I REALLY wish the Brits believed in AC. I'm hot as hell right now as I sit in the hostel lounge blogging this entry. I'm also really tempted to go get a strawberry water from the 24 hour deli down the street. Hmm. London problems, right? Anyways, we had a great day that started off with a little Beatles action and ended with some absolutely KICKASS pizza. Shall we proceed?
The original plan was to be up at 10 and out of the hostel at 11. Like I've said before, we've had a lot of late nights followed by early mornings. We're trying to make sure we get enough sleep at night, hence the late starts, but I'm at a point now where I just don't care. I used to work for Starbucks AND I went to law school, if I can't run on little to no sleep, who can, right? Plus last time I checked, we're in London DURING THE OLYMPICS. I will not say YOLO (acronym for "you only live once," Mom and Dad!), but, you get the drift. I'll sleep when I get back. And on the train to Paris next week.
I woke up at 8:30 so I would have plenty of time to wash and straighten my hair. I have to let my hair air-dry here in England because the stupid plugs fried my hair dryer last week when I tried to use it. Nothing particularly dramatic happened, I plugged the dryer (via the adaptor) into the wall, bent down for a second and heard a really loud "POP!" I unplugged the adaptor and the dryer and both gadgets smelled like they were burning. The adaptor hasn't worked since.
Straightening my hair took a little longer than usual, which was fine because Amy didn't wake up until close to 11, anyways. We left the hostel close to noon and stopped at the 24 hour deli before getting on the Tube. Something I've noticed here that I really love is that the food is so... fresh. Nothing seems processed here, and fruits and veggies are easily accessible everywhere you go. Last night for dinner I had a "meal deal" from Boots (convenience store- I suppose equivalent to Walgreen's) of bowtie pasta with chicken and pesto. This morning at the deli I got a strawberry water and a chicken samosa, which they prepare fresh each day along with a number of other assorted pastries. The samosa was just chicken and veggies in a pastry shell. Simple, semi-healthy, so different from the fast food you get in the states and really good.
Between the deli and the Tube is a little makeshift Farmers Market. Amy picked up some fresh raspberries from one of the vendors and we got on the Tube to go one stop over and check out a piece of music history.
Abbey Road is one stop up from us at St. John's Wood. We walked about five minutes down the road before seeing the throngs of people staring and taking pictures of the street. If it weren't for the throngs of people, or if you just so happened to live under a rock, Abbey Road would just look like any other street out there.
The thing about Abbey Road is that it is still a fully functioning- well- road. If you want to take a picture walking across, you have to look both ways and pose quickly, otherwise you risk getting smashed by a double decker bus. It cracked me up to see tourists strike a pose and then scurry away as oncoming traffic approached. Some of the oncoming traffic was understanding and would pause and allow people to cross. Other cars, however, weren't so forgiving and would stop and sit on their horns until people moved on. I imagine that at some point, you have to accept that its a tourist attraction and just brake and be understanding. But I see the other side of the argument, as well. Don't be an idiot and stand in the middle of the road. I get it. I totally get it.
Amy and I each took turns traversing Abbey Road, and then proceeded to the wall outside of Abbey Road Studios.
I signed, too!
After Abbey Road, we stopped at a little Beatles shop outside St. John's Wood station. I got an Abbey Road postcard, an Abbey Road sticker and a Beatles coin purse. We're gonna have to go back, though, because I have a sneaking suspicion that I'm not done doing damage there.
We headed back to the hostel briefly to let our cameras charge (they always seem to go low battery on the same days), and then re-boarded the Tube and head out to see the Tower Bridge. Once we got off at the London Bridge station, we crossed the street and walked up to a bridge. Amy told me to turn right, at which point I honestly had an "I can't believe I'm seeing this with my own two eyes" moment.
We took the Queen's Walk alongside the Thames and stopped once we got closer to the bridge to take a few pictures.
