just became busy and crowded and I was just anxious to go home by that point.

Things I've learned:
- Never stay in an all ages hostel.
EVER.
- I will always giggle at the train station for "cockfosters". Heh.
- Pluto has a moon called Bacon (thanks Natural History Museum!)
- never do 2 major English museums in the same day. Your brain and feet will turn to goo.
- unlike Canada , London theatres are dark on Sundays, not Mondays. Guess I'm checking out a show when I come back through in June :S
- it was the London Marathon on Sunday! Which sucked because the tube was PACKED but great because everyone was watching the marathon and not at the usual tourist places. Like brick lane.