The following post dates for June 30th, Saturday.
So this morning we woke up and checked out of our room because we have a different room for tonight. We stored our luggage in the luggage room then headed out to do stuff. First we stopped at an ATM to get some money. Jennifer and Laura wanted to go check out where Princess Diana lived, Kensington Palace. This did not appeal to me as much, so Kacie, Ani, Bryan and I decided to go check out London tower and actually go inside this time. We decided to meet up later, perhaps at Wimbledon. We nixed the idea of going early and decided to go later in the afternoon.
So we rode the tube over to the tower. Entrance fee was 13 pounds. England has a bit of a dark history and much of it has had to do with the Tower of London. It’s a castle fortress that eventually became a prison. A lot of people lived/died here. We don’t really know where to start off when we go in and we decided that a guided tour would take too long for the short amount of time we had there, so we just walked around ourselves.
We tried to hit up the big points on our map. Things we saw: the traitors gate, where I’m guessing traitors were brought in. it was a water area. The castle used to be surrounded by a moat. The white tower: lots of weapons and medieval stuff to see in there. King Edward’s bedchamber, I forget which Edward.
Traitor's Gate. Self explanatory.
Ani with armor.
The White Tower
Tower Bridge.
Ok. London, more specifically the Tower of London has the biggest ravens I have ever seen. I mean these things are massive and creepy.
Oh my God.
They must be the source of Edgar Allen Poe’s work. Seriously, these things scare me. There’s a sign saying they bite. Not cool. Anyone who raises ravens like these is automatically not my friend.
The highlight of the tour may have been seeing the Crown Jewels. It’s this huge vault with tons of old ruler’s dining utensils, clothing, crowns, tiaras, scepters, rings, necklaces, everything. There are parts where you just get on this people mover like in the airports and just slide past all the jewels. The largest diamond in the world is also here as well. I couldn’t take a picture of it, but it’s massive. It’s atop this scepter. Bling Bling. I felt like the crown jewels weren’t very well guarded or protected. I saw maybe one or two security guards and they were older men. I could have taken them. Granted there were these huge vault doors that were like 18 inches thick, but whatever.
Ani, Bryan, and I then did generate ideas on how to steal the crown jewels. The system: room surrounded by 18 inches of steel. Conservation principles: Conservation of momentum. The time derivative of the change in momentum = the sum of the forces on the system. Conservation of mass: What goes in must come out.
Soon it was time to go, so we used the loo and got a drink from a water fountain. Yes. The tower of London has a water fountain, very nice. Remember that if you go to London.
Ani.
We needed to find some food. On the way in, there was this guy that kept chanting ‘buy one get one fish and chips.’ We figured we’d give a try and walked to the restaurant. This was just like a Churches Chicken. It was awesome. Probably the best deal for your money in all of England. Ani and I split this party pack of fried chicken for 8 pounds-ish. It comes with 9 pieces of chicken. Really big pieces. Underneath the chicken is about a 3 inch layer of chips (fries) lining the bottom of the square box. I think its supposed to feed 4 people because it comes with 4 drinks. Oh well, I’m up to the challenge.Eventually Ani and I were defeated. We ate all the chicken, but the chips proved to be too much. I wasted food, I am ashamed. So the we caught the tube out to Wimbledon. It’s pretty far away and took nearly 45 minutes to get out there.
Ok so I am very weak willed when it comes to sleep. Bryan was like, we should probably sleep in shifts so that we don’t miss our stop. I was feeling good so I was like, alright I got it, Bryan you can sleep. He said ok. Keep in mind, this is right after the party pack of chicken. Plus I haven’t got enough sleep since I left my home on May 27th. Literally one minute after I tell Bryan it’s ok for him to go to sleep, my eyes are shut and I am gone. EHhhh. My bad. Everyone laughed at me.
So we get to Wimbledon and there are people everywhere, so we just start walking. The tube doesn’t drop you off right at Wimbledon. You actually have to walk quite a ways to get to the grounds. But the weather felt nice, so we didn’t mind.
The area looked very nice, it’s probably really expensive to live in the area. So voluteers direct us to where we needed to go since we had not yet purchased tickets to get in. First we had to go through security. Standard procedure, no biggie right? WRONG. Why do I always have problems with security.
This is the part where I almost get arrested in London.
