Here's the story of my week in London:


Monday October 4th

4:00AM - I woke up after barely 2 hours of sleep.
5:00AM - I left for the airport.
After we got to the airport and passed all the security shit we went to the duty-free stores till 8:20. As always, perfume and chocolate was promptly purchased.
The flight felt long and quite boring, but I remember my brother and I were quite amused by the laugh of some guy who sat behind us. His laugh was like a really loud "he-he-he" and sounded pretty ridiculous (and he was laughing a lot, so we got to hear it plenty). We didn't know then that our week was gonna be full of funny, weird laughs. The line in Heathrow was short compared to last time. They had the letters "BAA" on signs all over the place, which probably stands for British Airways/Airline/Airport/Association or whatever, but it sounds like one of the noises that I like to make. :P
The Kensington Close Hotel seemed really nice from the outside, but as soon as we got the rooms I was like "Shit! How am I supposed to move in here?!" -- there was just no space. The room was crazily small. It should have been where people send their animals while they are on vacation, not where their owners stay while on vacation. I'm not kidding!
Actually it was quite hard to find the room to begin with. The two rooms that we got were 471 and 472 (yea, on the 4th floor, how did you guess that?!). So we assumed they would be pretty close to each other -- something that I wasn't sure if I liked. However, we found number 471 but there was no 472 anywhere in sight. In the end, we found number 472 on the other side of the hallway (and it was a really long hallway!) so the rooms weren't close at all. Using the phone to call one room from another was free, so we used it a lot instead of going all the way down the hallway from one room to the other for every trivial thing.
I quickly organized our stuff in what little space we had. One of the night-lights caused some problems, but a few well-placed kicks took care of the situation (and my leg was proud of itself!).

Later we checked "our" tube stop:

We used it about 2-4 times per day.

That was pretty much the whole day - getting to London, getting comfortable in the hotel (umm... well, maybe not "comfortable"), checking out the area, etc...

In the eveing we decided to check out the hotel resaturant (which turned out to be the morning dining room, as well). It wasn't bad, but eating the same thing every morning become wra very quickly.


Tuesday October 5th

We started the day with The Museum of Natural History. The building looked like a church from the outside


as well as from the inside


The first thing we went to was actually the gift shop (which was near the entry), where we found lots of cute/silly/fluffy stuffed animals (!בובות פרוותיות, לא פוחלצים). I fell in love with one of the stuffed seals. I didn't consider buying it, but my parents didn't want to pull us apart. Here are his friends who were left behind on the shelf :(


After some museum shopping we actually checked the museum presentations... Basically they had lots of bones, dead creatures, rocks and fool's gold (things that you can find in any avarage cemetery). They also had a large dinosaur skeleton and other prehistoric creature-skeletons as well as tons of stands with gemstones and cool minerals and animals that have been stuffed (עכשיו אני מדברת על פוחלצים).
Here's a picture of one of the stones (it's not a plant):

(for another picture, hover over this one)

After that museum, we went to the Victoria and Albert museum that was on the same street.
This museum was more like a regular museum -- boring. The museum was full of old paintings, furniture, and statues from many different periods. I was about to reach my museum-patience limit, but in my deep attempt to be optimistic (for a change), I decieded to explore stuff like this vase. Isn't it just lovely?! Sticking flowers in people's noses -- that's what I call art! You can find a lot of interesting things if you really try, I guess... Another example is this statue (she's saying "I'm naked, but I have an idea!") and this big/heavy mirror that I just decided to appear in and become a part of a work of art.

I didn't need to verify that this:

...was made by Chihuly (all his work looks the same). It was in the lobby. Both the blue/green/yellow colors and the fact he does modern art didn't fit the museum spirit and the red-gold heavy old-style crap (but expensive crap!) that fill it.
Of course we visited the museum shop before we left :P.


