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May 20, 2015 - 11:15 p.m.
"google london" or "five year reunion"

5/20/15 11:15pm BST

Hey Journal!

So today was our first full day in London and we did some fun stuff! We got up this morning around 10:00am when my alarm went off. I was super tired and feeling hungover but I knew it was time to get the day started. Dan and I got up and got ready and I had to take care of the payroll for work.

It was pretty straight forward and everything went well. I just had to upload a few files, submit them, and then give a quick glance at the reports to make sure everything was okay. Finally, I had to transfer the money to cover it, and it was all done!

We headed out and went to meet Julio at Google. We planned to meet there at 11:45. When we got there, the lady took our names and put us into the system. Julio was running late and arrived a little after we did. Once he got there, we got our guest passes and then went up to the 9th floor to Google reception to get signed in.

Then we took the crazy elevators down to the 4th floor to get some lunch! Julio said that the food at Google London is weird and it definitely was. They had the strangest combinations of weird foods. However, they did have one little food cart with an umbrella over it that served lamb, chicken, or turkey skewers. I got some peas, some rice, a lamb skewer, and a turkey skewer. They were really good.

We found a table and ate. I also got an iced tea. Not to sound crazy but it's the best meal I've had in a while! I wound up having another iced tea, a bottle of water, and a piece of cake. After that, I went back to get more skewers. Two chickens and a lamb!

Hey....it was all free! :)

So, needless to say, I enjoyed lunch. Julio gave us the grand tour of Google and we got to see everything there. We also got a nice souvenir for our coffee table at home... a "Search" book of all the top google searches. It's pretty cool.

We said goodbye to Julio and then headed off to Camden Market and the Stable Market. They were pretty cool... and we walked around there for a little bit before heading to Westfield London!

We always like going to the mall in London and checking out all the cool stores they have that we don't! Really, the truth is that people in London and the whole of the UK are much better dressed than people in America. They have so many nicer clothes options at better prices.

The first store we went to was Jack and Jones. We've been to that one before here and also in Canada. It's a great store and we loved the clothes. We tried a bunch of things on and we each got a pair of pants and a shirt! The guy who worked there was super nice. He was really helpful, friendly, and went out of his way to just talk to us and be nice. He was much more helpful and less annoying than anyone in a store in the US. He actually asked us he he was compared to people at stores in America!

When we were done there, we went to a few more stores and walked all around the mall. Before leaving, we made one more stop back at Jack and Jones because they had these really cool shoes that I needed to have! Yikes. We spent a lot of money there but it was worth it!

Next, we took a bus from White City back to South Kensington and walked to the flat.

We showered up and got changed and then we our to meet our friend Dan at the Chancery Lane tube stop. I can't believe it's been almost 5 years to the day since we first met him... May 24, 2010! He had picked out a place to go for dinner called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese! It was a really old pub down a little alleyway. It was burned down in the fire of London and rebuilt in 1667!

There are a lot of little stairways and places you have to duck so you don't hit your head! It was really cool. I was saying that we really don't have anything like that at home. First of all, the country didn't exist until 1776 and before that there wasn't too much around. All of the old houses and buildings have been replaced. Nothing that old is in working order today.... THe oldest stuff we have in Smithtown are those houses on Main Street and they're basically museums now owned by the historical society!

I am always fascinated with how technologically advances London is and how they live alongside history at the same time.

Anyway, when it was time to order our food, we went to the wrong bar. We went to the one upstairs instead of downstairs and the food took forever to come!

Eventually. it did. We both got steak and ale pie. I didn't drink anything tonight because I am still recovering from last night and also preparing for tomorrow night!

After dinner we went to a weird bar in Soho that had crazy barbie dolls on the ceiling! It was very unique...

We walked to the Piccadilly station and then said our goodbyes! Hopefully next time Dan will come to NY! It's been since 2011 that he was last there.

This time, to change things up a little, we took the Underground to the Knightsbridge station and walked back to the flat from there. It was a really nice night out for a walk.

Now we're off to bed. Gotta get up early for our tour of BBC Broadcasting House tomorrow!

Goodnight. :)