I’m in front of Ani and the first thing we do is put our bags through the x-ray and walk through. Then the lady working the x-rays grabs my bag and asks if she can have a look through it. Sure, I have nothing to hide. SO she starts taking every little thing out of my bad as asked me what its used for.
Goes like this:
Lady: She pulls out my camera charger. What’s this
Me: It’s a camera charger
Lady: And what do you use it for.
Me: Charging my camera.
Lady: Pulls out my cell phone charger. And what is this.
Me: Cell phone charger
Lady: What is it used for?
Me: Charging my cell phone. I start thinking she is dumb.
Lady: Holds up cell phone charger. You could use this cord as a weapon.
Me: Uh, I guess so.
Lady: Holds up my gift card case. What is this?
Me: Gift cards. I use it for buying things. This is me being coy.
Then it takes a turn for the worse. I accidentally left my pocket knife in my bag.
Lady: Pulls out the pocket knife. What is this?
Me: Oh crap, it’s my pocket knife. (I just got it before I left for England from REI. It’s a tiny knife and I’ve used it quite a lot since I’ve been here for cutting various things. Simon once saw me use and told me not to carry it around with me. I listened to his advice, just left it in my backpack.
Lady: pauses then goes and gets the police officer standing guard.
Me: I look over at Ani, Kacie, and Bryan and start shaking me head.
The police offer asks me to come with him and we walk over to the side. I know this can’t be good.
PO: Why do you have this on you?
Me: I normally have it with me, I forgot I left it into my backpack. I’m very sorry.
PO: Do you know that it is a illegal to be carrying a weapon with you?
Me: Yes but I didn’t think a pocket knife would be any harm. I didn’t mean to bring it in with me.
PO: Well what are the rules where you’re from.
Me: Are you kidding? In Texas? People have GUNS. No body thinks twice about a pocket knife. Well, there really aren’t
PO: Not only is it illegal to have this, but it is a federal offense because the blade locks. Do you realize that I have just caught you trying to sneak in an illegal weapon? It is especially a bad time for you in light of the bomb threats yesterday. We are all on critical alert. I am going to have to arrest you and take you down to the police station.
Me: ADLSKFJLKJQWE”PFGIWENG:OIH@!@$!$&!($*&!(*$^!t($&%^!$(&!^$)(!^$&$^#*&$^!qwifjh.
I start freaking out. Are you serious? (of course he was serious, why the hell did I ask him this)
PO: Yes.
Me: I’m so sorry, it was a mistake. Can’t I just give you the knife?
PO: No, I’m afraid it’s not that simple.
Me: Yes perfect. I am going to get arrested in a foreign country. I am going to get a criminal record here. ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME. I have nothing to say, I just stand there.
PO: Wait here, I am just going to go talk to my colleagues. He goes and rounds up a couple other police officers and they talk for a while.
Meanwhile Kacie, Bryan, and Ani walk over to me and ask what’s going on.
Me: I left my pocket knife in my backpack and now I am about to get arrested, you probably shouldn’t be talking to me. Go stand over there. I realized the serious gravity of the situation. But yet when I was talking to them I couldn’t help but smile. Maybe it was because I just couldn’t believe that this was happening. All I could think of is putting this on the blog.
PO: The police officer comes back with his fellow officers. They stand around me.
Me: Here it comes, criminal arrest.
PO: Here’s what were going to do. Since you have fully been cooperative and look like a friendly nice fellow, we aren’t going to take you down to the station.
Me: YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
PO: Had you looked like this guy right here (points to one of his friends who looked kinda scary) we would have arrested you for sure. Then he kind of smiles. I guess he appreciated the humor in the situation? Instead this is what we will do. You will write out a disclaimer saying that you didn’t know the rules and that you willingly gave the knife to me. I will leave out that the knife was a lock blade, otherwise I would have no choice but to arrest you.
Me: Thank you so much. By now everything is ok, so I am relaxed. I start asking him questions as I fill out this disclaimer. What would have happened to me had I been arrested?
PO: Well, we would put you in handcuffs and into the car here and driven you down to the station to have you fingerprinted. It would probably take a little under an hour, then you would have been free to go.
Me: Oh that didn’t sound THAT bad. Oh. I’m really glad that’s not happening.
PO: Yes, you probably should be.