Wednesday October 6th

This day was dedicated to shoping on Oxford St. (or at least that was the plan...). We had to finish-up early though, because we were supposed to go to a musical in the eveing. However, we checked out a lot of shops and the big Department Stores like John Lewis. From some reason I had big expectations of the Debenhams store after seeing their site, but it turned out to be a big disappointment. Don't worry... it doesn't mean I didn't spend my money in this place, too! At one point I was just kinda bored and tired and decided to sit down for a bit in an area that seemed like a sitting area. I sat down on some couch and suddenly felt a weird vibration from behind my back. Soon their salesperson came and told me how effective this massage pillow was. I knew I was going to get it even before he opened his mouth, but wra! Since he appeared it was just kinda weird to keep sitting there, so that's how my chance to let my feet rest vanished...

Later we ate lunch in some pizzeria we found in the street. How unpredictable... we even got pizza. There were two girls talking to each other at the table next to us in some language that I couldn't figure out, but one of them had a really funny laugh... and she laughed a lot. She actually made my brother laugh a lot, too (he almost choked). And when my brother laughs, I laugh, so there was a lot of laughing during that meal...
I actually recorded her laughing. :P

In the evening I talked with Adi from this public phone:

(for another picture, hover over this one)

It worked so well that we ended up using it every night I was in London. The weird thing about this phonebooth was that once every 30 minutes or so it made a loud, freaky noise. The first time it scared the hell out of me! It sounded so loud and so close, but there was no one near me. I think I figured it out the night before I left -- It was some kind of air-freshener that splashed every 30 minutes and made this noise in the process.


Thursday October 7th

We checked the stores in the hotel area, too, and since we didn't make the most of Oxford St. the day before we decided to go back there. LOL.

The people in London are way more elegant than us -- it's almost brutal. The jeans precents are quite low there; here it's much more popular. The girls wear skirts more than pants. The combination of a skirt with long boots (and pantyhose)is really common, which is kinda weird to me because it's so cold there.
I stopped being a skirt/dress girl when I was 5 years old. I just never wear skirts anymore (but I'm working on changin that now). We don't even have these stores in Israel! It's gonna be so hard to find cool long boots here. קשה!


Friday October 8th

We woke up around 7Am, as usual(in Lonbdon)... And soon got to the tube station. While we were waiting for our train to come, a pigeon snuck into another train that was delayed. The pigeon got into the train here:


My brother wanted to go to Madame Tussauds again to see if there was anything new (the answer, btw, was no). We did it really quick this time... The major difference between the two times that we went there is - my digital camera.








I don't remeber seeing Simon Cowell the other time, but that's probably because I didn't know who he was then. I didn't start watching "American Idol" until the third season.


And that was my brother checking how real the hair was :P


My brother patting Arafat on the back...

The other part of the day was in Harrods. Of course I got some stuff from this place as well. When we got to the Christmas area, as much as I'm crazy about this holiday, I just felt so sick of the place. It was just too sparkly, too rich, too crowded, too... just too much of everything! So I just left the place while my parents and brother were still wandering around there. I found a nice stair to sit on and was happy about it till all of a sudden some huge black dude approached me and tried to flirt with me. I quickly left my lovely stair for some cold wall :-/
Each time I find a nice place to sit there's somebody who comes and ruins my plans!
I know it sounds fun, but walking around in all those stores just kills your legs!
We actually saw a young Israeli couple there! The girl asked her boy if he wanted to check out some clothes with her and his reply to her was a resounding "Noooo! I'm not going anywhere with you! Chair! I want a chair! Somebody give me a chair!" - That was the funniest thing ever... he probably didn't assume that some Hebrew speakers heard it.


Saturday October 9th

Saturday is the day when Portobello Road comes to life



They have a lot of antiques stores with a lot of expensive things that are "not so expensive compared to their real value" or at least that's what they want you to think. The only really serious antique stores are those that have a PADA(Portobello Antiques Dealers Association) sticker on their doors. They're usually more organized and the salesmen really know what they're selling and give you a lot of details about their merchandice.


I really loved the shelves with the stampers! Each one of them is beautiful and special in its own way (this sounds like such a cliche). I got a kitty one :P


I love this breed of dog! There was a railway car full of these doggies!
If I ever have a dog, it's gonna be this breed. I decided!

I had a good time at Portobello Road, but this day definitely reassured me of something that I already knew: I'm not a "market girl". It doesn't matter if it's a market in England or in Israel, I'm just too delicate for markets. It's too crowded, too noisy, too vulgar, too much of everything that is the antithesis of me. I need my space (and I prefer it to be quiet)!

