Okay. So, understandably, after two days of go-go-going right after three days of noisy, sweaty sleep and that long, jet-laggy flight, I was pretty exhausted come my fourth day in this British capital city. And the only thing I had planned was a show on the West End in the evening. So, I did what any sensible person would do, and I SLEPT IN.
I slept in real good. I think I got something like thirteen hours of sleep. I guess it takes three nights to acclimate to an uncomfortable sleeping environment and to become so tired that the environment just seems to matter a little less. I only barely woke up when the custodian came in to mop the floors and change the bedsheets of those tenants who had checked out at eleven. And then I fell back asleep again.
And even when I woke up enough to be on my phone, I still didn’t get out of bed. That didn’t happen until two in the afternoon.
The reason I finally pulled myself out of bed was because I was almost out of clean underwear and was entirely out of clean clothes, which meant I really needed to do laundry. So, I hauled myself out of bed, gathered my things, and ran down to the laundry room, hoping desperately the one washing machine would be empty for me.
I sunk in utter defeat when I saw an “OUT OF ORDER” sign posted to the washer.
Remember when I said I thought about doing laundry earlier in the week and regrettably decided to do it later? That decision was coming back to haunt me.
Out of options and in need of underwear, I asked the front desk when the machine might be fixed. They didn’t have a real answer to give, but suggested I go over to their other hostel a few blocks away. So I put a dress on, slipped on my shower flip flops, and headed out into the hot, sunny spring day with my laundry. At the other hostel, though, it was more expensive to use the machines, and there was no sign posted about how long the wash and dry cycles were. I also hadn’t eaten anything yet, so I was starving, and since I wasn’t a guest at this hostel, I would need to be buzzed into the laundry area every time I left and returned.
I hemmed and hawed for several minutes, trying to decide if this was really the way I wanted to spend my Thursday, and in the end, I decided it was not. I would wear a used shirt or two and do my laundry in Scotland the next day. Nothing wrong with that. I still had two pairs of clean underwear, after all.
So, I was back to square one at my hostel, in a dress I wore a few days ago, wearing already-used socks, and, as my sister likes to say, I was free-boobin’ it.
I was feeling pretty sunny.
My first order of business was breakfast/lunch/early dinner at an Indian restaurant I’d been eyeing near my hostel. It was already late enough that I had to order off the ‘early dinner special’ menu instead of the ‘lunch special’ menu. I ordered chicken tikka masala, chicken curry, and naan. All was delicious, including my book. Seriously. If you haven’t read Eleanor & Park, do it. I’ve waited six years to read it, and honestly, I’m happy I did, because it resonated with me in ways it wouldn’t have six, or even two, years ago. But still, you should read it. It was worth the wait.
After brulinner™, I remembered I’d never been to the Tate Modern, so that’s where I went! My college roomie spent a lot of time at the Tate when she did a mini art-focused study trip in London in 2015, so I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. I had the whole top deck of my double decker to myself on the way there. (I like to take the bus even when the underground is faster, as long as I’m not in a rush, just to get the views.)
The main photo for this post is from this bus ride. I don’t think you’d ever see me smile that wide on the Underground!
When we passed by an ambulance, I imagined it was being driven by the London ambulance driver from a book I read recently; his name was Ambulance Sam.
When I was dropped off on the other side of the Thames, I walked along the water for a little while, enjoying the sun and the views.
And then I made it to the Tate!
Housed in a very industrial building, this museum was big into accessibility. There was an entire exhibit focused on how to get the most out of your visit. It asked visitors to pay attention to colors, shapes, and feelings, and to take their time.
Personally, I was trying to embody the practice of ‘slow looking.’ If you’ve ever been to a museum with me, you know I do this already, but I’ve been trying to do so even more thoughtfully.
This kid was looking real slow at this piece:
He was straight up mesmerized. Hahaha.
And there were pretty views!
The Tate Modern is actually split up into two wings. I was in the side that had four floors, but the other side has ten floors with a viewing platform at the top. I never made it over to that side, but the views were just peachy looking out at the Thames.This was supposed to be my last exhibit:
But then I spotted a bronze cast of Little Dancer by Degas and I ended up in the contemporary exhibit for another ten minutes.
I even saw a different version of this exact painting just the day before in Oxford! That was fun:
And then I finally ran out. I was a bit rushed to get all the way across town.
Whyyyy? Because I had tickets to a show! Come From Away! I’ve been wanting to see this show for a while, but I haven’t gotten the chance. I did end up being a little bit late, unfortunately. I walked in right as the first song was about to start, but they made me wait until the song was over to go inside.
