An Adventure in the Big Smoke

On Wednesday, I took my little brother Ryan to London for a day out and it was so much fun. What wasn't fun was waking up at 7am to be at the station in time for a 9:30am coach, but it was all up from there.

When we got there, I took him to see Trafalgar Square (18 years old and he's never seen it!), and he was suitably impressed. I then took him to mine and Mutti's favourite Wetherspoons, The Lord Moon of the Mall for lunch. It was a delicious lunch, and he made me laugh when all of the filling in his burger was falling out and he just looked at me, deadpan, and said, "White boy problems." I had the nicest Eton Mess for dessert, yum!

We embarked on the daring mission that made us plan the day trip in the first place. You may or may not know that Nicki Minaj (our favourite woman in the world) has a drink out called Myx Fusions; recently, it's started to be sold in the UK but there are only two locations in England at the moment. One is in Birmingham, and the other in South London. I was worried they wouldn't have it in stock or something, but it was there! Shelves and shelves of it! They had the original moscato grape, and the peach flavour. We bought a four pack of each flavour, then traded two bottles between ourselves. It was a tenner just for a four pack, but we were so thrilled that we'd found it.

An immediate drinking location was required, so I thought to get back into Central London and then get the Tube north to Camden. We went to Regent's Park and sprawled on the grass to try a bottle of Myx each. I tried the peach and Ryan tried the original, but we let each other have a sip of the respective flavours. It is SO nice, very sweet and fruity. It would be a perfect summer party drink. Here's a photo I took last night of me being an advert (fun fact: the official Myx Fusions account liked this picture on Instagram!):

I then showed Ryan Camden High Street, Camden Lock, Cyberdog (of course!), and the Stables Market, where we took advantage of the free samples of Thai chicken (deeeelicious!). He'd never been to Camden either, so of course I had to make sure he got to see how amazing it is there. He has fallen sufficiently in love with it, so now I can legally accept him as my brother.

At this point, Ryan also disclosed to me that - although he's been to King's Cross - he has never seen Platform 9¾! I immediately pushed him onto the Tube to go see it. Unfortunately the 'official' photographer person was there, and there was a huge queue for photos, so Ryan decided not to get his photo done. I was lucky back in 2012, when Sophie and I found the platform deserted and took free, casual photos! We had a quick turn around the accompanying Harry Potter shop but really, that place is always way too packed to have a decent look.

I then decided Ryan simply had to visit the CyberCandy shop near Leicester Square. So that was the next destination on the list. Again, Ryan was suitably impressed with all the amazing American/other sweets and treats on offer (though less impressed with the prices!). We had a KFC at Leicester Square, and I was glad to sit down because my knees were really starting to act up at this point. It had also started raining, which didn't help. There was an absolutely mad cleaning lady in there, who seemed to be the unofficial guardian of the disabled/baby change toilet. She had the key to get in and you had to ask her for it; Ryan and I witnessed many people being told off for leaving the door ajar when they left the bathroom. It was hilarious!

Ryan wanted to go and 'visit the Queen' (see Buckingham Palace again - he's been before but he really likes it). On popping out of a different exit of the Tube station at Charing Cross, I found this:

That's 'A Conversation With Oscar Wilde' by Maggi Hambling. I've read lots about it, being a fan of Wilde, but had never worked out where it was or happened across it. I wasn't expecting to find it, and there it was right in front of me! I personally think it's a brilliant piece of art. A lot of people say it's 'ugly' but I like that Wilde is emerging from a sarcophagus (that is also a bench) and smoking a cigarette. It was a pleasure to see the sculpture in real life! At this point, I also had to have a good talking-to to Ryan, because he didn't know who Oscar Wilde was. I was very close to resorting to violence.

As we were walking up the Mall towards the Palace, the rain got really bad. The raindrops were like bullets and it was so bloody cold. We spotted the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and quickly took shelter. I became enamoured with every book in the place (there was a lot on feminism and psychology, which interested me), and had to restrain myself from spending way too much money. There was also a postcard that said 'I Cunt Spell' on it, which tickled my fancy. Wish I'd gotten it now. While we were browsing, Ryan said, "Why do books always smell so weird?" to which I stopped in my tracks and said, "How dare you."

When the rain calmed down a bit, we ventured out again. The flag was up and the lights were on in Buckingham Palace, so we knew Mrs Queen was in. We waved at the Palace, just on the off-chance she was peeping out of the window. I love the Queen, and Buckingham Palace is always nice, no matter how many times you see it.

From the Palace, we strolled through Westminster to Parliament Square, where I took the best photo I've ever taken (may or may not be true - I just can't stress enough how proud I am of this picture):

That was the sky. It was totally beautiful, a mess of colours, stormy and turbulent and oppressive. I didn't care about 'looking like a tourist', I had to have a photo of that angry sky. I also got some painkillers because my knees were really throbbing and seizing up, and I was starting to noticeably hobble. Embarrassing. A 23-year-old walking like she's 80.

We stood by Big Ben because it was nearly 8pm and we wanted to hear the BONGs. We were there because Ryan wanted to see Big Ben all lit up at night (he'd never seen that in real life either), and look at the lit-up London Eye. After the (suitably impressve) BONGs, we crossed Westminster Bridge to where the London Eye is. It was nice to stroll alongside the Thames, amongst couples and families and friends just meandering and enjoying the evening. It wasn't too cold out, and everyone seemed to be having a good time.

Thus begins the stupidly-grainy photos because my phone can't handle the dark.

There was a slushie place on the bank (I can't for the life of me remember the name of it), that did mixes of different flavours, and you could also add a double shot of alcohol if you wanted! Obviously, Ryan and I capitalised on this right away. He had tequila, with an apple slush base and sour cherry mix. I had lemon and blood orange base, sour cherry mix, and vodka. They were so delicious, but kept giving us the most terrible brain-freeze. I have never had it that bad, and I'm convinced it was the alcohol's fault. It was nice to lean on the railings near the Thames, looking out at all the lights while an amazing fiddle player performed just down the walk from us.

On hearing the 9pm BONGs from Big Ben, we decided to get back to Victoria (our coach home was at 10pm). We were both absolutely knackered by the time we got to the coach station; it didn't help that the coach was slightly delayed. The ride home is a bit of a blur to me - Ryan and I put our headphones on because we were both tired and too many people had really crackly food packets (who needs to eat at 11pm? Seriously?), and it was annoying.

We had such a brilliant time! I love London anyway, and getting to show parts of it to someone who's not as familiar with the city was so fulfilling and exciting. We accomplished our Myx Fusions mission, had a brilliant day, and we were very sorry to come home. Ryan said he wanted to stay forever, and I kind of agree. I miss being near London and being able to pop there whenever I wanted. I will return for a trip as soon as I can!