Talk about a weekend jam packed with fun things – I guess ‘spontaneity’ is my new middle name.

Before I start blabbering on about my weekend I just have to be serious for one second.  Can you guys believe that my first month here is already over??  I can’t.  Know what I also can’t believe..?  Today is the FIRST day that I’ve seen rain here in London.  All us Americanos thought all it did was rain here – but then again we don’t always expect there to be 80 degree days in September.  I guess global warming is to blame..?  I’m no scientist but that sounds like it makes sense.

So let me tell you a little story about my weekend.  Friday night I met up with a friend I had studied abroad with back in 2010.  Gemma (British) went to the same school as me in Madrid – Universidad Pontificia de Comillas – and we hung out quite a bit.  I guess it was an easy friendship since we both spoke English.  Well, four years passed and we finally got to meet up again, this time in her neck of the woods.  We met at the Holborn tube stop and headed over to a shwanky outside bar in Southbank.  It was under a white tent and lit up pink, blue, and purple.  There were small tables and white leather couches for post-work schmoozing and decompressing.  We grabbed some Prosecco, picked our little white table, and reminisced about our Madrid days.  After finishing up there, we went to a restaurant called The Real Greek.  It was basically Greek tapas – you pick 4 or 5 small Greek plates to share and they stack them on a display in the middle of your table.  I’ve never had homemade hummus that tasted so good.  (Side note – I realize all I do it talk about food in these blogs.  Don’t worry, I promise I won’t get fat)  After finishing up our tapas from the Greek Gods we bid adieu and agreed we would definitely need to hang out again.  After a long week it was nice to get back to the flat reasonably early rather than staying out all night pretending I could keep up with the cool kids.

Saturday was just as early of a morning as a week day.  I got up at 6 for a workout and met a co-worker at Westminster for another tour: The Houses of Parliament.  I admit that I am definitely not a politics nut but it was cool to hear how they did business over here.  We had a two-hour guided tour that morning with an absolutely hysterical English woman, about 75(ish) years of age.  She was spunky – making sure to intertwine a joke into every room we visited.  We saw all the important chambers – House of Commons and House of Lords – the Central Lobby, Queen’s Robing Room, and many others.  Unfortunately you can’t take pictures in any of the pretty rooms here either so all I have is one on the staircase and entry way where they actually were allowed.  Serious security in these important buildings.  After the tour, coworker #1 and I met up with two more coworkers for brunch at Dean Street townhouse.  I know, I know – here she goes talking about food again—sorry not sorry.  It was delish.. I got myself a mimosa alongside scrambled eggs and salmon.  Pretty darn healthy, dontcha think?  I’m on a serious salmon kick these days.. I want salmon in my sushi, in my salad, with my breakfast and with my dinner.  Hey, it’s better than fried fish n’ chips, right?  After we wrapped up with brunch I broke off from the group for my next adventure: NFL on Regent Street.

Yes, you heard me right.  It was an NFL extravaganza on Regent Street, central London.  As most of you know, the NFL hosts a game in London every year but since it has been so successful, they are having THREE games this year – one in September, October, and November.  Unfortunately my Pats aren’t playing but it’s still pretty cool.  So, they had banners running the entire stretch of the street, athletic challenges and games, all kinds of American football paraphernalia, and a live stage with announcers, coaches, and players.  I met up with my mom’s friend’s son (Eric) again and watched as the Miami Dolphins walked out onto the stage.  If you already saw my Instagram I apologize for repeating myself but Tannehill is one fine lookin fella.  They all said their little pump up speech and then they brought out Dan Marino.  You won’t believe me but I saw at least 50 people in the crowd with his jersey on.  Actually, on that same note, I saw every single NFL jersey on Regent Street that day.  It didn’t matter that it was just the Dolphins and Raiders playing this weekend – anyone that had even the slightest interest in American football was sporting their jersey.  Lots of TB12s in there – only saw 1 Cam fan, sorry Spence.