The police officer turned out to be a really nice guy. Towards the beginning he had a grimace and now he was smiling with me. Nice guy actually. I’d like to think that I avoided being arrested due to my smooth talking, charm, and good looks.
So I signed the disclaimer and he let me go. He told me to have fun. I said I would try. I really wanted to take a picture with my new buddies, but in lieu of the situation I decided not to. This was a good decision.
So Kacie, Bryan, Ani, and I walked away. I was still kind disoriented from the situation, and we all had a good laugh about it. Ani said that while I was being interrogated, the lady kept going through my backpack. She would pull out my tickets and stuff and ask him why I was Paris and Rome and what I did there. He of course didn’t know because he couldn’t come. Then she would pull out random things and tell him that I could have used them as weapons had I wanted to. Like the wall socket adaptor. The prongs are dangerous, according to this lady. The she pulled out my luggage lock. Weapon, courteously of Brinks security. Then she pulled out my carabineer and wa like these could be brass knuckles. LADY ARE YOU SERIOUS. Ani was like, really? Then he picked it up and held it and the lady put out her hands as if he had the intention to it her. She was like whoa put it down. Basically everything I own is a weapon. She probably should have confiscated my arms, legs, and teeth too. All weapons. It was also good that I didn’t take a picture of us walking through security because she checked my camera. Ani turned it on and she looked through my pictures. Had I taken any pictures of security that would have turned a bad situation into a terrible situation.
As we were walking we were joking around about if I had been arrested. I said it might have been an interesting experience, let alone a great story. Being arrested in another country? Sounds kind of exciting. Ani and Bryan whole heartedly agreed. Then Kacie was like I just want put out there that I’m glad you didn’t get arrested because that would not have been fun. This is true. She brought us back down to earth. It was good that I didn’t get arrested.
Throughout this trip I have been constantly running out of money. I had to call my mom to borrow some more from her. I am going way over budget, but who cares? It’s well worth it.
Advice: Don’t ever compromise your experience by having to opt out of traveling, doing random things, or eating food for lack of funds. Shell out a little more. When’s the next time you’re going to be in Europe?
So we bought a ground pass which allows you access to all the matches (maybe not centre court) but doesn’t guarantee you a seat (you have to stand) or a spot in any match. You have to wait in lines and get what you can. It costed 18 pounds. Well worth it I think.
The Board
Ok so when we got there, we met up with Laura, Jennifer, Rebecca, Clair, this other girl named Jennifer, and Laura’s friend whose name I forgot but I think it starts with a D. Or maybe a J. Call her DJ. Anyways so they were in line to try to get into watch Venus play on court 2. The line wasn’t too long, but it was moving really slowly because they can’t let people in until other people come out. Kacie, Bryan, Ani, and I decided to walk around and check things out before getting in line. I really wanted to see Venus or someone famous play.
So we hit up some men’s doubles matches on side courts all over. I had no idea who they were but I didn’t care. I didn’t get arrested and I was at Wimbledon baby! I was having a great time.
Mens Doubles.
We went from court to court seeing who was playing, then went to watch some women’s singles. No one really famous was playing from what I could tell. Then we decided to get in line to see Venus play. She had already won the first set so I was hoping that we would be able to get in the stadium in time. As we were standing in line, I could see Venus walk past this entrance that was roped off. A second here and there. Still fun. As we were standing in line, it started drizzling a bit and they suspended play right as we were about to go up. This was good I guess because lots of people started leaving, so we were able to get in.
The rain, however, did not stop. It intensified. It started pouring for a while, so much so that our umbrella became oversaturated (if that’s even possible) and rain started falling through. I got wet some, but I was wearing shorts so it was bearable, just really cold. The other girls weren’t as lucky and all of their butts got soaked.
I avoided this by sitting on magazines and newspapers. So we decided we were going to stay and wait it out. We got standing room at the very top and we weren’t about to just give it up. It rained and rained and rained. Are you kidding me. I want to see some tennis. 
While we waited I ate pretty much every snack that I had brought including Kacie’s orange and Clair’s peanuts. Around 6:30-ish, play was suspended indefinitely for the day. 
After the rain had just about let up. Well great, we saw no one famous. So we walked the grounds for a little bit and went to the gift store. I didn’t really see anything I wanted. Supposedly we can get a refund from Wimbledon, up to I think half of what we paid because they played less than 2 hours of tennis. But you have to mail it in and it seems like a huge hassle, so I don’t know if I am going to do it.
