6/20/08 23:40

15 Kemps Green Road, Temple Ballsal

Well, I've gotten a bit behind, haven't I? Sorry. Erm...Not even going to write about the 8th. Don't remember anymore. That'll be the black hole of the trip. In the afternoon I know we went to the Hard Rock Cafe store

and Hyde Park and stuff. We played frisbee, and I threw Wesley's into the street, and Neil wouldn't let Neil go get it. We went to Pizza Express for dinner after that, which was tasty, took some artsy photographs, rode a boat, rode the subway for about three fucking hours because the chaperones are dumbshits and can't figure anything out, and went to bed. So yea, It was a pile of shit.

Yesterday was better, I think. Don't remember it in such vivid detail as some days, but it wasn't too bad. We did kind of a bus tour and stuff around London. We went to King's Cross station, and saw platform 9 3/4, where Harry Potter and his wizard friends hop through the wall. There's a cart set halfway through it and a sign above it, and you can go up and take pictures with it. Lori got one of me with my feet flying up in the air. We saw Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, or at least where it once was, and also a replica of it, which was across the river. We then crossed Millennium Bridge and hung out round St. Paul's cathedral for a bit. I got a homemade brownie "pleasure pot." Some kinda cream, toffee sauce, and a brownie. Delicious. I got a lemonade too, but it wasn't very sweet and it tasted quite [illegible]. Once we got back to the hostel in the afternoon, Neil, Patrick, and I busked for about half an hour. It was quite depressing. The only people who stopped were people with kids or people we knew who were on the trip, and we only got money from people on the trip. A couple wee kids smiled at us. :-) We made about £4 each. We were all wishing we had our own instruments. We weren't very good. After that, we went back to the West End for Wicked. Later on that night, we switched chaperones, so the green machines were with Lori now. We tried to decide where to go for dinner, and settled on going for Cornish Pasties at the Cornish Pasty shack. They were REALLY good. I need to find the recipe. It's like steak, carrots, potatoes and onions all baked in a crust. Mmm. I got a slice of ham and pineapple pizza too, but it was cold by the time I got to it. There weren't any tables to sit at in the shop, so went across the street to a little park. A drunk man and a policeman were having a discussion about where the premises of the bar the man had been at extended to. The policeman said alcohol was not allowed in the park, the man was drunk, the cop took his beer and poured it out, they chatted for a little while longer, the policeman left, and the man pulled two more beers out of his coat. :-) Wicked was...wicked. Sorry. The production was really spectacular. Even before it began, I was impressed by the set. There was a dragon up on the ceiling and gears and all kinds of stuff. The witches voices were kind of annoyingly high and screechy, but other than that, everything was great. At intermission, Patrick and I went down to have a look at the pit. It was sweet. It looked pretty crowded and stuff, but they kept themselves happy. They all had magazines and books and stuff, tons of instruments - it was all really cool. I actually talked to the bass player for a minute, which was cool. The music for the show wasn't my cup of tea exactly, but like I said, it was all very well done. Light were also really great. Just makes me sad about dinner drama...Ethan planned out a rout home on the subway after the show, so we got back a lot quicker. And then we went to bed.

This morning we packed up our stuff, had breakfast, and hit the road. We were pretty much on the road most of the day. We went to Oxford first. It was kind of boring. I know it's supposed to be important, and I respect that, but it's old, and we're not, so we'd rather not waste our time on it. [Looking back on that statement, I have realized that I sound like an ass. My apologies.] At least that's the vibe I got from most of the youth group. We shopped for a little bit, I got Dad a mug, and Mom some tea. From there, we went to Blenheim Palace, the home of the Duke of Marlborough. It was magnificent. We were all really tired though, so we didn't appreciate it all that much. Whatever, though, it was cool. There was a huge organ, and awesome grounds. Ponds, mazes, all kinds of shit. We grabbed some lunch, for me a turkey and cranberry wrap or something, and went to play ultimate. On the lawn. Of the palace belonging to the Duke of Marlborough. We played ultimate on the Duke of Marlborough's lawn. It was tight. Great game, we won. Then we were pooped. We slept on the bus ride to Stratford-upon-Avon, the birthplace of William Shakespeare. We didn't visit it, just stopped at a pub for some food. Neil had a pork chop which looked good, and I had a turkey onion sage apple sandwich. It was very tasty. We also all had smoothies. We lost track of time because we were watching a soccer game (Spain vs. Russia, Spain won, 4-1), and got back to the coach late. It wasn't a big deal though. Hell, I'm tired, I'm going to finish this tomorrow.