thursday jen and i wake up early. make sure our bags are packed [ready to go..] and then we pop off to work to make sure we have everything ready on time. after a restless day at the office were off to london town! we get to zurich and were right on time.. we rush through the ticket check point [where they scan your ticket to make sure your all set] and then we find our gate number and head to the passport check and then as were unloading onto the security dock the attendant [in very broken english] informs us that our flight to london city is canceled. what?? it can't be! oh but it was. we got up to the transfers desk and literally hundreds of people are standing around. luckily the fifa people were alll in zurich attempting to fly as well! after over 3 hours and 45 minutes in line [the men behind us informed us of this as we rounded the final bend in the queue] we had successfully made a nice handful of friends, read a hefty portion of my book [thank you lori it is sooo gooood!], and crocheted two headbands and numerous attempts at flowers. one of our new friends [dianna] used to knit/crochet, but hadn't done so in over 20 years, but her attempt at a flower was still stunning and it now resides on the hat that jen made me. when we get to the counter we cheerfully greet the teller [who has the most ridiculous hair style i have ever seen] as we have been doing all evening, and i cannot lie, we were sort of a hit. once they realized we didn't want to yell at them for snowing in england they just wanted to chatter about the crazy fifa-ers and the snow and yaddah yaddah.. well this guy wanted nothing to do with our happiness. he gives us a hotel brochure and then was very rude when we asked which bus we were supposed to be taking to which hotel [as if there is only one bus and one hotel near the zurich airport. false.] well we got put up in the hilton. it. was.like.heaven. that teller really did love us, he put us up in the 'relaxation suite' and very nicely showed us the fantastic free layover buffet they had set up.. amazing chick in a mushroom sauce, swedish meatballs to die for, these stuffing patties that went great with both sauces, rice, veggies, salad, fruit, free wine, beer, tea and water. we had a little party at the hilton until the waiter made it clear he was exhausted and our friends [who all happened to be older than us] had to make their way to bed. our room was fantastic and i will probably never forget the pillows. or the shower. it was as perfect as perfect gets!
our friday flight didn't leave until 3:30 to munich so we got to sleep in.. when we got to the provided breakfast buffet [also realllllly yummy] one of our friends [who has on this super crazy bling bling hat] told us that the guy behind him didn't get the hotel voucher because they had run out! then the ballerina from wimbledon told us that they almost didn't have a room for her when we were checking in the previous night! eeek! so we all go to the airport, fly to munich and then hop a plane to london city [this flight we sat with a personal assistant, about our age, very friendly who helped us with the tube vs. dlr and whatnot] and finally we had done it. we arrived in london! it was a bit late at this point so we checked into the hostel and headed to meet a friend of mine from college, elizabeth. unfortunately the tube trains kept getting delayed because of the ice and we arrived nine minutes late. and our lack of phone really screwed us up and we ended up stalking the employee entrance. we called her cell a few time using an officers phone [he had a k9.. pretty cool] and around 11 he went in to check and ask security where she was. but security had left, so we found this amazing lebanese restaurant [i have been craving some hummus!] and went to town! it was the best hummus i have ever had. i am certain of it. so we caught the last train from the center of the city and headed to the hostel. unfortunately we missed the very last leg of our journey and had to figure out the creepy minicab service that is provided for a very cheap sum. it turns out our hostel has a pretty happening bar jsut below it, and right next door! but we were exhausted and headed up to our room to crash.
we woke up early on saturday because we had big plans: first the tower of london, then meeting an old neighbor of mine for a bite to eat, and portobello road market. so we totter off to the tower and end up playing around for over three hours. it was like heaven for me. i surely could have stayed all day and not gotten bored! first we explored a bit before a tour began. we went up into the medieval section where they literally had re-constructed the way it originally looked. it was absolutely amazing the way they took the patterns from the leftover statues and effigies! it wound us through the rooms in the outer wall until we came out to an amazing view of the tower bridge!
