First Day in Cardiff

After we last posted, Jason and I headed off for a proper football game via the tube or London Underground. When we got to THE KINGS CROSS STATION a large group of Newcastle United fans loaded on fresh from a 3-4 hour train ride to go to the same game that we were. Some gents, spent the entirety of the train ride singing the teams songs. Got a video that I'll post to Facebook. Wanted to remain conspicuous so I only took one video but the boys were sloppy drunk. One even had a can in hand. 

Additionally, an entire family of Newcastle United fans came on too. Looks like a brother and sister, their father, uncle and grandfather. So adorable to see the lineage of sports.

After we got off the tube we walked en masse (some of us escorted by police!) through East End which was picturesque at moments ...

Here is our first look at the stadium. I noticed it was next to a catholic school. Hopefully on week day games the fans behave better than they do on weekends. There was some of the foulest cursing I have ever heard even in the songs right in front of children. Ugh!!

As we walked to the ticket window we passed what were clearly the players cars. Notice the lambo! There were also some fords. J said that those were the trainers. Lol

This is the entrance. I originally took this picture to laugh at how small the opening was but I think they do that because the seats are even smaller. It's like, if you can't fit through here good luck up there!!

J was so excited to be at a real premier league football game. We went in to the official kit shop and as we were leaving the sensor went off. The security officer made a big deal of stopping all the traffic and moving us out of the way. I'm pretty sure he then forgot about us because he let about a thousand other people exit, dealt Another alarm, turned to us and said "right, what?"

While we were QUITE far up, we had pretty good seats to see the whole of the field. I sat with one shoulder behind J to avoid touching the stranger next to me... Ugh. I fell asleep about 4 times from sheer exhaustion. After halftime J went to the loo and brought back a scalding hot cup of crappy coffee for me with 1 cream, 1 sugar and 1 stirrer that he dropped as he handed it to me. So I dumped it all in rolled up the sugar packet and stirred as best I could, praying nothing significant would happen in the game. If it had, and it did about 5 seconds after I finished and popped the kid back I in, everyone stands and yells and I would have worn the 200•F coffee. It literally taster terrible but it helped warm me up and wake me up again. (30 hours awake)

When the game was over we stopped for a picture with the building behind us which turned out to be a pretty terrible idea as we ended up being 4 blocks behind the entrance to the tube in a blockaded standstill line of people waiting for the same freaking train. Eventually we got directions to the next station and followed about 20 people there. About 10 yards in I realized we were heading for the next train down the line and would be boarding a train stuffed full of the people that remains at that station. We passed up 4 trains before we were able to get one. 

We decided to get off pretty arbitrarily (J claims he saw a lot of restaurants around here on yelp) apparently around London's Central Uni and quickly gave up for the warmth of the tube and decided to just eat nearer our hotel.  After getting on a different line, switching a few times, we found ourselves at a pub just off Praed St. (The main road our hotel is on) and we grabbed a table. In England (as this is true in Wales as well) you order at the bar, then they bring it to you. Sometimes you just get it yourself (at the real down home establishments as we would say). 

Even at the cafe to which we went for breakfast this morning: we went in, picked out what we wanted, they brought it out. This place was clearly particularly French and they didn't like talking about payment. We awkwardly asked when we paid and he said "later."

As we walked back to the station we passed so many fine dress shops. I had to take a picture of this, it's clearly one of the more posh parts of town.

I was totally wrong about Paddington. What I saw before was nearly the exit for the underground, when I saw how gorgeous the station itself was I knew Pop Pop would need to see it!! We camped out there for 2.5 hours because check out was at a whopping 10 am, they charge to keep your luggage, we didn't have a lot of time to go do something and come back for the luggage and Oh yeah!! Couldn't afford any of the above either. Le ugh. The station is totally open to the elements. Trains pull in and out on the main floor and pigeons fly above your head. We plopped down in the first seats we found and read for about an hour before J needed to walk. By the time he came back I was pretty freaking cold again and I went off to find the Starbucks that belonged to the litter I saw around our seat. (There is a shocking amount of litter. Like NYC, levels. If I lived in a town as historic and beautiful as London I would be fighting everyday to clean it up!) 

What I found was a section RIGHT BEHIND US that was enclosed and therefore WARM. Got myself a VENTI skinny hazelnut latte (thankfully they took AMERICAN gift cards so it was free for me, thanks Aunt S!) and made J come sit inside where it was warm. We decided to sit on the stone surrounding th Paddington Bear statue. Adorable English kids came up for photos and hugs. One said "I love you, Paddington Bear." Adorable!!

Finally we went to platform 4 and No Quarters and awkwardly boarded the train. We didn't know which of the 6 pieces of paper were our tickets when we checked in but we were lucky to board early and had space to put our heaping luggage. Yippee our first proper train ride!

