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May 24, 2010 - 11:51 p.m.
"pizza express" or "tate modern" or "westfield"

11:51pm GMT, 6:51pm EST

Hey Journal!

Today we got up at 8:00, got showered, and had a quick bowl of cereal before heading over to Covent Gardens on the Tube! Dan grabbed something quick to eat at Pret a Manger, and then we went to a little shopping area called "Seven Spokes." (I think.)

We went into some of the stores there, and there's this one brand of clothing here we've seen a lot of people wearing called "Superdry." It looks like their version of Abercrombie. We went to that store, and looked around.

Then we walked up the road to an electronics store I had found on my iPhone yesterday. It was a little independent store, that was kinda shady... but the guy was nice and helped me find what he thought was the right cable for my laptop. It was only �7, so I got it.

We decided that tomorrow we would like to go back to Oxford and maybe even back to Witney, so we went to Paddington Station, and checked out the prices of a train. The train tickets were L20, BUT if you commit to a specific train time, it was only �8! Crazy! We went for the discounted rate!

Then we came back to our "hotel" and discovered that the wire we had purchased was NOT the one that we needed! Ughhh! We took the real one with us, and headed back out.

We took the Tube to Oxford Circus, and then walked around looking for somewhere to eat. We walked around for a while... through Chinatown, and through Soho, and then finally we realized we were back where we had been in the morning... so we diverted to the electronics store, where we walked in, and showed the guy the correct plug, he handed it to us, and we walked out. It was quite a painless exchange!

Then we finally stumbled upon a Pizza Express for lunch! It was good, but our waitress was quite emotionless.

We took the tube to the Tate Modern museum, and walked around checking out the art. It was.. interesting. Some of it was good... but you know my feelings about modern art... Some of it is just wacky and makes absolutely no sense at all! I saw one with two birds pinned to a wall with arrows... I thought of Re, and how she would most likely enjoy it.

After the museum, we walked across the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's cathedral! We had gone past it on our first day here, but I don't think I went into any detail because I was exhausted that night. I took lots of pictures of it, and it reminded me of Mary Poppins. I think Mary Poppins is one of my most prevalent references of London, and perhaps that's a little ridiculous. I half expected the "Little old bird woman" to be sitting there... (although it was late in the afternoon... not early... as is described in the song!)

We went to a pub and had a drink there, and then took the tube to Abbey Road to see the street crossing from the Beatles' album cover. We had to walk across the street many times to get a good picture... and so many people were doing it... but what a traffic nightmare! lol People darting across the street, while pictures are being taken, and cars are coming from all directions! Insanity!

We then took the bus to the big Westfield London mall! It was nice to go to a REAL mall, and see all the difference "shops" they have here!

We had dinner at a restaurant in the mall, that turned out to be a bad choice. My chicken was all grodey dark meat, and the service was terrible. The waiter didn't understand English well, and they took FOREVER with everything. We had to go ask THEM for the check after waiting about 20 minutes. The good news is that the receipt didn't even have a line for a tip.. so we didn't have even think about that. I asked Dan if we could write a negative tip! haha.

Oh... Here's an interesting London tidbit. They don't do credit cards like we do. First of all... in every store, they are SUPER intense on checking to make sure the signatures match. They ALWAYS check it, and will ask you to see ID if they don't think it matches. Then.. TIPPING is so weird in restaurants. First, the standard tip is about 10%, which is great. BUT.. when you pay.. They bring you the check to your table, and you put your card out, just like in America... but then they come to your table with a portable credit card machine, and swipe your card there. The receipt prints out, and they give it to you, and then STAND THERE while you write in the tip amount, which is quite awkward, because you can't discuss it with the person you're with, or take a minute to decide, or look up the percentage on your phone. It's very unnerving! And what if you wanted to leave a bad tip.. they WATCH you write it! lol

Anyway, after the mall, we took the tube back to Angel, went to Sainsbury's and got some Orange Juice and snacks, and then came back here. Now, we're just getting ready for bed! Tomorrow we plan to see the QUEEN as she makes her way to parliament!

How exciting. I hope she invites me to come ride with her. You know we're tight like that. How could she deny me.

Anyway, that's all for tonight!

Goodnight. :)