Once again in London ready for a Gig

I hadn't seen Julia in a while, and taking advantage of the fact that I was invited to a Temple Velocity Gig whose members where friends of Alejo, I invited her to join us and catch up a bit.

We met in Camden Town and after discussing what to do until the time of the gig, we decided to get some chocolate cookies at Sainsbury (they are soooo good) and some Polish fruity liqueur, and then we proceeded up Primrose Hill to get an impressive view of London. After a nice chat in the grass we headed back to Camden and to The Enterprise where the gig would take place. We got there a little late but got to hear a handful of songs that I found myself singing along to. Apparently I already knew the lyrics by heart because of the amount of times I had heard them on Alejo's Spotify account. A groupie without even knowing it. Btw, check them out on all the social and music media from Facebook and Twitter to Soundcloud and of course Spotify, you'll thank me!

Julia and I said hi to Alejo and after the gig we all headed downstairs to have a beer. There I met Pattra, a gorgeous girl from Thailand who had also attended the gig and was Alejo's classmate. From the moment we both ordered "dark as our soul" Guinness we had instant connection, so Julia, Pattra and I engaged in a nice chit chat. After a while Julia had to leave. This would be the last time we would see each other on this trip. We said goodbye with heavy hearts and promised to meet up again somewhere in the world soon, wherever that might be. I was introduced to the band and Lucian, the lead singer of the band, immediately Nicknamed me "Spacepants" (and continues to call me that) because I had a galaxy painted pair of leggings on. The band had to go but we had some time to chat and of course they were all charming and really fun to talk to.

I had originally invited Bassey to the event but he had other obligations, and so we met up with him, we being Alejo, Pattra and myself, at another bar in Camden Town. We had a few more beers and socialized for a bit longer until Alejo had to head home. We chatted a bit longer and Bassey and I agreed to walk Pattra home since she lived close by, I don't remember how the hell we got there but I do remember us telling random people on the street how we were all planning to backpack from Mexico to Colombia soon.We finally got Pattra home, she invited us in for a few minutes to catch our breath, and then Bassey and I headed back to Camdem town, where we went to pick up a friend of his at King's Cross station (yes, that late). Following that, we went back to his place to get some decent sleep.

We all slept in with good reason. It was a lazy day and the only productive thing done (and not by me) was the delicious, huge and spicy lunch prepared by Bassey. After this great meal I packed up. This was my last day at Bassey's place.I would be heading to Alejo's flat to prepare for traveling to Scotland the next day. Once at Alejo's we got ready to head out for Korean food. If it hadn't been Korean food we were talking about I wouldn't have been able to fit any more in me after that awesome lunch at Bassey's. We had a nice dinner in a very "British pub looking" Korean restaurant but that had really good traditional food (great Kimchi).

To help burn off all of the food, we walked down the bank of the Thames river and about like an hour after I had asked Alejo if he had ever see the Tower Bridge open, to which he said,  "no", it did! It happened right as we were walking over it. At least I got the experience and a semi-decent picture, check it out on my Flickr HERE.

         

Special thanks to Temple Velocity for singing the songs I actually knew, without knowing I did. You guys are magicians.

TV's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100006577961578&fref=ts
TV's Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/temple-velocity

Again, The Pictures!

Back to London, then Cambridge and finally Brighton

I found Alejo in the middle of all the exits of Leicester Square Underground Stations and we headed for his place to leave my bag and rest for the evening. The next day we went out to spend the afternoon in Covent Garden and found ourselves in the middle of a street dance performance done by the Royal Ballet, starting in the window of a clothes shop and ending inside the Royal Opera House it was quirky and fun. We went back to his place to get my bag so I could head to Bassey's place which was near Barking Underground Station. Once there, Bassey picked me up and took me to his house and proceeded to make me an awesome African recipe dinner which was huge! (The first of many delicious and spicy dishes). For the next day, which was a Sunday, Alejo and I had arranged to go explore the university city of Cambridge.
I arrived to Liverpool Station on time and not having a cellphone, I had to resort to a payphone (I know! they still exist, just like the Maroon 5 song) to find Alejo. Having slept in, he got there slightly late but just in time to get the tickets and hop on the train. The train only took us to a certain point where we had to change to a bus that was kind of iffy but did it's purpose. We arrived to a beautiful city full of huge churches and cathedrals. Every block, or even half a block, was another college! We got to see the college where the same Isaac Newton had studied. Kings College Cathedral was the most impressive with and incredible ceiling that made me drool. Alejo had just purchased a super-duper camera with a gazillion megapixels so we got fantastic pictures. I will not bore you with details, so I'll just leave some pictures and the link to the whole album at the end of this post.