There was a full train and some jolly welsh lady had her seat double booked. She didn't kick the other lady out, she just kept bouncing around until she realized there were no other seats. Then the porter stepped in and help out just as we pulled out of the station.

My phone filled up quickly after the videos I took of the countryside. So my last pictures are of our first stop Reading!! Pronounced Redding!!! Cute name for a pub and/or shop at the station.

Gorgeous clock tower adjacent!

The other photos I've snapped on J's phone so I'll have those up later after he's emailed me. Now we must unpack and find dinner. Hello Cardiff!!!

Love and cheers,

Brooke

First day in London!

Here is a brief synopsis of our first day of England!!!

Once we got out of customs and baggage we hopped on the tube (don't worry Pop Pop, we minded the gap!!!!) for Paddington Station. Yes the very same as Paddington bear. Though I cannot see why he got lost at this station. It's pretty bare.

(Exhausted but still happy.)

(At our transfer)

(Miniature door, maybe 3 foot [should I say a meter???] tall)

Then boom we popped out deep in the heart of tex-- I mean London. Almost barreled over by a double decker, our first   London experience!!!

We still found time for a photo op!

Just not a good one. Le ugh. Please do remember I have now been awake for a consecutive 22 hours and the world around me thinks it's 5 hours later than I want it to be. 

We hunted down our hotel and they stowed our luggage for a nominal £2.50 per bag. We (of course) had not yet exchanged currency, so we found a Barclay's ATM (in the global ATM alliance with Bank of America) and withdrew GBP. 

It's so pretty!!!

Then we walked a few blocks to THE HYDE PARK. 

As someone who reads every Trashy Romance Novel she can get her hands on, Hyde park is a big deal. Ohhhhh How I recognized landmarks!!! Rotten row! The Italian gardens! The serpentine! The Peter Pan statue!!! 

We saw so many astonishingly well mannered dogs (well duh, they're British!) that just trotted at their own pace somewhere in the general vincinity of their owners. Pepper would annoy these dogs so much!! 

One gentleman was walking his English bulldog (of course, right?) and stopped for a chat. Turns out his sister used to work at the Jefferson hospital outside cVille. He still has friends in Alexandria!!! He was very in the know about the crazy weather we've had. He agreed that we were lucky to come to mild and reliably wet England during the polar something something. Such a nice fellow!!!

At some point I became thoroughly exhausted from walking and being awake in general and we sat on a bench and watched dogs and people interact. It was lovely. 

Then we took a roundabout way back through a very posh neighborhood. We stopped in this small but stunner of a garden (they're everywhere!)

And had another photo op

Then we crashed at a mcDonalds until we could check in early for £20. This was very nice of them because we were supposed to wait til noon, but I was miserable at this point. I felt like a homeless person because I had not slept, bathed, changed my clothes, or brushed my hair in such a long time and we were walking around the city out of doors for at least 2 hours... It eventually gets cold! 

We were doubly lucky because when we paid for our early check-in, she waived our luggage fee. So sweet! We must have looked so desperate!

We made our way up to the room and I immediately took a shower. The hottest shower I have EVER had, and I usually ENJOY a scorcher!!! For the life of me, I could not figure out the shower system. Seriously. 

The knobs have buttons on them... For what I do not know. If you turn it too far in one direction the button pops back up. So I just kept pushing it back down. Both knobs have an image of gradually getting more of SOMETHING, but only the one on the right says anything.... 38• C, which is like 90•F?? Give or take? So is that the hot side? I have no idea. No. Freaking. Clue. I basically spent 20 min turning each knob in different directions hiding from the stream of water until I realized it was only getting worse so I commenced showering as quickly as possible but in a shower that small, it actually takes longer to get stuff done. Anyway. Needless to say I was glad to be done with it. What a stressful shower!

Last order of business before we head to a proper 'football' game. The toilets here have 2 buttons. I know this is to save water, one is for quick flushes, the other is for (um) heavier loads. But if you are say, a woman, and use toilet paper, is that a larger flush? Also WHICH BUTTON IS WHICH???

Ughhhhh!!

I lied, there's one more thing (besides how small the room is and how little comes with it for a whopping £60 a night!), the key actually is used to power the electricity so that you cannot waste any when you are not in the room. Awesome right!!!!

Yeah? I think so. J is used to his family leaving a TV on when they leave the room so that people will think they're there... I think his dad had something stolen one time. But I've always had a problem with how wasteful that was, so it's nice that England has taken the opportunity out of our hands.

Anyway!!! Now we're both clean, fresh and still really tired! So we'll go to the game, grab some proper pub grub then come back to bed. I'm hoping to go for a run tomorrow morning around Hyde park Before we head out to Cardiff. 

Cheers and Love,

Brooke