by this time our tour was going to begin so we hurried off to meet the yeoman warder aka beefeater. these men [and one woman] have been serving england for basically a million years[over 20 which is basically a million!] and are awarded for their service by giving tours of the tower, and also residing there! after our enthusiastic 'interactive' tour with our beefeater [just so great!] we checked out the tower than held prisoners. it had the most amazing and intricate graffiti i have seen. the wall was literally carved into inches revealing family crests and favorite sayings. then we went to the white tower [the tallest, central one] to see the armour through the ages exhibit they had going. at the top floor [where the royal quarters were!] they had an interactive how-to-use-the-weapons-you've-been-staring-at exhibit. jen did quite well with her jousting attempt! by this time it was noon, and we were to meet art [the neighbor] at two, so we hurried to the old armory to check out the crown jewels. one jewel on one scepter was 530 carats. it looked fake. only the vault we were in sort of gave away the fact that it was REAL! fantastic! when we finally exited the jewel house it was almost two and so we hopped off [in fantastic moods] to the london bridge to meet art at barrowboy & banker and have a beer before we hit up burough market and grabbed the most delicious ostrich steak sandwich [with freshly made mustard and cranberry sauce]. after this we attempted to get to portobello road, but it was a bit late so art went to meet up with a friend and jen and i headed off to kings cross station to meet elizabeth and daryl. it was so great to see them again! we took the tube to daryl's friend millers' apartment in camden and picked up some sam's chicken and a bottle of wine [being good house guests of course] on the way. when we got there jen and millers quickly discovered their mutual obsession with deadmau5 and the evening took a great turn form there. since the tubes close at 12-1am we decided early that since we were having such a good time that we were going to stay in camden for the night. we went to a recording studio that millers flatmate owns and hung out with them, before heading down to a ridiculous club called 'egg'! after our eggy experience we hunted for pizza but unfortunately came up short and headed back to the flat in defeat [all relative of course].
sunday morning we were going to attempt to make it out to stonehenge, but since its far away, and our new brit friends had nothing ecstatic to say about it we decided to do the city sites [especially since jen hadn't seen the big stuff yet] first we went to trafalgar square and saw the amazing statues that are scattered about the area.
every year the citizens of olso gift a huge christmas tree to london and it was stunning, as well as a very cool tradition to learn about. then we decided that we needed some oriental food [since switzerland lacks it] and we walked through piccadilly circus, leister's square, and covent gardens to the really tasty restaurant called wanamama, which jen and i were immediately addicted to! then we kept walking across the thames [i believe on the millenium brudge] and to another market near the london eye, then across the next bridge to big ben, westminster, and the houses of parliment. at this point it was getting late and we needed to go back to camden to gather our belongings [from the previous days shopping when we were on our way to meet elizabeth and daryl] so we hopped a black cab to buckingham palace, caught the end of the guards switching out, and went back to camden. from there we headed back to leister's square to meet art at a mexican restaurant [with awful margaritas unfortunately] that was right next to the odeon that we were going to see harry potter in [where the premiere was]. dinner was fabulous and we had an awesome time before skipping over to see harry! the movie [which we both had low expectations for, being avid book readers] blew our minds, especially since the cast interviews were in front of the building we were in, and the scenes in the movie were literally around the corner. it was an amazing experience that i am sure jen and i will always look back on fondly! lastly we headed back to our hostel to pack and get ready to leave our new favorite city.
we arrived at the airport at 7 for our 8:30 flight to a departure board informing us of our flights cancellation. it was like a nightmare. luckily the line went quickly, and the man who helped us was very kind. he booked us on the earliest flight to zurich. a 3:30pm out of heathrow [an hour and a half away, but it was only 10 so we had time]. they gave us a cab [the cool black ones!] and we went to heathrow with two guys around our age, one working and living in basel and the other in geneva. the guy going to geneva was a pretty cool guy, he was reading a coben harlan book [in french!] and so we chatted about which ones we had read and which are must reads. i believe the one he recommended is already on my amazon wishlist! we dropped him off and headed into heathrow. we were departing from terminal five, which seemed to be the large one according to the maps. it was basically mall with a few terminals to let you leave the country. we were starving because by now it was noon [we should have been on our way from st. gallen to steigbach at this point] and we were starving. luckily a wagamama was standing right in front of us! so we went in to drink some more fantabulous juice and try a few more dishes.. all were amazing of course! then we went to find our gate. which naturally isn't posted hours before your flight leaves. so we found a computer station to let work know we were stranded. the keyboard of course had no spacebar so all_of_our_communication_was_like_this. quite frustrating! then we did a bit of shopping, picked up a few goodies and used our meal vouchers to get some lunch/dinner for the flight.
to sum up our experience... we basically had the worst traveling luck we could have had, that was awful, but we got through it. the amazing time and new friends we made definitely made up for the poor flight situations, and both zurich and london have very nice airports. at this point the only london airport i have not visited is standsted, so i will have to try to fit that in for my next trip!
thank you karma for allowing us to have such an amazing time!
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