I got up at 4h30. Everyone got ready to leave. There was a shower/toilet ensuite but someone was in there. To be more efficient I found another bath/toilet room outside in the hallway! Then I packed last minute stuff, as I had prepared everything the previous evening it was quick. Then it was bringing the bags down 3 stories to the car. The security lady at reception gave us our packed breakfast (was included in the price again) and I handed her the keys back. We put everything in the car and it was off on the road to Heathrow.
We got to the airport quickly. Then it was a bit of a struggle to get to the gas station to fill the car up for return. But in the end everything worked out. My friend’s aunt changed her flight during the night to go to Australia right away, and not tour Ireland as planned. She stayed on the shuttle bus and went to Terminal 4. My friend, his mom and I all got out at Terminal 1. They checked in for their flight to Ireland and then I said goodbye to them and left! It was about 7h05. I went down to the Underground. I bought a 3 day travel pass and a single ticket into town for a bit over 18£. At 7h20 I was sitting in the carriage on my way to the hostel.
From Pimlico Station it was a bit of a walk to the hostel. But I was all well set up with my big backpack so it was an easy walk. I left my stuff in the luggage storage room and was off to explore London! I still had a few things I wanted to do… The London Eye, window shop on Oxford Street (that’s the street where this Easy Internet I am using is located on!), St Paul’s Cathedral, Tate Modern, Greenwich, Thames River cruise… So my last two days would be filled!
So after using the Internet for a while at Easy Internet Cafe I went out on Oxford Street! I wanted to do some window shopping. But I bought something! It’s always like that. I was so happy about my “degree conferred” that I went shopping for the top of my graduation day outfit! I had the skirt. I had the shoes. Now I’ve got the top too! I got it from Selfridges & Co. I walked by the huge store and their window facades were all decorated with really really neat and clever montages. For example… I remember the “Musical chairs” one… Chairs with musical instruments, as if they were playing them! Another was for example “Fashion Police” and it was “She had enough on her plate” and it was a lady with a nice top on, a skirt made out of white plates and white plates all in the background. There were about 20 of these I guess, all around the store front on the different streets. After walking around I went in. They were successful in attracting me! I bought a pretty top, white with some black design. Then I continued walking along Oxford Street and found cheap cute shoes… They are a black and white small plaid with a small bow on top. And finally a small souvenir for someone back home. Then I walked back to the Internet and spent some time surfing.
After the Internet I went to check-in at the hostel. The man at reception handed me my key and said my room was on the 3rd floor! Great! That’s a lot of steps… I struggled to get my bags out of the storage room as people had left theirs over the day and now the room was full!! And my bags were all the way in the back… Grr! I finally succeeded. And then I did two trips up to the room to bring all of my stuff. The room is a four share female dorm with a shower and wash bassin. It’s alright… Not as clean as Ace Hotel was for the first part of my stay in London but not as dirty as some other places I’ve seen! I took an hour and half nap. I was really tired. Shopping is tiresome!
I was just waking up as one of my roommates for the night arrived, a girl from Australia. She’s staying just overnight and leaving for Ireland. Just like my Aussie friend and his mom! Seems Ireland is popular for Australians…! I got up and left to go explore some more of the city… It was almost 16h45.
I went to the Tate Modern from Pimlico to Southwark Station. On my way to the museum I saw a nice place to eat. It was a pub called Young’s Prince William Henry. I had a beer (Stella Artois) and a meal (lasagna, fries - or chips as they call them here - and salad). It cost me 8.35£ and I left a 1£ tip. They don’t really tip here. So it’s strange. The food was good, it filled me up!
I was then ready to go explore the Tate Modern. I put my coat at the cloak room for a voluntary donation, I gave 1£. I loved that museum! I could have spent a whole day there!! I took a few fine art classes at Concordia and studied modern works of art using slides/books. Seeing the pieces in real was amazing! I loved recognizing them! For example Judd’s Untitled (1990) which consists of blue blocks placed on the wall or Rothko’s serie Black on Maroon (1958) just to name two. I also discovered some interesting new pieces! I liked Takahashi’s Drawing Room installation (1998), an art piece that consisted of an electronic digital scoring unit based on truism which displayed neat sentences and Wearing’s serie of photographs of Signs (1992-1993). There were more but I didn’t have a pen to write them down so I forgot. At about 19h30 I left the museum. Outside neat orange painted light posts guided me all the way back to the tube station! And by 20h10 I was back at the Internet, making the most of the 24h pass I bought earlier in the day.
