Day Three and Four: The Gay Camp Counselor, The Six Hour Tour, and "Who Let Me Look Like This?!"

Wow. About 48 hours since the last post, and they have been by far the most eventful since we got here. Chronological order is probably the best bet, let's hope I remember everything. Ahem...

So Friday night, post blog update and nap, we went out to grab a quick bite and started at a bar called The Lexington up the street. There were wayyyy too many kinds of whiskey (it was, after all, a whiskey bar), and it was also incredibly crowded. Our group had a drink before we left the masses to this place we'd seen called The Hobgoblin. My kind of place - felt like Antarctica (ughhh miss that place), good cheap drinks, and there was a dog in the bar. Who needs health codes when you can bring your loyal four-footed companion with you everywhere? Not London, that's for sure. We had a blast there, even though the music was lame (I asked for Ke$ha, and the guy goes hmm, I may have Q-Tip? NOT THE SAME). From there, we left and headed to Chapel Bar, where there was nobody there but an empty dancefloor calling our name. We danced like crazy for about an hour, they DID have Ke$ha (thank god), and then we swung by Lexington to check it out before heading home.

Saturday was THE day of sight-seeing, and while I dreamed of a sunny warm day to see the sights, we woke up to rain and 37 degrees. Damn. We decided to bundle up and do it anyway, because come on, it's London and we're American tourists with a need for photos and a bad habit of clogging up sidewalks. Morgan and I met up with Kelsey, Maja, Avi, and Christina, and we hopped on our first London bus to go ... well, we weren't really sure. Maybe Big Ben? Possibly Westminster Abbey? We couldn't even see out of the bus since the windows were so foggy, so we just ... got off when Avi thought we were near Hyde Park. And huzzah! We were. That left us ... near Hyde Park. We had a general idea of how to get to Buckingham Palace though, so we forged through the freezing rain with three goals in mind: 1)Stay dry 2)Get food 3)See a lot of shit.

We walked by the Marble Arch near the Hyde Park corner, and then around this ridiculously long brick wall that is one of the exterior walls of the palace complex. When I mean long, it's about a ten minute walk down a block with governmental buildings on one side and a heavily guarded, barb-wired, spiked brick wall on the other. We kept walking, saw some more official looking stuff, turned a corner and - HOLY CRAP! Buckingham Palace! It's amazing, exactly the type of elaborate facades and ornamentation you'd expect from British Royalty. This is probably a good point to pause the blog and say that I, being a complete dumbass, forgot to charge my camera the night before this epic day of sightseeing. There are plenty of photos - Morgan and company took a lot. They just aren't on my computer. Please open a new tab on your web browser, search for "Buckingham Palace" on Google image, and photoshop me in. Voila! We now resume our regularly scheduled blog. (Oh, and the Buckingham Palace surprises aren't over yet .... this is what literature teachers refer to as FORESHADOWING).

We took some obligatory photos in front of the palace, looked at the guards who literally stand frozen - I have to imagine it's an even more mind-numbing job than being the model at Abercrombie. Then we headed out to find food, as we were truly starving. We could see the London Eye through some trees, so we headed in that direction through St. James Park, the large park outside of the palace. Best. Park. Ever. First of all, the squirrels are friendly and cuddly - they will come close to you and try to climb your pant leg if you offer them food. Second, we got some awesome hot chocolate. Third, there are some ridiculous water foul including massive swans, colorful geese, and this little things called coots, which are black birds with white faces and noses that look like masks. (Google Image Search: St. James Park, coots, hot chocolate). This one swan was in love with Morgan and followed him down the entire pond, it was the funniest thing ever. Oh, and apparently, it's apparent to eat swan unless you're a member of the Royal Family. We learned that the hard way.

(Note: we didn't actually eat a swan, they're too damn hard to catch).

After that, we walked through a large plaza and under an archway to find ourselves right by the Horse Guards. As we learned, they are purely ornamentation - just two British guards, sitting on horses, getting paid to do nothing as asshole tourists like myself take pictures next to them. What an EFFICIENT government they have here. We walked down this street, Parliament Street, and found a pub where we stopped for lunch. Very British food, but well-prepared, so we enjoyed it as well as a break from the cold and wet. We left, turned the corner, walked a block and- HOLY CRAP. BIG BEN. It was right in front of us, and truly amazing to see. It was gray and near dusk, so the lighting looked incredibly dramatic - probably a great way to first see it in all its glory. We stood there for awhile soaking it in and taking pictures, then we walked by Wesminster Abbey and the Parliament building. This was all very hit-and-run tourism: we never stopped and went inside somewhere, we just enjoyed the spectacle and then hurried on to the next sight. (Google Image Search: British Horse Guards, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, fish and chips)

We walked across Westminster Bridge with the massive London Eye to our left, and as we were walking (and perhaps even jaywalking) towards it, the lights turned on - it's really beautiful right on the side of the river, and even though it doesn't reopen for the year a couple more days, we are really excited to get to ride it. We kept walking down the Thames, which is one of the most beautiful and romantic walks I've ever had. The sights are incredible - it's a mix of commercial, residential, governmental, old and new, young and old. I think it was standing by the river and soaking in a full 360 of London that it truly me hit how incredible this city is. I know it has only been a few days, but wow - I love it. You can't take two steps without seeing something incredibly historic or exciting.

