Part 1: Meredith’s Perspective
London was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for me. It was very refreshing to be in a city that didn’t constantly smell. On the first day, I spent my time sleeping until dinner because I was extremely jet-lagged. After that, we went to an Irish pub and met up with my older brother and his friends. The next day we did some sightseeing. After having a cup of tea at a local cafe we took the tube to Parliament and did some more sightseeing. We also went to Buckingham Palace! But then we got rained on and had to go back to the hotel to change. We went to a fancy British restaurant that night and the only thing on the menu was Beef Wellington—I was not a big fan so I got something else to eat after but I did give it a try. The next day we went to the Tate Britain museum and they had a “Woman in Revolt” exhibit that my mom and I got tickets to. The exhibit was so interesting and probably my favorite thing we did in London. After we went to the museum we got dinner at a Japanese Teppan Yaki restaurant, where they cooked the food on a stove in front of you. That was a really unique experience; I had never seen anything like it. While we were there, I got mango sorbet for dessert and that may be one of my favorite things I had in London. It was probably my favorite restaurant we went to during the trip. The next day I slept in until I met up with Ezra, which was around 3pm.
Part 2: Ezra’s Perspective
In a fog of Earl Gray, rivers of people rushing across every walkway rivaling the Thames, and interminably unnavigable infrastructure, I managed to survive. My family’s flight landed us jetlagged in the middle of London on a Saturday and I decided that would be the perfect time to go to a concert. The concert did not have an announced location or set of bands when I bought the tickets (and intentionally so — that’s just how Sofar Sounds does it). Nevertheless, once I found out the location (a combination bar and coffee shop) and settled in, it was a great time. The next day, my family took the double-decker bus into the city to go on a walking tour of Karl Marx’s favorite spots in London (mostly pubs). Our tour guide, adorned in an incredibly large trench coat, gave us a series of mini-lectures on economics and the philosophy of Dialectical Materialism as well. Throughout the week, I saw the rather unimposing physical marker of Greenwich Mean Time (aka the Prime Meridian), stopped by a dozen record stores, had the worst veggie burger of my life, saw Marcel Duchamp’s fountain face-to-face, toured the London School of Economics, went to a cat cafe, and more. The highlight of my trip was on Wednesday, when I saw Yard Act (that We Make Hits! band) live in concert. I made good friends with people with incredibly British names (Harry, Arthur, etc.) and got my phone stolen. All in all, a good time. The night after, I met up with Meredith!
Part 3: Meet-Up of the Century
We started our hangout by meeting up at a famous coffee chain called Costa Coffee. While we were there, I (Meredith) got a hot chocolate and I (Ezra) got iced coffee. We spent some time catching up and talking all about London and then headed off to Brandy Melville, where I (M) had a wonderful shopping spree and got a ton of cute stuff! I (E) helped carry bags as we tried to look for sunglasses, but those were too expensive. Then we went to a store called MUJI where I (M) got some gifts for my friends as well as some candles for myself.
We noticed that all across London laid an abundance of tiny, cramped stores with sodas, London paraphernalia, and more. We called them “crap-stores,” and visited quite a few. Then we walked to dinner. Dinner was at an Italian place called “Pastaio.” We started our dinner with water and a coke (with lots of lemon). For dinner, we started with some bread chips and then we got the same main course: a penne pasta with red sauce. After our main course, we decided to get dessert. I (E) got a rhubarb tiramisu and I (M) got pistachio ice cream! After dinner, we decided to get some snacks from a “crap-store,” including the single best drink ever made: European Orange Fanta. You see, European Fanta is made quite differently from American Fanta. There is a certain je ne sais quoi that differentiates the bland, lifeless, almost corporate taste of American Fanta from the lively, exuberant, refreshing taste of European Fanta. I (M) indulged in a very large bottle of water, my favorite European snack (Pringles) and some European strawberry candies. After we got our goodies, we decided it was time to start heading home. We then parted ways and continued with our journeys through the bizarre tunnels of everyday life in London.