First off let me just say how jealous we all are that it is 80 degrees in California... and the all time high in London at the moment is around the low 20's.... However, I would rather be freezing in London then hot in LA...
Anyways... now that have gone out every night and have talked with the locals, I feel I have the ability to share some of the information I have discovered thus far... I need to give the background on how I received this information first thou, because the story itself is good.
So this past Saturday, after I wrote my first entry, I decided that I needed to do something with my life after sleeping a good 12 hours. I took a shower and headed over to the boy's flat with a couple girls so we could plan out the evening. By this time it was around 11:30pm and looking highly unlikely that we would be doing anything. We were all still hopeful. After doing a little research online (a Google search of bars in our area that were open past 2am) one of the guys came across a bar called "the moose" which had pretty high reviews and was open until 3am on a Saturday. SOLD! Now, the question was, how do we get there. There is actually a web site that you can go on, kind of like mapquest, which you type in your starting and ending destinations and it tells you what buses to take. In order to get to this bar on Duke St. we had to walk to Great Russell Square (around the corner) get on the N(night)91, get off and get on the N87 then get off that and get on the N44. The boys were all about this little adventure. The girls, not so much. I think we made if half way through the N87 and decided it would be faster to take a cab. 10 minutes later we arrived at the bar, which consisted of a lounge area with tables and bar, and a downstairs that had a bathroom, coat check and a large room with another bar, dance floor, DJ and sitting area around the outside. The sitting area was the best part because it was a wrap-around couch with cow print. The music was old early 90's and the dance floor was packed with creepy guys who stair and dance by themselves. Lesson #1) In the UK, the really cute guys don't talk to you. They just stare at you from across the room. Apparently it is a British thing? Because the guys that actually do talk to you, are really persistent and creepy. So, in order to talk to the cute ones, when you find out they are staring at you, you have to approach them. After dancing a little with the girls, the boys finally showed up, around 2:15pm. Lesson #2) always have part of the group in the club/bar already if you know you are going to be late. An hour before closing, no one is aloud in if they are not already with someone. We then went to the bar for a couple of drinks. Lesson #3) ALWAYS ask for a double because the shots are smaller in the Europe AND they measure them. They don't understand the American concept of pouring heavy. 2 double gin and tonics later, we all went down for more dancing. Lesson #4) If you want to look less American on the dance floor, you have to dance with yourself and look like you are having a lot of fun. After a little while a friend and I were dance (beside) a couple of Scottish guys who had gone out for a friend’s birthday. I went to the bar with John (actually named Kevin, but goes by John because he likes it better, so I named him Kevin John) to get another drink and asked about the difference between a pub, a bar and a club. He explained it to me. Lesson #5) a pub is a place that you go to after work or class and met up with people. Sometimes you go for dinner as well. A bar is a place that you go to for the night to dance and hang out and drink. There usually no food served in a bar and the never really beer on tap. A club is a place to go to that you have to pay to get into, and usually for the purpose of dancing and picking up people. (Lesson #6) UK people don't "pre-game" their idea of drinking before they go out is going to a pub. Where they get all the money to do this is beyond me. 3am rolled around and we were kicked out of the bar. It was a good thing it wasn't any later because we all had a bus tour the next morning at 9am. I drank about 2 liters of water on the bus. Not my finest moment. Lesson #7) After a long night of drinking and having to get up the next morning for a 4 hour bus tour, it is TOTALLY worth it to buy a £9 hamburger. It may be expensive but the Brits know how to make a good hangover meal.
I hope this bit of information will help with your travels in the UK. LOVE and MISS you all!
xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment