Despite being rankled with sickness constantly, this time with a nagging bout of tonsillitis of some kind, I have not been disturbed from my peak of London-induced serenity. Each day has been an action packed, if not absolutely wonderful, experience—a trend that I hope continues long into the months that I aim to be here. 

Last we heard from me, I had explored the British Museum in all of its wonder and splendor. The hostel I was in at that time was on the edge of Hyde Park, right next to a bunch of foreign embassies and nearly sharing a wall with the Natural History Museum of London. Having a few hours before meeting up with some friends made in Berlin, I decided it would behoove me to once again look at dinosaurs and learn about the creation of the universe. This museum, as I’m sure you’ll notice from the pictures, is simply how you do it in terms of fun and visual spectacle. And, you know, Darwin was from here and everything, so they harp on that UNNECESSARILY.

Like I said—brutal. Totally amazing. I only devoted about a 1/3 of the time I wanted to, but friendship calls. More, AFTER the jump!

Later that day, I went down to the SoHo area to meet up with my friend William Nein so we could head to our friend Joe Gardner’s pub. Very Manhattany in feel, people just walk around in the smallish alleyways and watch a bunch of musicals.

We decided to head to a house party in southern London. It was more of an acoustic punk show, and it was next to an abandoned house. Despite one guy being a slag (new British slang), the party went off without a hitch. I heard he got kicked out anyway, because good things come to those who wait.

The next night, I met up with a few people I met on the empty cruise liner over here as they were exploring London by night. Seeing as I don’t have a cellphone, the chances of successfully meeting up with people are relatively slim, but nevertheless, it worked out. We met on the North end of Tower Bridge, the bridge that I think most people would call London Bridge. Hey. Turns out they’re different.

View of the River Thames from Tower Bridge while in search of fish and chips.

The bridge is right next to the Tower of London. Despite not being able to go in, the outside looks pretty badass at night.

If anyone is up for some late night forays through the halls of this place in search of the paranormal, let me know. People have been executed for hundreds of years in that place. Britain is pretty rife with tales of betrayal, usurpation, and monarchical wrangling, and a lot of it goes through this building.

Today, the 8th, was arguably the best day I’ve had so far on this trip. After switching to a hostel on Edgware Road, I found out that I was only a matter of minutes from Abbey Road Studios, where—ah, fuck it.

The pictures are a little dark because it was kind of rainy and shitty all day, and because I didn’t realize I was in night mode until it was too late. I’m a real David LaChappelle over here. Ansel Adams?

The cars had to stop and wait while tourists would run through and pose with exaggerated walking stances, since that is what the Beatles did on the actual cover. The motorists were good sports about it, or so it seemed. I can imagine most people avoid this stretch if they can.

I went from here down to Westminster Abbey and the Houses Of Parliament. Turns out some important shit was going on in the HoP, and therefore was closed to the public, but everything else down there is pretty remarkable to look at anyway. Big Ben, the London Eye, Westminster, and the HoP are all within a block of each other, and can be consolidated more or less into a single photograph!

This is an Occupy tent city that has established itself outside of the Houses of Parliament. The Lords and Dukes walked right passed them without giving it a second glance. This one is dwarfed in size by the one I saw later. More on that in a bit.

Bought a ticket into Westminster Abbey. Despite the fact that I lied about being a student to save myself 3 pounds and it was expensive overall, the place is basically a Greatest Hits of every single significant British person in forever. It feels almost like an attic where everyone wants to be buried—there are literally tombs or memorials everywhere you look.

No photographs were allowed obviously, and if there had been, you would’ve seen me recreating the Royal Wedding at the High Altar. It was a moving rendition that Audio Guide voice Jeremy Irons would surely refer to as “explosive” and “brave.”

Poet’s Corner was of particular interest to me, seeing as I was and AM a student of literature. This small slice of the grounds is the final resting place or tribute to some of the greats, including but not limited to: Chaucer, T.S. Eliot, Shakespeare, Tennyson, Rudyard Kipling, Lewis Carroll, Percy Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and Henry James. Hard not to feel completely insignificant when in the shadows of real geniuses.

Besides the poets and playwrights, Westminster Abbey is also home to most British Kings and Queens, and Darwin and Newton. The place is one of the oldest standing buildings in London, and has “Britain’s Oldest Door” from 1055. Not like seeing the world’s biggest thermometer on the trip to Vegas from LA, but still cool in its own right. I took these photos outside in the courtyard.

After a nice walk through centuries of history, I needed a prepared sandwich, and holy shit, this area should be listed on maps with just the word “goodness.” Just like that. Imagine the trouble I had with this display.

I had read about Michael Sheen starring as Hamlet at the Young Vic Theatre on the South Bank, and having checked it out online, only to see that every single performance was sold out, I wasn’t really holding my breath on seeing it. Nevertheless, I went down that way in the hopes of scoring a ticket. I approached the box office, and they had a 4th row seat available for a discount price, because one person had decided to cancel. One. I walked out of the box office was 4 hours to kill and a lot of excitement. I first stopped off at the renovated Globe Theatre.

The tour was an exorbitant price, and given that I had already taken one today, I figured it was best to put it off for another day. I gave a homeless guy with a dog a few pence before crossing the Millennium Bridge towards St. Paul’s Cathedral.

St. Paul’s Cathedral had a bit of a doozy on its hands with the Occupy gang hanging outside. They have a nice camp going down there. Banksy contributed the Monopoly Board artwork. Before you ask, no, I don’t know how he got it there.

I meandered around a bit, stumbling into different Starbucks and grabbing a bit of their WiFi while I waited. After checking out a map, I realized I was a mere block away from the Museum Of London, which frankly, I had read nothing on. I decided, given that it was free, to check it out.

Complete with artifacts dating back to the Romans, and plenty of stuff related to the Plague and the Great Fire of 1666, this place was chock full of fantastic. Despite having to rush through it, I’m glad I went, and it definitely is worthy of re-visiting soon. One of the highlights for me was a prison cell taken from the Tower Of London. It had been carved by tons of prisoners over the years.

After all was said and done, made my way BACK across the Thames to the Young Vic, where Michael Sheen as Hamlet awaited. Michael is one of my favorite actors, and most recently has starred in Frost/Nixon, Midnight In Paris, The Queen, and a number of other things. The space was tiny, and I neglected to take a picture of it for some reason. Technical difficulties that delayed the show aside, it was truly maddening, insane, and really a joy to watch. This rendition took place in some type of asylum, so there was plenty of people throwing pills before the stage rose into the air and they had a sword fight in a sandpit. I got really lucky there.

Taking today off to rest a bit and do some more work, which means another day of Starbucks bliss.

Here’s the rest: