Primark and Phoenix

March 31, 2010

Kelsie left me… for France. At 5AM on Monday morning, she caught the tube to King’s Cross and then the Chunnel to Paris. I gave her a few tips for Paris, not that I know that much about the city. Everything is great there. You can’t not have fun. Kelsie, if you are reading this, you better have gone to the top of the Arc du Triomphe at night or we’re not friends anymore. Just kidding… I’m sure you are having a great time while I’m still here doing homework. Not really. I’m procrastinating. Doing every possible thing I can instead of working on my presentation for history class. I even did laundry! I must be desperate if I’m doing laundry… And now I’m here, writing this blog, which should take up a good hour. Perfect.

On Sunday morning, a big group of us headed across London to the east side and more specifically Whitechapel. We got off at Aldgate East and headed straight for Petticoat Lane Market. And we never looked back. I attempted to barter with the vendor guys but I’m no good at that. Linette, I need you! I bought a shirt and a dress. All the clothes in Petticoat in are either stolen from department stores or damaged so the department stores don’t want them anymore. You’ve got to be careful about what you buy and make sure you wash it before you wear it. There are racks and racks of clothes to sort through. It is so much fun.

Next, we headed over to Spitalfields Market. This one is a bit more legit. The entire complex was built over an ancient Roman burial ground by the Tudors and is a huge shopping center today. Why not? There are a few stores and restaurants surrounding the big arcade where the market lives on the weekends. Mostly crafts and accessories, I didn’t get anything here but a latte. Yum. After Spitalfields we found Diagon Alley from Harry Potter… not really, but we saw the place where they filmed it on our way to the bus stop. We also showed Kelsie a few of the spots in the East End that are synonymous with Jack the Ripper. The pub where he picked up his last victim. The place where they found the body of his second victim… scary! We got out of there fast. Not really, it’s a really nice area now, just not so much 100 years ago. We hopped on the double-decker at Liverpool station and sat at the top so Kelsie could see the town as we road to Piccadilly for more shopping. There was this terrible man in a wheelchair who kept yelling at the bus driver. He was so mean! Poor driver – just doing his job. I could never drive one of those huge buses. No one in this city knows how to drive. Except the cab drivers. And they drive like crazy people!

We got off at Piccadilly and headed to this huge, touristy shop called Cool Britannia. It is amazing. And hilarious. They have absolutely everything you could ever want with the Tube map, the Union Jack, or the Queen’s face on it… Seriously everything. We walked up Regent Street next. And then Carnaby Street to Oxford Circus. So much shopping! I love London! At Oxford Circus lives the biggest H&M I’ve ever seen. Seriously, death to my savings account every time I step into that store… Ugh. We headed down Oxford Street, stopping at a few stores on the way. Oxford, Regent, and Carnaby are the epicenter of shopping London, maybe Europe. You can’t walk down any of them without buying a million things. And at the end of Oxford Street sits the holy grail of cheap retail shopping: Primark. Nothing in that store is over 10 pounds, I swear. There are always about 10,000 people inside, but that is part of its charm – screaming, pushy girls and their boyfriends who were forced to tag along. I love it! I got four shirts, one dress, and a scarf for 14 pounds.

We got a bit worn out after Primark. Is there such a thing as too much shopping? I didn’t think so until that day. Exhausted, we headed across Hyde Park toward our flat. It was sunny and beautiful. Hal and I showed Kelsie the Marble Arch, the Serpentine (which is either a river, pond, or lake, and I can’t figure out which one), Kensington Gardens, the Diana memorial, and Prince Albert Memorial. Good end to a busy day I think.

We went out for ice cream, but then had an early night. I had to write a paper and Kelsie needed to leave the flat by 5AM the next morning. Somehow, our early night turned into pretty late one. Kelsie couldn’t sleep, I skyped my mom and the Campbells in the bathroom before finishing a paper. I love Skype! It was so good to see the Campbells! And Mom, of course.

And compared to Sunday, the last two days have been pretty boring. I’ve had class and homework. I’m pretty much ahead of schedule now so when Amy, Mom, and Grandma come I won’t need to do any class work while they are here. Way to go me.

Last night, Hal, Viv, and I did go to a concert in Camden. We saw a band called Phoenix that Viv especially loves, I like a few songs, and Hal was pretty much indifferent. Just went along for the experience. And it was amazing. At the beginning, we had to stand around for quite a long time, but when Phoenix finally came on, I had the best time. They played my favorite songs first and last. I danced, got completely crushed when the lead singer appeared in the middle of the crowd and started singing, and got beer spilled on me! Whooo!

Amy, Mom, and Grandma are coming tomorrow and Friday! So excited for that.

Love, Kelly