Old English Friends

Returning from Bath, we got off the bus in London at Victoria Station at around 6:15 pm.  This was convenient because I was supposed to meet up with my English Friend at a bar in the station at 7:00 pm.  If you don’t recall my English Friend and want background information, go back and look at the entries between Mexico and Panama.  Otherwise, feel free to carry on.

At around seven, I headed upstairs to Witherspoon’s (I think that’s what it was called) and she was already sitting there with a drink.  That’s why she’s my friend.  We had a couple of drinks there, where the only excitement came right before we left when my English Friend couldn’t differentiate the men’s room from the women’s room.  I would have thought that the trough within might give it away but I don’t think she figured it out until she started getting incredulous looks from guys standing at the door.  Then they started looking at me and shrugging, but I had no real explanation, so I just shrugged back.

After Witherspoon’s, we hopped on the Underground and headed out to Soho.  (I think it was Soho.  My friend told me it was Soho.  What do I know?)  We stopped by a bar that was mostly empty and had another drink.  Then we were getting hungry, so we went to that most English of restaurants, TGIFridays.  Okay, so it wasn’t the greatest of cultural experiences, but it was close.  If I remember correctly, we made it a truly continental experience by drinking Budweiser.  Don’t say anything; it was the biggest beer they had.

After dinner, we headed back to Victoria Station so my friend could catch a train home.  It seemed odd for me to see her stop drinking while still conscious but I guess not everybody can be on vacation all of the time.

The next day, I finally broke down and took a ride on the London Eye.  The London Eye is a large observation wheel across the Thames from Big Ben and Parliament that provides great views of the city.  It’s one of the most popular tourist attractions in London but I had avoided it on all of my other trips to London.  I enjoyed the big wheel in Singapore, though, so I thought I’d give it a try.  From the time I bought the ticket, it took about an hour to get through the line and embark.

The entire trip on the London Eye took about thirty minutes.  To be honest, the views were disappointing.  Because of the turns of the Thames and the height of the skyscrapers, much of the city remained hidden from view.  It was crowded and people were elbowing each other to get photos.  It was a beautiful day, though, and I’m at least glad that next time I go to London, I won’t have to have an internal debate as to whether to visit the London Eye.  I’ve already done it.

That evening, I met with another old friend.  This was a woman that I had met in Buenos Aires.  The last time I saw her was in November 2009 in the rain at Kentucky Pizza in the Palermo neighborhood and we said that we’d get together for a drink.  Eighteen months and 7,000 miles later, we finally got together for that drink.  I’ve been known to go to great lengths to meet somebody for a beer, but this was a little extreme even for me.  I had grilled camembert cheese with tomato chutney and German beer.  Once again, it wasn’t the ideal English experience but it at least it was in an English pub and not in a TGIFridays.

 After dinner, I walked back the four or five blocks to my hotel.  Nobody believes me when I say that Sheldon is an English name, but on my way back to Paddington, I happened along Sheldon Square.  I didn’t see it the last time that I was in London, so I’m going to assume that it was named in my honor since my last visit.  Thank you, London!!!

That was pretty much it for me and London on this trip.  My main reasons for the re-visit were to see some friends and visit Stonehenge.  Since I did both, I guess it was a successful trip.  In the morning, I was heading back to Dublin, which I’ll talk about in the next entry.