From Wimbledon we walked back to the tube and rode it back to Bayswater, to our hostel: Astor Leinster. I forgot to mention that this is the same hostel we stayed at for our side trip to London. We changed into some drier clothes, then Me, Kacie, Ani, and Bryan went out to find dinner. We walked apst a couple places until Ani saw an Indian food restaurant that we had to go to. Usually Ani is against going to Indian food, but apparently this got him really excited. We let him order all of the food and put him entirely in charge. He did a great job. We had four different chicken dishes, which were all delicious. With the chicken, we were also given these huge flat pieces of bread called nan. It was so good, You eat the nan with you hands and you dip it in the chicken sauce.
Me.
To drink, Ani ordered us these shake like drinks made from buttermilk I think. He also gave us like a background on the food that we were eating. It was fantastic and very reasonably priced. We ended up ordering more rice and nan to fill us up. Great job Ani.
After dinner, Kacie and I walked back to the hostel while Bryan and Ani went to pick up Michelle to bring back to hang out. I messed around on the blog and burned cds of Laura’s pictures for her. Michelle finally got here and we hung out for a while. We sat in the stairwell to pickup a wireless signal and I started to doze off. When I’m on the brink of sleep, I for some reason feel the need to start mumbling random nonsense. I think I was talking about Dr. Diller from what they could understand. I have no idea.
Michelle left and we goodbye for the very last time and Bryan and Ani took her back. I stayed by myself in the hallway for a while on the internet until Bryan and Ani came back. Then we all passed out.
All things considered it was a good day. Things may not have worked out well, but I enjyed the time I spent with my friends before I have to leave them tomorrow. I will miss them very much.
Good bye mis amigos,
-James
After breakfast, I presented Simon and Karen with the journal with my inscription in it. They absolutely loved it, or at least I hope they did. I went over to the family room where Harry was watching TV, and said my goodbye to him. Although he may be wild, he’s a really great kid that loves his parents. A couple nights before I left, Harry came into my room and we started talking. First I offered him some Bubbalicious. Then he asked me if I was really going to be leaving in three days. I was like yeah, I have too. Then he paused for a bit and said, “I will really miss you when you’re gone, James.” I was touched. I didn’t really know what else to say but, “I’ll miss you too Harry.” So today, as I was fixing to leave, I gave him a hug told him goodbye. I wasn’t abel to say goodbye to Lauren, but I wrote one in the journal that I left for them.
Ok so around the tower for some reason are a bunch of storm troopers. Why? I don't know.
Pretty cool actually. The main attraction I guess was parliament building and Big Ben next to the river Thames. 
I’m not exactly sure how high you get above London, but I know it takes about 30 minutes to make one complete revolution. I had a good time. Then Bryan, Ani, I had another hotdog, but this time we haggled. We got a pretty good price.
From the eye, we went to the Tower of London at around 5 pm. 
But they close at around 6, and it cost 13 pounds, so it wasn’t worth it. Perhaps tomorrow? So instead we split to our respective hostels to get ready for dinner. We went back to Kensington garden to relax for a while. I really love it there, it’s so peaceful. 
We stopped at the hostel for a minute, then headed back to Covent garden for dinner. 
The girls wanted to find like a bar to buy a drink for the birthday girl so we walked around for a while looking for one. As we were walking these two middle eastern looking dudes come flying out of this café and these three other guys are chasing them.. Turns out, it was the café that we ate at the second day we were in London. Also turns out, the guys chasing the middle eastern dudes were the waiters. It was awesome. This one waiter swung at the middle eastern guy and missed, but the guy tripped and fell down. The other guy dropped his piece of pizza on the floor, but picked it up and continued to eat it as they ran away. The waiters were going to beat the crap out of these guys. Very nice.
ehhh
Oh my God, I am so full. I can’t move. I went up to my room and hugged a pillow for a while. Then I watched Harry and his pals Wii it up with Sonic the Hedgehog. I feel kinda old watching them, I don’t know. I am so out of touch with video games these days. I couldn’t even keep up with what they are doing. Last console I played on was the N64, which my brother sold. Tim you idiot. I used to play Goldeneye and Mariokart 64, the two greatest games ever invented. Bowser baby. 