Alongside the bridge was a large screen showing cycling. People were sprawled out on the grass watching together as the Time Trials were conducted. We stayed and watched for a few minutes before catching the Tube back to Greenwich for more gymnastics.
Remember how I said the lobby of North Greenwich Arena was a good place for schmoozing with fellow members of the gymnastics community? Today did not disappoint.
John Orozco and I now have TWO things in common:
1. We're both from New York;
2. We have both awkwardly side-hugged Andrea Joyce.
We headed to a place called Thai Silk to eat lunch and watch the meet. I had Thai-style sweet and sour chicken- which was basically just rice, chicken and TONS of veggies in a sweet and sour sauce. SO GOOD. I had a few issues to tend to back home, so I had to spend the entire first rotation standing completely still in the ONE place in the O2 where I get decent wifi. I came back to see that Amy had made friends with two older British ladies sitting next to us. They were hilarious- asking us questions about gymnastics and teasing me for leaving Amy alone for so long. Everybody has been so incredibly nice here. I feel like everyone we meet is genuinely happy to be talking to us about everything from Texas, to the Olympics to recommending places to see and things to do here in London. Love it.
The meet got off to a slow start for Team USA. Amy told me Danell and John both hit floor. Midway through the second rotation, they didn't show John's routine, but instead showed him sitting on the side crying as his pommel score flashed on the screen: 12.33. John Orozco is the men's team equivalent to Aly Raisman for me. I can't take it when he cries. When Aly cries, I cry, but when John cries, I just want to jump through the screen and give him a hug. Everyone knew after that point that our only hope for a medal would be Danell.
Kohei Uchimura was his usual, insanely good, cat-like self. If you haven't seen his vault yet, please YouTube it. Its sick. And that is an understatement.
We switched back to American Bar & Grill after the coverage switched to BBC2, which the Thai restaurant apparently didn't have. Anyways, Danell had solid routines all throughout the meet, but somehow remained in the double digit positions such as 10 and 19. Finally, towards the end, he began to gain some ground. After the last rotation, we were thrilled to see him sitting in silver medal position behind Uchimura. He ultimately got bumped from 2nd by Marcel Nguyen of Germany (I know, Germany? But OMG what a meet Nguyen had!), but I am still SO thrilled for Danell that he earned a bronze medal.
After the meet, I traded a pin with a South Korean gymnast and we headed back to our now post-meet ritual: Oxford Street! I reloaded my mobile phone, we headed to Selfridge's to deal with ANOTHER card issue, and we browsed the 5th floor of John Lewis to see if there was any more Olympics swag we wanted to buy. I ended up buying a tennis pin since we couldn't find any at Wimbledon earlier this week. I also traded a pin with an Argentinian gymnast. All in all, it was a good day for pins.
We left John Lewis around 9 (and Amy stopped at a stand to buy a nutella and banana crepe- which I may have to try now) and caught the Tube to Finsbury Park to meet up with my friend Russell for dinner. Russell and I went to high school together at Plano West, and he is now getting his Masters in piano performance here in London. He took us to an Italian restaurant called Pizzeria Pappagone.
I was still a little worked up from dealing with the issues back home and originally thought I was too worked up to eat. Once the food came, however, it looked far too good to pass up.
Pizza with pepperoni, black olives, ham and mushrooms.
Linguine with crab, asparagus and tomato. SO GOOD.
Us with Russell! Good to catch up with old high school buddies. So crazy that we're all adults now!
We left Russell around 11:30 and returned to the hostel about midnight. I went up and got my stuff and that brings us to now. I really need to go to bed, though, because it is 3 AM here, and we have an event at 9:30 in the morning!
OH- and just to update you. I am happy to say that I got my North Greenwich Arena pin today:
Like I said yesterday, North Greenwich Arena will always be special to me now.
Tomorrow we have volleyball at 9:30 AM followed by the Women's All-Around at 4:30. Leave me comments! Miss y'all... catch you tomorrow! GO GO USA (especially Aly and Gabby!)!!!
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