London II (London the 2nd)

Jeff and I were getting pretty good at this train travel business as we had no problems getting back to the Brussels train station and once again hopping on board another train. The biggest pain the ass was having to go through U.K. customs again.

We did have a small hiccup in trying to find our new hostel though. We had decided to take a chance and stay somewhere different this time, and I was having a bit of troubles trying to figure out the roads (as in some parts of London, the names of roads aren't marked at all).

After finding our hostel we checked in (with the help of a gorgeous italian girl at the reception desk) and went for the search for food, as we always do. We found a pub called the 'Famous 3 Kings'. It was pretty swank for a Pub I thought. Plus, we were able to secure 2 for 1 deals on the food making it one of the cheapest places I've eaten in London up to this point. It was a rather tame day and we went to sleep early. nothing of note.

The next day we went an explored hyde park, even though it was kind of miserable outside.

There are plenty of things around the park to see. The Queens gate, some special tree which actually doesn't exist as it was burned down (don't ask). The Diana memorial and even the fountain of Joy. I took the opportunity to toss 10 pence into the fountain in hopes of bribing it into giving me a little joy on the romantic side of things. Only time will tell.

After a significant amount of walking and whining about how tired we actually were I found it was time to go meet a friend whom I used to work with, Moni. We took the tube out to a place called Kew gardens which looks like a lovely quiet little area. The kind of place where I'd be banned from for being too energetic. We meet and decide it's supper time. We agree on Indian food and Moni knows just the place up in Kings Cross. We dine and tell stories and have an absolute blast. She asks us where we are headed next and Jeff mentions that he wants to head to Edinburgh for a concert, a group called 'The Shins'. While I'm interested in doing Edinburgh my interest in the Shins is not up to par with Jeff's. Moni convinces me that Edinburgh would be a great time as the fringe festival is still going on up there. I'm sold on that piece and we head to the Kings Cross train station to book tickets for a departure in the morning.

We continue to a have a few more drinks at another pub near our hostel with Moni while watching the end of the England vs Germany football game. A good time was had by all, but it's now time for us to pack it in for yet another train trip. This time up to Scottland.

We're off to the land of Sheep and Haggis.