New Friends, Old Friends and Learning New Tricks

After my little train escapade of the last post, I continued on my journey to London. Well, after lunch and presenting the hat to its new owner and such, but that story isn't as fun as the afternoon and night... and next morning....

Before I actually started my afternoon of museum hopping, I had a fixed schedule of what I was going to accomplish. Beginning at South Kensington station, I was going to finish my tour of the Natural History Museum. This is after beginning the exploration of the museum in April after my Internal Medicine shelf. That was three visits ago. Then, I was going to visit museums along the way to Covent Garden station where I would make it in time for dinner at 7 at Guanabara.

Main hall of the museum from above

Instead, I met a pair of (probably drunk) teenage boys in the special exhibits room. As I went around the numbered items and read the interactive histories and insights on each display, I could see the two boys debating whether or not to touch a set of plaster replicas. The sign clearly stated "please touch." In their defense, they were very right to be afraid. After all, most of the time, plaques tell visitors "Please do NOT touch." They were squabbling over whether or not one of them should do the despicable act when I butted in and told them to just do it. It got even more fantastic when I placed my hand over the plaster shell cast. Then it just all went downhill from there. Continuing on my route of reading the displays for the different items, ranging from an original copy of Darwin's Origin of Species to a piece of the moon, I was interrupted when the boys returned and accosted me (alright, so it was more of a jovial accosting), laughing and whispering loudly "Don't touch!"

Next thing you know, I managed to stay in the museum until the 5:30 closing bell when everyone was told to leave. But before I left, I got to start the precious metals/stones gallery.

Two of my stones: Jade for my bangle and Turquoise for my birth month

Guanabara was partway between Holburn and Covent Garden tube stops. I decided on the latter only because I had yet to venture into the area and it was one of the places I wanted to wander through. Granted, whenever I read about the gardens, it was in the dark of night, preferably the midnight hours when women of ill repute met with men of class for assignments, so to speak.

Did you know that the staircase has 500+ steps? That is, if you don't want to wait in the giant crush of people hoping to take the lift. Which, I did not. So upwards and onwards I went. It wasn't as bad as it sounds. The best part of the trek is actually the announcement which the tube station makes about the number of steps and the approximate time to reach the top. (It doesn't truly take that long... if you have a good set of lungs and strong legs.)

In any case, I was definitely ridiculously asian and arrived early. So as any good college student does, I ordered a drink as I waited. Thankfully, another person soon arrived, although our guest of honor had yet to appear. In time though, the entire party was present. The food was actually pretty good, and not a single complaint about the chocolate cake. Too bad my tummy was already full. Sadly, I don't have pictures of the food like a good Asian. :(

It was a lot of fun though. Drinking and dancing and meeting new people from London and beyond. And I even got to speak in Cantonese!!! How cool is that? Alright... so perhaps not as exciting as I make it sound, but it was definitely one of the highlights of the night for me. It's rare for me to be able to speak in another language other than English while on the British Isles.

oOo, and here we are before the revelry started on the dance floor in our masks. :D

I must say that the most informative time of the night was at 2 am the following morning/night, however you want to call it. But I'll get there in a moment.

It was only about 11 when we decided to leave. The birthday girl was drunk, admitting to it and wanted to leave with her other half. I had a tube and train to catch. I know, I know. A bit sad given that it was Saturday, the night was only beginning and we were all leaving to go home. But you know what, we all had a good time and that's what matters the most.

I watched the clock slowly tick away as I waited for the Victoria line after taking one tube to another station. 58... 59... It was agonizing because I knew that there was no way I would be able to make the train. And yet, I still held out hope. After all, perhaps the clocks were wrong, or maybe the tube would arrive earlier.

When we stopped at Victoria tube stop, I ran. I pushed and shoved, wove my way between groups of people and sprint my way up the stairs only to find that I had missed the last train to Worthing by one minute. ONE!

After cursing the slowness of the tube, I sat and thought awhile, conferring on possible alternatives. The final verdict became the 1 a.m. train to Brighton which would get me much closer than waiting in London and then taking the next train down at 6 am.

Lo and behold, the most miraculous news of the night when I arrived at about half past two in the morning. Nighttime party bus - Brighton. I do believe that I perked up 400x when I saw the brochure sitting in the train station. Even better, the next bus would be at 3. The only problem would be figuring out the stop since it merely mentioned a street but nothing else.

As I walked down the main road from the train station, I was simultaneously excited and miffed. excited that I would be getting home before eight in the morning but miffed because I was no longer under the influence of alcohol but everyone around me was happy and buzzing off the drink.

In any case, long story short, I saw the dawn. But I got home before 5 am!