Solo Trip into London

August  11, 2005

Well, it was along day so I'm just gonna get to it. I got ready this morning. I wasn't going to eat breakfast but since I hadn't had anything since breakfast yesterday, I thought it might be a good idea. I just grabbed a roll and some fruit. I walked to the bus and got a train into London. I got off at King's cross and caught the Victoria line to Green Park (which is not very green). 

I wandered around for a while after asked directions- I realized I turned left instead of right so I retraced my steps and found Buckingham Palace. 

I stood there for an hour then I got to see the changing of the guard. It was neat. It was crowded though. I saw the Beefeaters Band and all their little march-y drill stuff. I didn't actually see the guards change though. hmmm... oh well.

So I left when it was over and went back to the tube. I told someone I needed to get to Surrey. They put me on the right tube- then I had to get a train. It seemed no one knew how to get where I needed to get. So I rode around on train for a couple of hours trying to get to Surrey. Someone at church mentioned Godstone Station so that was my focal point. I figured if I could get there, someone would help me the next step.

So I got to Godstone- and it's just a glorified bus stop. No one works there! So I walked to a post office/mini mart and asked for directions to the Mormon church. The guy told me it was a half hour walk so to call a taxi. Fine. So I called a taxi but he was a half hour away. So I thought- fine- I'll just walk. I hoofed it. There was nothing. I asked directions again and no one knew. So I have up. I was really disappointed not to get to the temple, but I guess It was better I didn't. If it was that much of a hassle to get there, it would have been  just as bad getting back. 

stranded at Godstone Station

So I sat at the "station" for the the next train. When it came I noticed that it went into London, so I just stayed on it. Stupid! I should have retraced my stops back to Victoria station. I finally reached my destination at 4:00 and had to pay extra fare for nothing! grr... So the whole ordeal took about 4 hours. Oh well. I saw a bunch of England I've never seen before- and I'll probably never see again. 

Anyway, I caught a tube to Tottenham court road and road and walked around Soho till I found the theatre for Les Mis. I found it- so I thought I'd just spend the next few hours shopping around in Soho. I ate at a Chinese place (duh). I was doing ok with chopsticks- but these are bigger and slippery so they had mercy on my and brought me a fork. It was good. I miss Idaho Chinese though.

I just wandered around and shopped. I bought a couple of t-shirts and a thing for Val to put in her Chinese bedroom. I bought some scarves for me and as i was walking through Chinatown I saw pomegranates! Tricia has been looking high and low for for pomegranates so I bought a bag of them for her. It was getting close to show time so I meandered back to the theatre. I stopped at a pub on the way and got some water. 

I went into the show. I was right in the middle under the first balconey. Still, I had a killer seat. The show was amazing. It was everything I wanted it to be. I Bawled! They guy next to me was probably annoyed. oh- It was just good! I love love loved it! Sigh... when it was over I lingered a bit to miss the crowds, then bought a couple of things and went to the tube.

I was at Piccadilly Circus and it took forever for the train to come. By the time it came there were a billion people to get on so It was really squished. Eventually we got to Kings Cross. As I walked toward my platform I noticed my train left in one minute so I ran and got on just as the doors were closing. Whew! The ride back to Cambridge was sooooo long! I my gosh I thought I was going to have to change my permanent address to that train car! 

Finally it stopped. I went to get a bus but they were all done for the night so I had to go to and ATM so I could get a taxi. He brought me just outside the college. Nice. I had to ring 50 times for the porter to let me in. There was a light on in Tricia's room so I went up. She sleeps with a light on. oops! I woke her up. but she was very happy to get her pomegranates. I'll have too report the rest to her tomorrow. I felt bad for waking her up. Anyway, I was hot, sticky and covered in London so I decided to take a shower. ahhh... now it's time for bed because tomorrow is busy too.

Goodnight!

Love, Heather