London, Part 2

Friday, Dec. 25th

CHRISTMAS DAY!!  It is a bit of a strange Christmas this year.  On one hand, I have done way more Christmas-y things (Christmas concerts, ballets, cute little fairs, etc) than I think I've ever done before, plus it is snowy and cold (or it was in Romania).  And, I have been listening to this awesome online Christmas radio station with oldies - super great and I can get it outside of the U.S.  This has been a lot of fun and makes me feel prepared for Christmas, but at the same time it sort of feels like Christmas isn't happening this year since I am not at home and doing the traditional things.  Christmas in a hostel is different.  I guess that should make Christmas next year extra special then :)

So, London really shuts down on Christmas Day.  It was pretty interesting to wake up to no traffic at all...in London - can you imagine?  That is like no traffic in New York City, which is unfathomable.  We headed to the main part of the hostel for breakfast as usual and then went for a walk around town.  I cannot remember the route exactly but we walked around Southwark on the southern side of the Thames river and then crossed over the walk around the area at St. Paul's Cathedral, the monument for the fire of London (by Christoper Wren, I believe), and the Tower of London.

But, there were actually a lot of people out!  Mostly foreigners and visitors like us wandering around on Christmas morning, but also a few British families out for a walk between meals (at least that is what I was imagining).  And, there were a few restaurants open - but not Starbucks, if you can believe it - and it would have been the perfect time to stop for a coffee and just sit for a while.  Where is Starbucks where you need them??  Luckily, we went shopping at Marks and Spencer the evening before and had all sorts of food to eat during the day.  Some tasty focaccia bread with three different toppings, hummus, clementines, and more.  Tasty!  In the evening we hung out at the main part of the hostel a little bit and had some Christmas pudding and a Christmas ale that we also bought.  Unfortunately, neither was very good.  Avoid Christmas pudding!!

And, thus ended our Christmas day in London (at least as far as I can remember one week later!).

Saturday, Dec. 26th

This was Boxing Day.  I am not sure what exactly that is, but it is a big holiday here.  So, lots of things (museums) still were not open.  So what did we do???
- buckingham palace (just walked by)
- portobello market and wandered around notting hill
- sat in starbucks for a while and then saw the show Stomp (very good and a great price - plus a fun bead store was around the corner)
- at dinner afterwards at a good Chinese place

Sunday, Dec. 27th

Today pretty much was a bummer because we spent ALL day trying to figure out what happened to Anna's bag.  Emails and phone calls for at least an hour in the morning and then decided to go back to Heathrow one more time.  We were concerned because when we tried to check on the status of the bag, the online system no longer showed the record (before it has said tracing or sent to delivery company).  This definitely wasn't good because on the 24th it said that it had gone from the airport to the baggage delivery company and would be delivered that day, which is clearly was not.  We spent an hour on the tube going to Heathrow and had several discussions with KLM staff at the airport.  Luckily they were more helpful this time, but it still didn't lead to anything good.  At least we got several numbers for the baggage company (no one answered any of them, of course) and even a name and cell phone number for the operations manage of the company (progress!).  Even though I felt really, really annoyed about losing a whole day to this crap, I kind of felt better - like a weight had been lifted.  I just had to accept that the bag was gone and that was it.  Who knows why I was so upset about all of this.  I shouldn't have been because it wasn't even my bag or really my stuff (just some ib profen and the netbook for me to replace the computer that broke).  I think it was because things were just not going as planned and because I was really looking forward to getting the computer.

Since we decided the bag was either lost or eventually going to be shipped back to the U.S., we went to Oxford Street to get a few things to tide Anna over.  Shockingly, everything closed at 6pm on a Sunday, and we only managed to grab a t-shirt and cardigan from one store because the whole place closed down.

There also weren't any shows on Sundays, so we just walked around for a little bit and got something to eat at grocery store across from hostel.

Monday, Dec. 28th

Since we finally decided the bag wasn't coming, we spent the morning shopping so that Anna could replace some of her clothes.  Oxford Street was a nightmare - people everywhere and stores torn to bits!  Anna managed to get some socks and underwear, and then we headed back to Camden Market for some more interesting clothes.  She got a couple really cute tops there.  Since we had been earlier in the week, we took off after that and went back by the dorm to drop off the bags of clothes.  We went to the main building to check on emails from the baggage company but had nothing (shocking).  But the real surprise was that Anna's bag was waiting there for us!?!  Can you believe it?  And, everything was in it.  Boy were we surprised...and delighted!  I wonder what possessed them to say it was delivered on the 24th when it clearly was not?  Did they think we would just accept that even though we definitely didn't get the bag?  So strange.  I guess we just needed to harass the operations manager with enough emails and phone messages....

We still had enough time left in the day to squeeze in a few museums, and we were able to go to a few that I hadn't been to before...yay!  First, we went to the Museum of London.  I was excited about it, but it wasn't all that I was hoping for.  It started with the prehistory era and went through the stone and bronze age and then up to the Roman conquest of the area and the middle ages, etc.  All the way to the fire of London.  It was a nice set-up, and great for kids (I think - there were lots of kids there at least), but I really wish it had kept going.  I wanted to learn more about the fire and all the stuff that happened after that.  I have learned a little about the royalty stuff, but it would be nice to know more.  The museum is working on all of that, and the modern exhibits will open in the spring.  Too late for us though :(

After that museum, we had just enough time to rush over to the National Portrait Gallery (hard to find).  I am glad we went there because it was a part of London that Anna hadn't seen yet - Trafalgar Square, etc.  Also, it was a fabulous museum.  It would be nice to spend just a little more time there, but I am just glad that we got to go at all.  It really was all portraits, which were grouped both chronologically and topically.  Many were people I hadn't heard of (you probably only knew them if you were British and learned them in school), but I still knew lots of the others.  It was neat to see paintings of all the kings and queens and then people like Isaac Newton, the Bronte sisters, the famous poets, etc.  Very cool!

Following the museum we kind of wandered for a bit....