LOVED THE SHOW, though. I only knew a very little about it, so I actually thought it was about a plane crash. In reality, it was about the immediate aftermath of 9/11 and the grounding of planes resulting in 31 planes having a forced landing in Newfoundland, Canada. It was jarring, touching, horrifying, nostalgic, and emotional. I cried and laughed a lot.
Afterward, I was understandably tired, but I also hadn’t really spent any time in the nightlife of London, and I was right in my favorite night spot: the West End, Chinatown, and the Piccadilly Circus. It’s just a fun, lively area to walk around, so I did just that.
And then I slept.I had an early morning, though! I recommend taking the train to Edinburgh from London if you can, but they were too expensive by the time I was looking, so I decided to fly. I had to catch a bus at six in the morning to take me to the airport, and it frustratingly sat for twenty minutes at its second stop before continuing on. But whatevs.
I was pretty nasty in another second-day outfit and my hair was doing some cray cray business, but I got the window seat in a row all to myself, so I was happy on the inside!
The cherry blossoms were blooming here, too, but all the ones I could see in Edinburgh were a beautiful, rich rosy pink, as opposed to the very light baby pink of the cherry blossoms in New York or the nearly white blossoms in Seattle. I think I like this rich pink color the best.
We drove past some fancy high schools on the way into town.
I dropped by my hostel to drop my stuff off, but check-in wasn’t allowed until two, and it was only eleven, so I couldn’t settle in at all. I plopped down on a couch in the lobby to determine my plan of attack on my only real day in the city when an Indian girl walked up and asked if I wanted to join her and some others for brunch. Honestly, I had just finished forming my plan for the day, and it had not included brunch with a bunch of strangers, but that’s just what happens when you’re travelling sometimes! So, off we went. It’s killing me that I can’t remember her name exactly because I only heard her say it twice, but I *believe* it was Shrivanka. I really hope I’m not completely off. Maybe I will call her “S” so that I do not risk calling her the wrong name for an entire blog post.
S grew up in the States and was working in the UK. She was just in Edinburgh for the Easter weekend. She went on to explain that our brunch was part of a Couchsurfing meet-up. Couchsurfing is an online community of travelers looking to connect with locals and other travelers while they go around a city or an area. One main function of the site is to connect travelers with locals who are willing to host people for free, in whatever accommodations they have, which may sometimes mean that what is offered is an air mattress or a couch. Hence the name. What I didn’t know is that the site also offers a platform for people to meet up for hang-outs, day trips, and full on adventures with other lonely nomads looking to make some friends along the way. We met up with a boy from South Africa living in the UK and a boy from India who was just visiting Scotland.
I ate French toast with bananas and whipped cream, and I shared a pot of tea with the South African boy. All yummy, and we had some good chit chat about crazy travel stories from our past.
After brunch, I was planning on resuming my original day’s plan, but the group was up for adventuring, minus the South African boy who had to meet up with his sister, so off we went in search of a museum!
For some reason, a meal delivery service was giving out free Burger King, so we celebrated the weather with some free fries.
The weather was so gorgeous that we couldn’t stay away from the wide city park sitting under the impressive shadow of Edinburgh Castle. It seemed the whole town was in that park just soaking up the rays.
Can’t blame them! I was both mesmerized and puzzled by this sad elephant sculpture. He was just so sad…
This cute little house was called Aunt Lizzie’s, and S made me take a picture in front of the welcome sign. I didn’t get a copy from her though! Drat.
Then up to the Scottish National Gallery!
This quaint little museum only has a few wide open rooms, but I think that makes it easier to enjoy looking at the whole collection without feeling rushed or pressured. We wandered slowly and were able to see the whole thing in a little over an hour. If you just walked normal speed through the rooms, you could probably do the stroll in under ten minutes. That is not true of the Louvre, that’s for sure!
^This is a painting of Edinburgh from back in the day.
The bottom floor contained a lot of landscapes and some portraits.
I really like picking out places I recognize, and Venice is always one of the easiest to spot (and one of the most popular to paint)!
I loved the colorful walls.The second floor was even smaller than the first, and it contained a few fun Impressionist works, so I liked it up there.
Van Gogh, Gauguin, Degas, you name it!
Here are a couple other works and scenes I really enjoyed:
After this cultural excursion, I wanted to go to the botanical gardens, but S needed to charge her phone and drop some things back at the hostel, so we said our goodbyes to our other Couchsurfing buddy and weaved our way back to the hostel.
On our way back, we walked by so many wedding parties posing for pictures!
I didn’t need to charge my phone, so I went on an extra trip to St. Mary’s Cathedral which was just down the street from our hostel. It was nice to have such a tall beacon to help me find my way back to my hostel during my stay.