Our walk continued to take us past more and more amazing things, including the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern Museum. The Tate Modern is terrifying (please Google Image Search this now). It used to be an old factory, and it has this massive brick tower that looks like something out of 1984. So scary. From the Tate we walked across the Millennium Bridge and thankfully were not killed by Death Eaters. The bridge takes you right to St. Paul's Cathedral, which is the second-largest domed structure in the world. It's also breathtaking, incredible, and ... well I'm running out of adjectives for everything I've seen. We ended this six hour tour with our first Tube ride, which we successfully navigated. Best tourists ever.

So that sounds like a busy day, right? Most people would probably grab a nice dinner, watch a movie, and pass out? Too bad I'm not MOST PEOPLE. (This ends the unnecessarily badass part of Alex's blog). NYU, once again sponsoring our bad decisions, hosted a social event at a wine bar that was basically an excuse to have great beer, meet other NYUers, and start the night of right. It was a blast, even though the appetizers sucked - we met a bunch of people and rounded up a large group to head out for the night. We traveled in a group of maybe 25, which I think we can all agree is WAYYY too big of a group to head out in such a fashion. But there we were, doing it anyway. We took the Tube to Leicester Square, at which point chaos hit. It was pouring rain, the clubs had "member's only" restrictions, and everyone had to pee like Seabiscuit. We ended up going to a number of places and had a pretty good time, it was quite the late night. Lots of dancing, lots of looking for late night buses, some 4am McDonald's, and an AMAZING Skype session with some people back at home. Miss you guys =)

Woke up today pretty late, there was an NYU Bus Tour that I wasn't sure if I wanted to go on (only because we had walked and seen so much yesterday, I was afraid we'd end up hitting the same hot spots - which, well, we did, but it was worth it as we will soon see. FORESHADOWING.) But for the first time EVER in London, THE SUN WAS OUT! It was warm and beautiful outside, and Morgan finally convinced me, so we made a quick lunch and headed down to catch the bus. It was well worth it, just for the information we learned about London. We took the bus by campus, by Regent's Square, down the major shopping area to several of the places we saw yesterday, like Marble Arch, Hyde Park, and the house of the Duke of Wellington. The tour guide was hilarious - she warned the ladies not to show their "naughty bits" at King's Cross Station unless they wanted some money. We saw the Albert Memorial near Hyde Park, several department stores like Harrod's and Lord and Nichol's, and then drove back around the huge brick wall to see Buckingham Palace. This is when, as they say, shit got real.

So the tour guide says she has a great place to take a picture of Big Ben, and it's a very nice-looking establishment, so sure, I'll follow her. I'd already seen the Palace, and it turned out that said place for said picture was on the steps of the large statue outside Buckingham Palace. Great, I think. What a fun statue. As we walk to said statue, I hear several street performers playing a nice acoustic ditty. What a good song, I think to myself. Wait I minute, I say, Alex, you know the words to this song. "You're who I'm thinking of... girl you ain't my runner up..." Turn to my left to look at street performers, and oh my god.

Justin. Bieber.

(blog pause will my head explodes)

(told you the foreshadowing would pay off)

Not some average street performer singing a J-Bieb song, not the amazing karaoke performance that Taylor always does when he's drunk, but the real, live Justin Bieber. Acoustic concert on the steps of the Buckingham Palace statue (which, since I never learned its real name, is now known as the Statue of Bieber). It was truly a magical moment. I should probably pause now to apologize to thousands of years of British history. Yes, all the things I have seen so far in London have been great, and even though they sometimes hide behind corners (looking at you, Big Ben), they have been somewhat expected. But the 15-year-old pop star that sings oh-so-memorable lyrics over oh-so-catchy beats, 10 feet from me, jamming out hardcore?? Truly epic.

Needless to say, we all freaked a bit, but nowhere more than my new best friend (who I don't know her name but was still awesome). She runs up the stairs and just hugs him, and he's a tiny little kid, but she was like .... feeling it. She almost started to cry, I think. She then proceeded to talk to and give her e-mail to his manager, scream at him (several times) "I LOVE YOU!", then, as he walked away to live his life as a celebrity, scream "JUSTIN! WHERE ARE YOU GOING?!" She was amazing. On the way back to the bus, she realized how much of a hot mess she was (hungover, big sunglasses, loose ponytail, gigantic furry vest that made her look like Yogi Bear), and she yelled "WHO LET ME LOOK LIKE THIS?!" I love her.

(Google Image Search: Justin Bieber. Then feel a little guilty, because he's really too young for you think he's that cute.)

Following Biebergate, as it's now known, we finished the bus tour, stopping again at St. Paul's and going to Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, the Tower of London, London's East End, and a few other places. It was a busy busy day, and we finally took a night off (thank God). After dinner at Pizza Express with Morgan, Kelly, Kelsey, and Christina, Morgan and I booked our FIRST TRIP EVER! (Actually, I'll probably go to Paris beforehand, but this is the first one we've paid for). We are going to Barcelona, Spain for Carnival on Feb. 11 to Feb. 14. It's the Spanish version of Mardi Gras, and we can only hope that it's incredible. Me, Morgan, Kelly, and Athena - should be a trip worth blogging about.

Well, that's a wrap for now. I still need to Skype some people, organize a bit, and figure out what I'm going to do tomorrow. First day of classes but I don't have anything until Tuesday, so I may work out, walk around some, and just immerse myself even more in London. I will try to steal some pics from Morgan, so be patient, or just find me on facebook and they'll be tagged there. I will be remembering my camera in the future. Love you all, thanks for reading this - leave a comment, skype me, whatever =D Cheers!