Piccadilly Circus

Look I'm actually doing more things than eating in London!!

After sleeping for what felt like a nap, it was time to get up and take a tour throughout the typical sights of London.  Because the District line of the tube was shut down, it took us close to an hour and a half to get to Kensington to board our coach.  I was hoping to grab a coffee or at least something to eat before our 1:30 tour, but seeing as we arrived just in the nick of time it was looking like I wasn't going to have breakfast till 4:00 pm, again.  We saw all the major sights of London and played the role of a tourist.  By the time 4:30 rolled around I was absolutely starving and Jason and I snuck away to Pret, it's a grab and go kind of place, and I grabbed a package of nuts to hold me over until we could make our way to a pub.

The nuts that saved my life

 We ended up making our way to a pub called The Freemasons Arms located in Hamstead Heath, I was absolutely starving, yet again on this trip, and decided to order the traditional fish and chips with mushy peas and a Strongbow Cider.  While I do absolutely love beer, and the beer here is so so good.  My recent craving for cider at the mere sight of the Strongbow tap has been beating out my desire to start trying new beers.  I'd say give me a week and I'll be back on the hops train and begin reporting on my favorite brews.  But I've side tracked, back to the fish and chips.  This was my second time in under four days of eating fish and chips and I have to say, I think I liked the street vendors better....something about eating a greasy piece of fish out of a cone may have been better.  Don't get the pub wrong, they did an excellent job, but the frying was so dry I had to lather the cod in tarter sauce for every single bite.  But I can officially declare that I love fish and chips so look forward to me reporting on the variety of fish and chips from a variety of locations.

The building was built in 1895!

Even if it wasn't my favorite, it was still delicious

Now one would think that since I had been up past 4:00 for two nights in a row, that I would've taken it easy, but does that really sound like something that I would do?  Absolutely Not!  So I took a power nap and went with a group of twenty to Piccadilly Circus, the only way I can think to describe that part of London is that it is like Times Square.  Tons of people, lots of screens on buildings, and a happening night life.  We went to a pub/club called O'Neill's that apparently is popular with Americans and other tourists.  It was packed on all four stories, and had live bands at the very top and a DJ keeping the lower three floors entertained.  I can honestly say I danced like no other there, I had an absolute blast getting to see other people in my program and interacting with people from my building in a new environment. If you haven't been able to guess what I drank, you clearly haven't been paying attention, of course I had a Strongbow, and a shot of tequila purchased by my friend across the hall.  Unlike home, you don't get salt and a lime, you get a lemon.  It shockingly worked!  In order to try and beat the sun home, we made a pact before leaving that we were going to leave the pub at 1:30.  But at the stroke of 1:30, "Come on Eileen" started playing and I felt it my duty to dance for my mom's sake at least.  (Hi Mom love you!)  After leaving, Jason and I yet again realized that we were famished and ventured into the night to find food.  We spotted the golden arches and decided that a treat from home would be the perfect option.  Because I was in London, it only felt natural to order a Big Mac and fries.  It hit the spot.  After all five of us who made the pact to head home early had sufficiently stuffed our faces we headed to find the night bus.  We made the mistake of getting on a regular 18 instead of a N18 (N is for night) and ended up extending our journey through the sketchy parts of London by approximately 40 minutes.  Needless to say the sun was beginning to come up by the time we ended up at Newman Court, again.  Luckily I was able to finally sleep in the next morning and begin feeling like a normal person again.  

Hannah found her brew from Milwaukee that night!

The beautiful taste of home at 2 in the morning