Saturday and Sunday with my Gals from NYC - Days 50 & 51

     The weather here has been heinous. Let's just clarify that right now. It's been cold and damp and rainy and down right hid-e-ous. Not great sightseeing weather. But the girls I met through my cousin Dana in Amsterdam were finishing up their European adventure in London and they wanted to run around the town. It was difficult orchestrating the wheres and whens with them since we don't have compatible phones. (I mean, we do if we wanted to pay an arm and a leg per minute. I don't know about you, but I don't have enough arms and legs for that!) So we struggled all day to figure out how to meet up and instead, just settled on meeting up for dinner and drinks and then dancing! Therefore, clearly, the logical choice was for me to brave the weather to go to Portobello Market to go get lunch. I was in search of that great Ghanian food I had a few weeks ago, but I think the weather scared them away, so I got falafel instead. I waited in the longest line ever and all I kept thinking was this better be worth it! ANNND IT WAS! (Hmm... I wish I had one now...)

Falafel to the face! Oh yeah! 

      Around 7:00, I met the girls at their hotel and we cabbed it over to Covent Garden to have dinner at Tutton's. And boy did we eat. Goat cheese and roasted peach salad. Wild mushroom raviolis. Sea bass in lemon butter sauce. Sweet potato and spinach bake. A couple adult beverages. And some other fun treats.

First round at Tutton's!

After an almost three hour dinner (not because we ate that much, just because dinning here in Europe is THAT SLOW! You want fast? Go to McDo's), we waited in a pretty heafty line to get into Liz's favorite bar Roadhouse. And boy was it worth the wait. Awesome band. Then a great DJ. The bartenders were a little rude, but the atmosphere was so fantastic it didn't even matter. 

My lovely girls: Kayla, Liz and Lisa.

What's with the man purse!?! Haha!

The only snafu we ran into was a pack of wild Spaniards that were drunk as all get out and were body-checking everyone in a 30ft radius. Body-check salsa dancing. Yeah, it was as awkward as it sounds. It was pretty annoying, but we just started elbowing back and things calmed down a bit. Our excellent cabbie, David (what a cool bloke!), drove us home at around 2:30 so that we could tuck in to prepare for another long day tomorrow. I foresee that sightseeing with a hangover is gonna be a little painful. 

Me at 3:00am when I got back to my flat. Don't judge me!

Sunday:

I woke up Sunday at 9:00 and it was rough. I was hurtin' a little. Apparently, this girl can't drink like she used to, but I guess that's what happens when you get old. (30, I'm a-comin'!!) Anyway, I mustered up my energy, in spite of the hangover and the shitty weather, and got myself out the door to meet the girls at Paddington Station and head over to Windsor Castle. Once again, it was a little bit crazy to try and find them in Paddington Station without compatible phones, but thankfully we found each other and caught the train to Slough. From Slough, we then took a little train/shuttle over to Windsor, one of the cutest little towns that ever did exist. (I feel like I say that about every town I visit here in the UK. Let's just agree that this is the cutest country that exists. Period.)

Looks like "Sluf" but pronounced "Sl-ow" - as in OW that hurt.
I made sure to check. I didn't need anymore "South-Wark" incidents. 

We took a tour through the castle, which was pretty amazing given that it is still in (frequent) use by the Queen and the royal family.

After our tour, we decided to walk around the town a bit and do some shopping, which included a stop at TK Maxx, the UK version of TJ Maxx, which just crack me up.
      Speaking of cracking me up, I don't think I'm going to be able to aptly relay HOW funny I found this - but, let me just tell you, I laughed about it ALL DAY. No lie. I would think about it and then laugh - OUT LOUD - for another 5 minutes. (Just thinking about it now is making me giggle.) Ok, let me try to explain. We walked into one of the gift shops and I saw this unidentifiable item that looked like a fluffy headrest thingy and it says "Keep Calm and Carry On", which is a big thing here. But I had NO IDEA what the hell it was. So I asked. (Stupid American. Asking was my first mistake.) The woman said, "Well, what does it look like?" With a little sass, like I'm suppose to know. Obviously, I have no shame so I say, "Uhh, I have no freakin' idea." To that she responded, "It's a tea coosy." (In a tone that could have been followed with a 'DUUUH'). A Tea Coosy?!? What the *(@#^ is that?!? I literally burst out laughing. Hard. She responded with this like "Well, isn't it obvious" sort of attitude and then came out with the most bizarre item I've ever heard of. Duh, it's a tea coosy. Well, I must be an idiot then cause who couldn't readily identify a tea coosy?!? Holy. Crap. I'm still laughing. You kinda had to see her face. It was like, "How do you not know this?" Friggin hilarious. Might be the funniest English encounter I've had to date. (Dammit, I just read this back and there is NO WAY that the hilarity of this situation is translating. Well, you guys are missing out!)

Warm cinnamon bun for the train ride home. Perfect way to end the day.

Anyway... we finished up checking out the rest of the little town. (Which didn't take long - when I say it's little, I ain't kiddin'.) And then we headed back. The girls and I parted ways and I returned to my flat to start packing for my trip to Paris. (YAY!) It was a great day in spite of the weather and it was really wonderful to see them in London. 

       Next year, Oktoberfest and Prague, right ladies?