We finished the day with a shared dish of roast and the beers of our preference (Stella and Guinness). We headed back to London and met up with Bassey, who was near the area of Liverpool Station, and went out for a beer. The three of us had a nice chat and I discovered the existence of the weirdly good tasting Guinness/CocaCola "Cocktail" Bassey had asked for. Giving in for the day, Alejo headed home while Bassey and I went to his place. The next day I went to downtown London and not wanting to spend extra money for changing zones on the underground I opted on taking the double decker busses until Zone 2, and I was glad I did. Yes, it took much longer but I got to see all the neighborhoods of different cultures. Indian, Muslim, Chinese and so on. Once downtown I did some exploring and again met up with Alejo to help him find a gift for the little girl of one of his coworkers back in Bogota. I, personally, was exhausted after exploring the 4 floors of toys in the Hamseys toy shop. I did, however, get my picture with Star Wars' character (not sure if a Jango Fett or a Clone Ep II) and The Queen! (In Lego).

After looking at the whole shop and not buying anything ( ¬¬ ) I went back to Bassey's place. Once there, I spontaneously asked him after our meal if we could go to Brighton the next day since he had offered from the first day I got there, and it seemed that neither of us had plans for the next day. A little shocked he said yes and we started planning, concluding we would take the bikes and ride around town. The following morning, bright and early, but with a little rain, we started getting ready, tying up the bikes to the car and started on our way to Brighton. We arrived and parked on the outskirts of the city. Before heading off on the bikes, Bassey called up a friend and arranged to meet up with her at a park. We rode down through the city, getting explanations about the buildings and a bit of the history of the city from Bassey. Reaching our destination, we met up with Bassey's friend Morgana who was originally from Spain.

She was friendly and easygoing and a nice person to speak a little Spanish with after only speaking English for many weeks. We ended up getting lunch in an Indian organic restaurant that had fantastic and very tasty vegetarian food. Morgana had some things to do so we said our goodbyes and went to the beach for a while. After a short walk we found another of Bassey's friends, Claudia, and had a snack with her on the beach while we laughed about very naughty jokes. We saw the sunset and had some beers. It was a lovely way to end the day. Since it was getting late, we also said our goodbyes to Claudia and rode back to the car. Before leaving we visited Morgana once more at her apartment to help her move some things. It was a beautiful and comfy place with lots of her art and personality all over the place. It was very welcoming. Giving our best wishes to each other and hoping to meet up again soon someday, we left and headed back to London after a very beautiful and rewarding day. Even Bassey was glowing from meeting up with old friends and his good memories of Brighton. Thanks for the wonderfull trip Bassey!!! It was quite Bright in Brighton. 

Here is the full link to the album: Click ME!!!

First week in London

So, after my incredible time in Belgrade, I was off again in Business class to London this time. By the way, I think I hadn't mentioned that while in Istanbul, Alejandro dropped the bomb that he had already payed his rent for the next two weeks and there would be no place for me in his flat, leaving me to fend for myself (putting it in pretty words since I don't want to write all the curses and dirty names that I wanted to call him at the moment). I searched on Couchsurfing and sent requests to like two people. The next day I got an answer from one of them. She was a German girl studying medicine and had a place for me for a couple of nights. That was good enough and I could figure things out later. I arrived at Heathrow Airport where Alejandro was to pick me up (late as customary). He was considerate enough to let me stay at his place the first night, before going to my host's place. Next morning he had to work on a project, so we went to the British Library, which was just a few blocks from King's Cross Station. Those of you who know me well enough will guess my drive to see this place. The library was huge, beautiful and classically modern. Too many floors to explore, and I only ever did an overview despite the many times I would visit it afterwards. We had breakfast in the library and I headed for King's Cross on my own. Once there, I rushed to find Platform 9 3/4 to have my picture taken! I went into the store and gaped at all the very cool (and very pricey) HP gear and books.To avoid getting depressed for not being able to buy everything in the store, I headed to Camden town, which Alejo had recommended. I decided to walk, not knowing my way around the Underground or the double decker buses.