After they cleared the stage, Eric and I decided we were going to grab a beer somewhere close.  We walked up through Picadilly Circus in search of a pub but continued walking to Trafalgar Square.  To our surprise, there was a Japanese festival going on.  There were at least 30 tents of different Japanese cuisine, a group of karate kids putting on a show, and a full choir of tiny Japanese ladies singing in their native tongue.  I fought the urge to purchase an authentic hand-held fan and stand in line for mystery meat and instead, continued on my way through the square.  Eric and I walked all the way down to the Thames as we chatted about some of the places we wanted to visit.  We both mentioned Greenwich (again, pronounced ‘Gren-nitch’) as a hopeful future destination and decided right then and there that we would just go.  We were already at the Thames and you can just take a water taxi over there anyway.  It was £16 round trip for two people total – not bad at all.  So, we hopped on the next boat and took a 35-40 minute cruise over to check out the Prime Meridian.  For those of you that haven’t put the pieces together  yet, Greenwich is at 0° on our map, which is where Greenwich Meantime (GMT) came from.  We base all of our time zones off this.  Once we got off the boat we stepped into this serene, quiet oasis swept with cobblestone side streets and winding greenery.  What a perfect place to run – too bad I had been wearing HIGH HEELED BOOTS THIS WHOLE TIME!  I can’t even tell you how bad my feet hurt – for like an entire day after.  From 8am – 11pm I had heels on, walking around everywhere.  Never again.  Ok, end rant, sorry.  So, we walked around the park to the Royal Observatory to see the actual Prime Meridian line.  Unfortunately since we decided on a whim to make this trip, we were a bit late and mostly everything was closed.  Not to worry, we got pictures so at least there’s proof we were there.  After a couple hours of meandering, we sat down for a nice salad and a cider.  The boat ride back was gorgeous – all of London was lit up, reflecting right onto the river.  I would recommend just going for a boat ride at night, even if you don’t have a destination.

Sunday was another day full of activities that I had not planned on.  It was the first day in weeks that I actually slept in a bit and didn’t get up for a workout.  After the ~7 miles in high heeled boots I didn’t even think it was possible.  Didn’t matter though, my Sunday brought another 4-5 miles of walking again… this time in flats.  I made myself a quick breakfast and headed out for some shopping!!!  First stop: TK Maxx in Covent Garden.  Ladies and gents, I was thoroughly disappointed.  I expected it to be like TJ Maxx but better.. it was just crap.  So I walked about 10 more minutes to Oxford Street instead for some real shopping.  That street will literally swallow you whole.  I went to Primark, H&M (twice), Accessorize, Bershka, Zara, Boots (The UK CVS) for some necessities, and a sports store for an England “football” jersey (Gotta play the part next week when Spence and I go to the game!).  Don’t worry, I didn’t buy stuff at all those places.  But I did get a couple nice jackets and a pair of boots.  Not as successful as I had hoped but at least I took care of the Ireland essentials – still crossing my fingers for no rain (EVERYONE – cross your fingers for me PAH-LEASE!!!).  After about 4 hours of non-stop-shop I was ravenous so I went into ‘EAT’, a Panera-like place, and got a quick salad.  Ugh, I hate sitting at a table alone in public.  ..Just pretend you’re on your phone doing something really important…..

I stopped at the flat to drop everything off, change into my Pats jersey, and head into West Hampstead to meet Courtney.  We were going to the NFL football game at Wembley – ballerrrr!  Her bf had an extra ticket and asked if I’d tag along… duh!  On the tube ride in there were no seats so I was standing by the door.  At one of the stops the door opened and there was a boy, around 12 years of age, sitting with his parents at the stop.  He was wearing a Gronk jersey and spotted me sporting Brady.  His face lit up and he waved at me like we were best friends.  Pats fan?  Of course we’re best friends.  I returned the smile and gave him a “you’re the man” point.  Doors closed and my best friend was gone.  Anyway - I hadn’t been to Courtney’s neck of the woods before but I knew she was near Abbey Road.  Obviously we had to go check it out.  I was absolutely SHOCKED when I saw it.  It was a teeny cross walk on a random side street with regular traffic.  You wouldn’t be able to pick it out for anything – If Courtney hadn’t pointed it out there was no way I would’ve known.  The cars and buses were beeping ferociously as all the dumb tourists tried walking across in a Beatles-like fashion while another random stranger took their picture.  Ya, we did the dumb tourist thing too.  It is a miracle there are no cars in the background of our picture – I thought for sure we would be run over.

Eventually we got back on the tube and arrived at Wembley to meet up with her boyfriend and boyfriend’s friend.  We were totally amped when we heard the US National Anthem playing from outside the stadium as we waited.  Once we got in we followed the guys down to our seats… down, down, down, we were only about 6 rows from the end zone.  You couldn’t have asked for better seats.  We were in the Raiders fan zone which was fine because we needed them to win  - but they didn’t.  What a stompin – what the heck are the Dolphins eating?!?  Again, every NFL team was represented in the 90,000 person stadium.  It is freaking ginormous!!  Court and I got a couple Carlsburgs and enjoyed people watching.  Dolphins and Raiders fans are pretty entertaining.

In all that excitement I almost forgot – more translations!

1.  Lorry = truck 

2. Boot = trunk (like the trunk of a car, not your booty trunk)

3. Boot Sale = yard sale out of your trunk (ya, I guess that’s a thing here)

4. Nappy = diaper (I have no idea how that came up in conversation)

Welp – I will leave you with that for a while.  This week I will be super busy with work preparing for a week off in Ireland!  T-5 days: Can’t wait to come back with some Irish tales for ya!