Another thing I noticed was that, even though the English are polite, it doesn't stop them from constantly stepping on you! The word "sorry" is supposed to solve everything (and shut everybody's mouth), but at some point they don't even say it anymore. They push you (sometimes even brutally) and pretend to be naive and polite! At least here people don't pretend not to be rude assholes; they make it pretty clear (and everybody is happy with their annoyance and warmhearted cursing each of other :-)
I had a hard time accepting our manners (or the fact we don't really have any) for a long time, and now I'm finally used to it (I think). Never found the place where I really belong, though.

Anyway! After Portobello Road we went to Trafalgar Square and the boring national gallery. Actually it was more like this: my parents went to the boring national gallery and my brother and I were hanging out in Trafalgar Square and taking pictures of the place.



Saint Martin in the Fields Church:



They had some national campaign to stop child sexual abuse near the lions


The pigeons really got our attention. I don't think there's any place in Israel that has so many of them that also aren't scared of getting too close to people. The closest we have is that one pigeon Adi met at his army base, but it was a one time thing.

(for another picture, hover over this one)

And here are some kids (you can't really see the other one in the picture, but there was another one...) trying to do god-knows-what and almost falling into the water (and my brother is watching from the side, amused).



Sunday October 10th

This was basically the last day of our vacation because most of the next day was spent getting back home... So far it was more of a "shopping vacation" than anything else, so we needed some variety (at least on the last day). In the name of variety, we went to the Kew Gardens. Our underground tickets were only meant for zones 1 & 2 and the Kew Gardens are in zone 3, so we had to get other tickets... Most of the way wasn't below-ground, though.

Btw, the full name of those gardens is the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew. It really is big and beautiful enough to be royal, but they also keep mentioning it to make sure you won't forget.

Anyway, the gardens are really huge, beautiful, and amazing. Every peice of it looks as if it was taken from a fairy tale (and I love fairy tales). I don't think that another week could help us check out every part of those gardens... they are endless.

This was one of the first views we saw


The day before I was impressed by fearless pigeons, and now fearless water-fowls, too


Aside from gardens they have greenhouses, too. As soon as you come into one you feel like you're in a sauna. These places are crazily wet -- it's like being inside a cloud. If you wear glasses you won't be able to see anything for the first few minutes.
Very refreshing, too, seeing as how the weather outside is horribly dry.

And here is some garden that was near the entry to the first greenhouse that we saw


In another greenhouse (that wasn't as wet as the first one), the Waterlily House, there was a pumpkin display. It was the cutest thing ever! They had over than 2,500 pumpkins and gourds. One of them weighed about a ton!




And here is the royal pumpkin tower:


Almost all the benches had a little sign on them with the name of some important dude. I'm saluting the person who thought about puting a bunch of them all over the place.






The Pagoda:

-This building was completed in 1762 (Chinese decoration). It's supposed to be one of the more famous features of the Kew gardens, but we didn't get to see the inside, because it was closed.


These wild gooses were sitting close to the "Palm House" -- I think it's supposed to be the biggest greenhouse there. It's also one of the world's foremost collections of tropical rainforest palms.







At this point our legs hurt a lot, so we walked towards where we came in - which is also the train cars' point of departure. On our way we saw cute mushrooms. I'm a mushroom fan, btw. I love almost everything about them.

We went through this arch

In the souvenir guide we bought they wrote about this arch: "The Ruined Arch is a charming folly built in 1759 as a fashionable mock ruin" :P

When we got back to where we started, we got on the railway car, and before it started moving, the driver had already started talking and making jokes. He was really funny and made everybody laugh (even my brother, who didn't understand everything that he said laughed a lot thanks to some old lady who sat behind us and laughed like a pig -- it was just out of control). The best was when the driver made fun of some old king and everybody was laughing (including miss piggy, of course) and some young kid didn't really know what was so funny but decided to go with the flow and laugh - his laugh was really funny.
Anyhow, after this ride I knew much more about what I saw, and was very willing to go back there one day.