So neglecting to give my new Oyster card the privilege to be used, I walked there. It was a very nice walk and I got to see some churches and interesting buildings on the way. Camden Town is a world of it's own and I loved it. Shops with crafted products and displays of every subculture imaginable. I walked around, bought a few things and then headed back. On the way I found Russell Square which was the area where my host's apartment was. I hadn't come to terms with just how central it was until that moment. Damn lucky once more. After spotting what I thought was her place, I headed back to fetch Alejo and then back to his place to get my bag and head to my host's flat. Once back in Russell Square, Julia opened her door to her flat where I also got to meet her boyfriend Jürgen who is a Surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital or what my mom likes to call Peter Pan Hospital. Both are German and have one of the cutest most honest relationships I've ever seen.

They took me out to walk that evening and we walked to the Thames river and reached Saint Paul's Cathedral. We went to a nice pub on the river where I had my most delicious (and later to discover, only good and non disappointing) dark beer.The next day Julia got up early for school and Jürgen left later in the afternoon for Germany for a week. I, having bought a London book the previous day with tourist information, decided to go to the British Museum which was just a few blocks away. As much as I tried to get organized to take advantage of as many free tours as I could. There was no way I was going to get to see a significant fraction of this place. It was Huge. Yes, with capital H.

After a tour and a few pictures, I was starving. I discovered a convenience store called Sainsbury where I got myself a roll, cookies and an awesome Belgium chocolate milkshake. I had found the place I would be surviving off of for the better part of my UK trip. To not make the story boring, I walked a lot! And despite Julia's busy schedule, she took me to some awesome places, from the must see Tower Bridge, Tower of London and Albert Hall to the small coffee shops and pubs she liked. We were having a great time together, to the degree that on Wednesday when I was considering to search for a new host, since we had only agreed on a couple of days, Julia said we would be going to the Opera on Friday.

So it seemed I would be sticking around a little longer, I was thrilled! The opera was to be performed at the Royal Opera House. Julia was doing an exceptional hosting job despite her busy schedule. So on Thursday we got organized to get the tickets the next day in the morning. After planning everything, Julia told me that a friend of hers was having a Mexican themed birthday party and in her words 'what better than to take a Mexican to a Mexican party'. There I was with plans all the way up to Sunday. This was turning into a very productive and fun first week. So, Friday we went to the opera to see The Barber of Seville which was impressive and very funny. 

After our glamorous evening, except for my green tennis shoes since I didn't have high heels, we headed to one of Julia's favorite French pubs where we had a beer and talked to some random drunk birthday celebrators. After that, we headed to a few clubs and danced with some Irish and English weird fellas we just happened to start talking to randomly on the street and that took us to our last club of the night. Free styling was taking on a whole new meaning. On Saturday morning Julia had business to manage, so I met up with Alejo to have lunch together at the Borough Market. Only that finding Alejo wasn't so easy. There were like 5 exits to the station we had agreed to meet up at and I didn't have a cellphone. While trying to find WiFi so I could message him, this very kind fellow on his bike came up to me and asked me if I was lost and needed to find something, I said that it was more like I was trying to find someone. To that he said 'I can't help you out much with that'. I told him I was looking for exit 2 but didn't see any numbering. We asked a man in charge and he told us that there was no numbering to the exits. Palm-face! He asked me if I had a number and offered me his cellphone. Extremely thankful, I called Alejo and he told me where he was. Still feeling lost, my new friend said he would stick with me until I found Alejo. We started talking and he was very excited to learn that I came from the Yucatan close to Cancun. He asked me where I was staying and I said I was Couchsurfing. He told me that he also did Coushsurfing and that if I needed anywhere to stay later on, his place was available. Can you believe my luck? In London, one of the most expensive and demanded places for couches, I was being offered a place to crash!!! I discovered his name was Bassey and we exchanged contact info.

We found Alejo, who he was also pleased to meet, and after a few more comments and plans on meeting up later on, he was off once more on his bike. Borough Market is a very beautiful, crowded, diverse, and sinful place for those who love to eat, better said, everyone. Breads, juices, and typical dishes from every corner of the world were united in this tiny two-block market. We started with a cheese olive bread then a German hot-dog, then Japanese Dumpling, Melted cheese on potatoes and Scottish meatballs with egg. All of these accompanied by orange juice, berry smoothies and sangria. And to wrap it up, a slice of blueberry cheesecake! I said it before, a sinful place. Barely being able to walk, Alejo headed back home and I headed for Victoria Station where I was to meet Julia to catch the bus to Birmingham for her friend's Mexican birthday party. Another adventure was awaiting us there.         

     
Here is the link to the pictures of my First Week in London