Babes, it’s Pimm’s O’clock
Two weekends ago I went to London.
It is so funny to think about. I just up and left Munich got on a plane, went to London and then came back to Munich.
Like, I can just do that?
Also my home base is in Munich, Germany??? Who would’ve thought.
I visited my good friend and roommate Emma George who was finishing up studying abroad in Nantes, France and ended her trip in London with her family. Our friend Alex from college was also joining them because he was on the same study abroad as Emma so it was such a hodge-podge group of people…in the best way.
Like we would just look at each other and be like if someone told us like 6 months ago that we three would be in London together we would’ve laughed in their face because under no circumstance would that make sense. BUT,
They were nice enough to let me tag along for the weekend :)
Again, big thanks to the George’s for letting me crash their family vacation.
My original plan was to go Thursday night and fly out Sunday evening but like 3 days into being in Munich I got an email that my flight back to Munich from London just was cancelled.
They just cancelled it.
This was in the PEAK of my lost baggage debacle and trying to contact ANOTHER airline was absolutely the last thing I wanted to do.
Good thing there was a flight Monday morning that I easily booked as a replacement, but seriously these airlines are slowly making me loose my sanity.
Anyways…
The George’s are a TRAVEL family. So they had quite the schedule, which I was happy about because I didn’t have to plan anything. I could just show up and be like omg wait that’s the Big Ben! Which is exactly what happened, the Big Ben just comes out of nowhere.
THE FIRST DAY
We did a walking tour of Westminster and historic London.
We had some good indian food.
And we stopped into a pub and got Pimm’s, which is the best drink ever.
It is mixture of Pimms (which I really have yet to understand what type of alcohol it is…okay just googled it and it is a gin-based fruity spirit) and ENGLISH lemonade which is clear and sparkling and very different than Country Time. Think like a more lemon-y Sprite. So mix those together and a whole bunch of fruit like oranges, strawberries, cucumbers and mint which ends up being
an amazingly re-freshing concoction of yumminess.
Before discovering the pitcher of Pimms, while we were walking around Emma and I saw a theatre showing
Back To The Future THE MUSICAL.
THE MUSICAL?
I was not aware of such thing.
But in my head I was instantly writing the songs. I mean they practically write themself.
A pivotal upbeat powerhouse song called 88 Miles Per Hour?
You have to go 88... *Chorus in the background* MILES PER HOUR
I just knew we had to see it. So while Emma and I were sipping on our Pimm’s, we found tickets for
22 pounds. SOLD
Emma, her sister Molly and I went that night and I have to say,
It was like, really good. Like actually good.
I did not know what to expect, but it was good good. It is coming to Broadway next year and I think it is going to be really big. The technical effects alone were super impressive, I mean there is a DeLorean and everything and at the end it…
litertally flew over the audience and turned upside down and then flew away.
I have yet to understand how that even worked.
But the songs were good, it was funny, and the preformances were effective. It was just a fun time and had all the classic musical moments that made you smile. The future motif throughout is just so on the nose that you can’t help but love it.
The “Got No Future” ballad happened REALLY early on and I was just eating it up.
So, long story short in the coming year if you ever get the chance to see Back To The Future The Musical…I highly reccomend.
THE SECOND DAY
We went to the British Museum and saw all the cool *ahem stolen* artifacts.
LOL, no actually it was pretty cool. There was a whole mummy exhibit so my younger self who had an obession with mummies as a kid was geeking.
Afterwords we got a traditional english breakfast which has BAKED BEANS and if you know me, you know I love my baked beans.
After a pitt stop for more Pimms we went to The British Library which was neat and air conditioned which was nice. Then we stopped at Camden’s Town which weirdly reminded me of like the busy streets in Nashville? But more British? Haha there was just A LOT of people and it was a tad bit overwhelming. I got a cute jumpsuit at a little market though because you know at this point, still had no luggage.
THE THIRD DAY & FINAL DAY
Early morning wake up for the Tower of London Tour!
So, genuinely had no knowledge of what this was. I thought we were getting a tour of the Tower bridge. But no, there is a whole castle just like in the middle of London with a bunch of history that I was just completely utterly unaware of.
We got a tour by one of the Yeoman’s which are the soldiers that protect the Tower and also live there, to this day. They are facinating and I need an 8-part docuseries on their lives ASAP.
But the tour was insightful and honestly was kind of an SNL skit because we would walk over to a new spot and the Yeoman would be like,
“Okay, so here is where they executed the Queen because she gave someone a dirty look…but don’t worry there wasn’t another execution until the following year which needed 5 whacks to the head because his neck was THAT thick and then if you look over to the left you will see the gate where the lost princes were last seen before they went missing becaue they were murdered by their Uncle…but funnily enough…he was soon beheaded…and eventually their small bodies found underground…anyway the gift shop is this way…”
Do not take this as historical fact, but something similar probably did happen, and it was probably worse
And I was like whoa whoa whoa hold up. It was just so funny because the fun facts were just some of the most brutal tid-bits you have ever heard, but very interesting nonetheless.
After words we wanted some lunch and stopped at a pub, but
it was Sunday. Roast Sunday.
So basically the only food offered anywhere it a roast. But it was FANTASTIC, seriously some of the best cooked chicken I have ever tasted.
After that we went to this cute little market and got The Greedy Goat ice cream which was SO good and I got black currant sorbet with Banofee Pie which is bannana, caramel, toffee and biscuits and it reminded me of Ooey Gooey Butter Bake from Jenis but almost better. All I know is that Jenis needs to have a Banoffee Pie flavor ASAP.
Then we went to the Victoria & Albert Museum.
And had NO idea what we were walking into.
This museum is so large and overwhelming…but in a good way…maybe if it would have been better if there was AC.
I have only heard good things about the V&A and I totally understand what they are saying, but after 2 long ass days of walking around and SEEING OLD THINGS while sweaty…we were not ready to tackle the V&A.
But the fraction of the museum we saw was super cool!
Oh right and then we saw Buckingham Palace. It is just kinda there. Nothing too notable about it.
I did have this weird feeling that the Queen was going to die when I was in London. Like I woke up and I was like the Queen could totally die today.
She didn’t.
The next day I left super duper early for Munich and that day they closed all of the trains because of the heatwave in London so I got out right in the knick of time.
Wait that totally sounded British.
Overall, I loved London and how it was the energy of NYC with the charm of Europe.