day seven: london - the tate modern and a musical

got up at 8:30 today... pretty early for this trip. took a shower and tried to wake up N at 9, but that didn't work so well. i left to check my internet while he got ready to go. we planned on seeing westminster abbey in the morning and then buy tickets to phantom of the opera and then meet P in the financial district for lunch.

things didn't go exactly as planned. it was the first day on our trip where things didn't go ultra smoothly. we got to the marlybone station, only to realize that we were supposed to go baker street station (which was only a tube stop away, but still) we found the whole tube system to be very confusing, i guess it was constructed ages ago so it can't be helped. it's also generally hard cause of N's height. we got onto the gray line (jubilee) but after two stops (we needed to go three), we were all told to get off. so instead of waiting for the next subway train (the platform was completely packed), we decided to walk from green street (next to buckingham palace) to westminster.

a side note: the vindaloo revenge was definitely causing N problems. he needed to use the restroom no less than five times throughout the day. so just keep that in mind.

so we walked to westminster - only to find a giant long line. we were running short on time and didn't think we'd be able to make lunch with P on time, so we decided to skip the abbey. we jumped back on the tube to leicester square to buy tickets. we got decent tickets for the 7:30 show and jumped back on the tube to monument station to meet P. there was a bit of miscommunication so we hit up a starbucks for a bit to wait for P. P took us to a place nearby called the fine line. N and i had the chicken salad sandwich with fries and P had the burger. apparently burgers in the UK are more like overcooked meatballs more than anything else. we had a pint of carling beer which was great. after lunch P walked us to london bridge where we said our goodbyes. P won't be back in chicago till may, but hopefully we can see him then.

from london bridge we walked south and then west towards the tate modern. we did a quick walkby of the globe theater, but it seemed too touristy for us. we hit the tate modern for a while, it was great to see some good art on the trip, we'd been to the national gallery the day before but it wasn't the same. i got to see a few rothkos which is always a treat. N had a good time overall which was great. i picked up a couple things in the shop and we headed out towards the london eye. it was sprinkling a little bit when we left the tate, it was the first time we had bad weather the entire trip.

on our way to the eye, we came across a wagamama, a semi fast food, sit down noodle place. N had ate the same amount as me at lunch so he was hungry at 4. i was fine, but wanted to taste it again. so we ordered a couple beers and some duck dumplings and a chili beef ramen. i had a couple dumplings and a bite of the ramen since i wasn't really hungry. N destroyed the rest.

after wagamama, we jumped on the eye and got some great views and photos of the city. the day was cloudy and it had rained recently but the clouds broke just as we got to the top of the eye and the city was beautiful. we had tried to buy a bottle of wine to share (P said it's what people do), but we couldn't find a place. they were also checking bags so it's a good thing we didn't try.

after the eye, we walked back towards the theater district, but found that we had a good hour and a half before we needed to grab some food. so we found a corner pub and sat down for a few pints. N had lagers and i had a local bitter (oak cask drawn). halfway through my first pint, i had said i could drink 2.5 pints in five minutes. N egged me on and said that i couldn't do it. so of course i bought two more pints on the spot and drank them all in 5 minutes. N gave me an extra two minutes, but i didn't need them. as you can imagine i was extremely full and about 15 minutes later i was pretty drunk. N had only had one beer, so over the next hour he had five. before we left we had one more each putting me at 4 and N at 6. we also calculated the approximately alcohol to weight ratio for most of our drinking. N needs to have 1.4x drinks to whatever i am drinking in order to get drunk. this is due to the weight difference between us. this assumes we have the same drinking strength which is for the most part true.

now we're drunk and running late for the show, we head over to mcdonalds which is was N really wanted since the day before. i have a chicken sandwich and he has a quarter pounder. then it was off to the show. we bought mini bottles of champagne for the show which was a crazy idea, N was instantly super drunk after drinking his. it was pretty good so i drank mine a little slower. i managed about 45 minutes into it before i was dying to use the restroom. thankfully there was an empty row behind us so after we ran out to pee we didn't have to disturb anyone for the rest of the show.

the show itself was alright, but a bit too campy for me. it was so amplified, i couldn't tell if they were really singing or not. it only confirmed my love for opera since they really have to sing like mad to get across what they're trying to do. the music though was great, it was the only musical i've seen and the last time i saw it was 15 years ago i think. N wanted to leave to go drink more, but we decided to stay. instead we had peroni's at the bar at intermission and met some locals. a nice middle-aged couple from the suburbs of london.

after the show we took the tube back home. we had to finish the remaining scotch since we couldn't take it on the plane with us. so we drank and watched keeping the faith on tv. we weren't pretty at this point. i don't remember when we knocked out, but it was after midnight.