First 3 Days

27/03/08 <-- European date format!

tried reserving rooms at several hotels listed in Rick Steve's London 2009. all had no availability. tried Priceline.com. got carried away and bid $145! got Grosvenor House for 4 nights. $683.51 (~$170.88/nt) expensive

28/03/08

rode a train from Gatwick Airport to Victoria Station
got a notice from the hotel about a G20 protest @ Hyde Park across the street. tried to find the protest, but didn't see much. lotsa news vans. also lotsa police and sirens throughout the day.

tried to go Andrew Edmunds restaurant, but didn't realize it doesn't open till 1pm. saw street cleaning. it's really weird--the street cleaning vehicles actually drive onto the sidewalk to clean it. stopped at a pub to drink a StrongBow. saw strawberries!! it's strawberry season! first thing I'm gonna do when I get home is order a strawberry pie w/a ring of whipped cream.

went to Andrew Edmunds again. ordered a fortified apple cider. that's apple cider mixed w/brandy. as w/other fortified drinks, it has more alcohol and is sweeter than normal apple cider. also ordered dressed crab--extracted crab meat that's put back into the shell as a sort of bowl so it's easy to eat. for the main I had a fish cake on top of spinach. £27.50 (~$39.33) okay

COLD! RAIN! tried to go shopping. it was really hard. £35 ($50.35) on a sweater and £35 ($50.35) on a jacket. seems like a lot? WARMER and DRIER now. spent a crazy amount of time determining requirements. wanted a thin hooded sweater such that it could fit under a jacket and a jacket that was water resistant because I don't like carrying umbrellas.
went "shopping" again. by that I mean go to stores w/no intention of buying anything. there are like a zillion stores here. saw some cute animals made out of leather. saw a cool designer t-shirt for £145 (~$207.39)! and no, there's no way I would've bought that. I may not know clothing/style very well, but I definitely know that's way too much.

Hamley's Toy Store. it has 7 floors! played "scrabble" for like an hour w/a store employee. she kept wanting rematches because I kept on winning. turns out for a couple of the games I didn't realize that I hadn't draw enough titles, so I didn't really win. the game is like scrabble in that you make words from tiles. each player picks 21 tiles. it begins when the players flip over their tiles to make words. it ends when a player runs out of tiles. if a player cannot make words w/his/her tiles then draw 3. it's much easier to spend more time thinking finish w/o drawing any. initially, a greedy algorithm works best. simply construct the longest words w/o worrying if they'll fit or not. try to connect them afterwards.

went to Wagamama Noodle Bar. ordered a teriyaki steak soba and an apple-orange juice. waited 10 min and got my dish before my drink. asked the server about my drink... unlike most teriyaki places beef was cooked medium. it was good. ate a quarter of my dish and wondered where my apple-orange juice was. was really thirsty so just got up and left. :(

found cote. ate sirloin steak, fries, spinach, chocolate fondue a la mode, 2 bottles of Bretain cider, and an dessert white wine. £29.10 (~$38.59) good

29/03/08

lost 1 hr today due to BST (British Summer Time)

Vinopolis. it's kind of a wine tasting place/museum/bar/pub. learned about wines. sampled 5 wines, 2 beers, 2 absinthes, 2 wiskeys, and 3 rums. found out I like sweet white wines. still don't really like beer or whiskey. also had a gin cocktail (comes w/the entrance fee). drank too much! was way buzzed by the time I left. don't know how the employees do it. one poured herself some wine every time she poured me some. I didn't see anyone else doing this during their shift, but if they do they must all be continuously buzzed. £27.50 (~$36.46) good

another Wagamama Noodle Bar. this time they brought out the apple-orange juice right away. ordered the teriyaki steak soba again. it was good again. :) apple-orange juice, teriyaki steak soba, and mineral water £16.90 (~$22.41)

Shakespeare's Globe. interesting museum/tour. wanna be a groundling! unfortunately, no plays until summer. hope I have a chance to come back. good £10.50 (~$13.92)
Tate Modern again. tried to see special exhibits, but didn't realize it was 40 min till closing, so not worth it. will come back in April after additional new exhibits go up.

The Black Friar. ordered a cider. didn't really like it.

gotta find cheap Internet. it's crazy... the hotel wants £20/day (~$26.52)! found a cheap place between Charing Cross and Trafalgar Square, but no WiFi. on the way back found a McDonalds w/free WiFi. open 5:00-0:45

Busaba. type of flower? this place always has a line since it doesn't take reservations, but it's well worth it. ordered chicken satay, monk fish green curry, sticky rice, and a coke. £19.20 ($25.46) good

things here are crazy expensive. it didn't seem that bad to met at first since I just did £1 = $1 to be simple, but that's clearly NOT the case.