London Days 96-98: Spring is in the Air!

//Edit: I suck at counting. London Days #86-88...

Despite being unable to go to Istanbul, I tried to make the best of my weekend. Many other people had been scheduled to visit other parts of Europe, so everyone was feeling the disappointment of missing trips.

Friday I spent most of the day taking advantage of the "extra time" that I had by sleeping in. This is something I very rarely get to do (and even more rarely let myself do), so it was quite a treat.

Friday night Christine's flat was hosting a "Beer Olympics" because they had been scheduled to attend Beerfest in Munich this weekend. Alex and I were team Scotland, but we chose to be spectators rather than participants because neither of us were really in the mood to drink. It was a fun night anyways, though, as lots of socializing took place before everyone headed out to a club for the night (I decided to go to bed instead, as a rugby jersey isn't appropriate attire for a dance club).

Saturday I lounged around in the morning before going to a late breakfast/early lunch with Alex at a restaurant called the Forum Cafe near the British Museum. My roommates always rave about its Traditional English Breakfast and bagels served all day, so we decided to try it out. Alex got the English Breakfast, which he claims was really good, and I got a bagel with smoked salmon and cream cheese, and some hash browns, which were also delicious. Afterwards, we grabbed some ice cream at Baskin Robbins and sat in the sun outside of the British Museum for a few hours enjoying the afternoon. After we left, we both worked on some homework for a bit before going to Wagamama (an Asian noodle place) for dinner with Ramon.

After dinner we hurriedly got ready to go to The Ministry of Sound, a world-renowned club in London. It is allegedly the best club in London and the sixth-best club in the world! It has its own record label, and always has world-famous DJs hosting. Luckily, they have a student discount, so we decided we would try it out. The club was really cool with a bunch of different rooms, all with a different bar and a different soundtrack. It had crazy lights, disco balls, fog machines, and light-up ceilings to complete the feel of a real dance club. The only negative to the club, however, was the bass. The bass beat on all of the songs resonated so loudly that it made the hair on your arms shake (think of the guy sitting next to you at the stop light whose bass makes your car shake...). Unfortunately for me, heavy bass like this makes my heart palpitate, so I had to sit in one of the "chiller" rooms for awhile, before finally deciding to leave because there was no point being at a world-renowned club and sitting in a room in the corner. I did get a chance to do a little bit of dancing and see the whole club, though, so it wasn't a complete loss. Alex came with me and we braved our first successful night bus journey (hooray!) and made it home relatively smoothly (you never know where the night buses are going to stop). Overall? Successful night.

We spent Sunday morning recovering from the club the night before, because although we left "early," it was still pretty late in the night. Alex and I met up for lunch and went to Giraffe in the Brunswick Shopping Centre. Neither of us travel down towards Russell Square very often, so we decided that eating lunch down there might be a nice change. We sat at an outdoor table in order to fully appreciate the sun. Afterwards, we had "Afternoon Tea in the Park"! There is a place near my flat that offers Afternoon Tea in the Park every day from 12-7. You just call ahead and let them know that you're coming, and they prepare a picnic basket complete with tea, biscuits, pastries, cupcakes, scones, and even a blanket! This way, you can take the basket to your favorite park, sit in the sunshine, and enjoy some afternoon tea. We decided to sit in Bloomsbury Square, a park near our flats, for about an hour. It was really enjoyable (and also well-priced), so I'm sure that we'll be doing it again some day soon :)