When I got back to my hostel to check in, I was amused to see that the rooms had the infamous triple stack bunk beds.
Sometimes, hostels will build these into the wall, and those are usually both sturdier and roomier, but these were like little IKEA triple bunks, and there wasn’t even room for me to sit up if I chose either the bottom or middle! Unfortunately, I wasn’t thinking straight when I picked my bunk, so I chose the middle spot…. Seriously, what was I thinking? I think my idea was that I didn’t want to wake the people beneath me by climbing out of the top bunk in the early morning, but I really flubbed there. If you ever find yourself faced with this choice, take the top bunk so you can sit up and breathe! Luckily, the beds were surprisingly comfy for sleeping.
In the end, S decided to go shopping instead of joining me in the gardens, but that was fine. We wished each other well and set off on our own!
On my way to the gardens, though, I ended up on a street lined with secondhand clothing shops, and I couldn’t resist nipping into them! But all is well. I ended up only buying one really cozy striped sweater dress for a whopping FOUR POUNDS, which is like buying a $5 dress plus tax! Uh… Score! (This would come to seem an even better purchase by the next day. You’ll see why later.)
I had a little trouble finding the gardens because I was working off a paper map, and the streets were winding and hilly, but eventually, I made it!
Free entry, and they let me in without question even though it was 45 minutes to close. That’s two points to Edinburgh, zero to Oxford.
Everything was so pretty! These gardens were huge and sprawling, so I certainly did not have time to see the whole thing. I decided to head over to a fun looking area with lots of little paths and water features, and I did not regret this decision. There was even another wedding!
I really wanted to sneak into the wedding. Everyone was beautifully dressed to the nines, and some of the ladies were even wearing fancy hats and fascinators! Gah! They shocked me about ten minutes later by parading out of the gardens, led by a blaring bagpipe. I’m not sure I’ve ever seen such a grand exit with my own eyes. There was one moment where one of the ladies kept yelling, “YAAAAASSS QUEEEEN!” But besides that, it was all class.
I was pretty sure we would be kicked out soon, so I decided to just dawdle around this pretty area.
I mean, really. You can’t get much better than this! After another little while, just as I’d predicted, the “you’re kicked out” routine started up. At the Huntington Gardens in LA, the groundskeeper quietly drives around on his golf cart and tells people to pack up or hop on. In Florence, a blaring, automated, no-nonsense woman announces repeatedly that THE GARDENS ARE NOW CLOSED; PLEASE PROCEED TO THE NEAREST EXIT. Here, though, a man with the lungs of a horn player just walked around on foot yelling, “GAAARDEEENSSSSS CLOOOOOOSED,” at the top of his voice, with no aid of loudspeaker or microphone. After a few minutes, another woman started to ring what sounded like a dinner bell to help him out. It was all pretty adorable.
Before I’d left the downtown area, I had stopped at the grocery store for some picnic dinner supplies. Since I didn’t have time to eat at the gardens, I walked along a little creek that led back to town and found a spot on a log to eat my dinner snack.
I also worked on a New York blog while I was sitting there with the calm trickling of the water next to me. Ha! Gosh it’s so easy to get behind on these things. Did you know it takes me about 4-8 hours to do a blog? Never less than four, but often more than eight if I’m having technical difficulties with picture uploads. It really is a time suck, so that’s why I get behind sometimes. Although, I must say, it would be actually impossible to blog about a place while simultaneously experiencing that place. Sometimes I get so proud about posting a blog the day after I leave a city, and then my mom will complain that I’m behind! Does she think I’m Hermione or something??? Hard to say.
I had a very pleasant walk back though town again, but once the sun went down, it cooled off really quickly, so I was all wrapped up on my over shirt.
Yes yes. A lovely day indeed, even if it didn’t go quite as planned. It’s hard not to go with the flow when the weather is so nice. Back at the hostel, my mission was to do some laundry, and then…. Guess what?! The hostel had two washing machines, and one was out of order, so they couldn’t let guests do laundry or they wouldn’t be able to wash all the linens and things that are necessary for turning the beds around!!! This meant I was finally out of clean undies, but it also meant I was grateful that I at least had a brand new, clean outfit to wear the next day. Just to be sure though, I researched to be absolutely, one hundred percent positive that I could do my laundry the next evening. It was either that or another shopping trip. So thank goodness for my next hostel. More to come on that later, though.
Slàinte mhath/ best wishes,
-Lizzy-wa
PS – You’ll never guess how to pronounce that first word in my Scottish well-wishing. There’s a story to come for that!