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So, the deal is this. We missed the ferry we'd intended to take because of issues we had finding each other in Haarlem, but the night ferry (which we had to pay extra for a cabin to sleep in) was a better idea anyway. The ferry was the swankiest hostel I've ever stayed in. We had our own cabin with a bathroom and shower and desk and mirrors everywhere, the upstairs restaurant had blue backlit tile ceilings, the two bars served fancy whiskey, the deck had ocean off it. It was awesome, and so dark when we turned out the lights that sleeping was easier than anywhere else we've been.
The train ride from Harwich to London was lovely, especially coming out of the coastal fog into the 7am ground-covering mist. I liked the Dutch countryside to bike through, but the bucolic English scenes slipping by the train windows are hard to describe without cliches, they were so gorgeous. The morning sun kissed the dew and the wisps of fog played beneath the laughing flowers, and all that.
We got to our hostel in London and it turned out that they were going to charge us for the night we hadn't used and Parker, who had paid, objected. He went off to find another hostel and Andrew and I paid a separate tab to stay here. Parker explored Soho and Andrew and I spent the afternoon at the National Gallery. Renaissance and late Medieval masterpieces galore. Sooo many great things to admire.
Parker met up with us again for dinner at the Oxford Circus tube stop, and we all walked down the fancy Regent Street shops looking for something Indian. We found it.
It's the most I've ever paid for a meal, but it was so good. And it was kind of an anthropological experiment; the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to as a customer and not singing. The waiters were so attentive it was almost uncomfortable; they spread our napkins in our laps for us, even. It was a trip. Also, I paid with the card and the boys cashed me back, so now I'm set for the week, probably.
My train for Exeter leaves at noon (Parker got a different one), so I don't know what I'll have time to do this morning, but if I just walk around it'll still have been a lovely London stay.
The train ride from Harwich to London was lovely, especially coming out of the coastal fog into the 7am ground-covering mist. I liked the Dutch countryside to bike through, but the bucolic English scenes slipping by the train windows are hard to describe without cliches, they were so gorgeous. The morning sun kissed the dew and the wisps of fog played beneath the laughing flowers, and all that.
We got to our hostel in London and it turned out that they were going to charge us for the night we hadn't used and Parker, who had paid, objected. He went off to find another hostel and Andrew and I paid a separate tab to stay here. Parker explored Soho and Andrew and I spent the afternoon at the National Gallery. Renaissance and late Medieval masterpieces galore. Sooo many great things to admire.
Parker met up with us again for dinner at the Oxford Circus tube stop, and we all walked down the fancy Regent Street shops looking for something Indian. We found it.
It's the most I've ever paid for a meal, but it was so good. And it was kind of an anthropological experiment; the fanciest restaurant I've ever been to as a customer and not singing. The waiters were so attentive it was almost uncomfortable; they spread our napkins in our laps for us, even. It was a trip. Also, I paid with the card and the boys cashed me back, so now I'm set for the week, probably.
My train for Exeter leaves at noon (Parker got a different one), so I don't know what I'll have time to do this morning, but if I just walk around it'll still have been a lovely London stay.