Our plan was to go to the Portabello Market, then go to the Burrow Market for lunch, and then the Tower Bridge which was close by. Linda was getting off of work at 3 and she worked near the Burrow Market so she would meet us there. Linda and I planned on taking the train to the south shore of England in Brighton. The Portabello Market was a lot of fun but a little crowded. We got some Creps, and some Velvet Cake from a famous bakery called the Hummingbird Cafe. The Burrow Market was also a lot of fun, and they have enough free samples for a small lunch so we just got a cup of Sangria and walked around snacking on delicious cheese, bread, granola, some sausage, and anything else we could get our hands on. One of the only things we bought was a wheat grass shot
It actually tasted pretty good and sweet, and it contains three days worth of vegetable servings...yum
We met Linda shortly after but she was tired and went back home to take a nap, so we continued on to the Tower Bridge to snap some photos and then head back to take a nap. Chanelle was having some friends over and then meeting up with some more of her friends at a bar that she met on a trip to Egypt. So we had a few drinks and then went out to a bar. It was a lot of fun and everyone she was hanging out with was Australian. It was a little overwhelming but I love meeting new people, especially if they come from a different country.
The next morning I planned on meeting Linda at Victoria Station around 10 to go to Brighton. The trip was very easy and we got to our hostel around 11:30 in the morning but our room wouldn't be ready until about 2 so we walked down the street to get some lunch. We went to a pub and there special menu was a create your own pie. Pies are one of the few English foods so I thought it would be great to get one. I got one with chicken, bacon, and some spice. It turned out to be amazingly delicious. There was also a book shelf behind our table and we grabbed a book about England and flipped to the section on Brighton. We found out about the Salt Cliffs just outside of the city that looked like a great walk so we wanted to go there. The bartender also gave us some great information on how to get there and exactly what it was. There is also something called the Royal Pavilion where one of the Kings had his estate that we wanted to check out. After lunch we put our bags in the room and headed into town, but on our way we took a detour down to the ocean. It was very windy, cloudy, and chilly, but that didn't stop us from taking our shoes off and walking into the water. It was cold but slightly refreshing and very enjoyable. After we put our shoes back on we wandered down to the Royal Pavilion but by this point it was 5 in the afternoon and it was closing so we just looked at the outside.
There is a lovely park and garden with musicians and entertainers. We sat and listened to two men playing some kind of plucking instrument and a clarinet. They both had dreadlocks and the one without the clarinet was singing. They were actually quite good and I was very impressed so I snapped some pictures and gave them some change. Then we heard a crowd gathering behind us, and it turned out to be another street performer. It was a lady from Canada and the show was very similar to the one I saw in Edinburgh. The performance was different but the way she made fun of the audience, people passing by, and the way she explained how this was her living was exactly the same. It was funny but one of the people she pulled out from the audience really made the show because he was very entertaining and didn't hold back at all.
After a long day of sight seeing and traveling I was pretty tired, so what is the best thing to do when you are tired? Go to a bar and get a drink. We went to a pub and got some drinks and chatted about everything from scars, dreams, and zodiac signs to people in our lives and some photos from the past. We also had a restaurant guide so we selected a seafood place on the ocean to go have some dinner. It was an Italian restaurant and all of the waiters were Italian. We ordered a bottle of wine, which ended up being hard to finish because we had already gotten two drinks. Linda is Italian as I have said in previous posts so she was talking to the waiter, asking questions in Italian. I picked up a word here and there but overall I had no idea but I was very fascinated by it. We got some starters and dinners. She had Scallops and Monkfish, and I had soup and chicken with prawns. Everything was very excellent and I was very satisfied because it was slightly out of my price range...but I was very happy to enjoy a fancy dinner with her. They also put some olives and a crunchy pretzel looking bread down before anything came and she said it was a very Italian tradition. This was also the first time that I had ever popped an entire olive into my mouth, and I did it without hesitation. I have taken bites of olives, and had sauces made with them but I have never just eaten one whole. We also got some desert. Our dinner lasted about 3 hours and by that time it was getting pretty late so we just headed back.
The next morning we had to check out and we planned to go to the Salt Cliffs and actually go inside of the Royal Pavilion. We had a nice English Breakfast and checked out. We had to leave our bags in the reception room and pay 1 pound for them to "watch" our bags but when we got them later they didn't ask any questions or really notice that we took the bags so it was kind of ridiculous that we had to pay. We took the bus out to the Salt Cliffs and they were really cool. Fist we went down to the bottom and the cliffs were actually chalk so I wrote a little message on the pavement, and took one as a souvenir. There wasn't much to see down below so we just walked along the top and took some pictures. I was expecting to see some amazing cliffs but there was a fence about 20 feet from the edge so you couldn't really get close or get any really good pictures of it. On the way we met some puppies and a squawking Seagull and then stopped at a nice place for lunch. This is really the best view that we could find of the cliffs
Then we went to the Royal Pavilion and went inside. They gave us the audio-guide to listen to which was very informative and told a great history of the place. We were not allowed to take pictures so I don't have any of the inside, but it was spectacular.
After that we had seen everything we wanted to see so we decided to see a movie. Linda really wanted to see Kung Fu Panda 2 but it was not out for another few days so we saw The Hangover Part II. It was really funny but the movie was exactly the same as the first with different details. I hadn't seen a movie in theaters since 127 Hours in January, and I love movies so it was awesome. Then we just grabbed our luggage and headed back to London. There we got a quick bite to eat near her house. She got an appetizer with raw meat and I tried some. I had never tried raw meat of planned on it but I actually liked it. She had to wake up at 6 in the morning for work so we just called it a night after dinner.
Even though the sites were no where close to the best in Europe and English culture is nothing I am really interested in, this was my favorite part of my trip after Barcelona. The main reason for this is because of the people I was spending time with. As I have said earlier it sometimes gets a little lonely traveling by yourself and even some of the people I meet and spend time with are just not that interesting. Here in London, I couldn't have asked for two nicer, warmer, friendly, and giving people to spend time with. I am extremely happy that I came back to London because I never would have if it were not for a reason but because I came back I have made two friendships that will last a lifetime, and I really couldn't as for something more rewarding on my trip than that. So Linda and Chanelle if you are reading this, thank you so much. I will never forget you.
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