26 Mar

Cursed British Summer Time! Also known as Daylight Savings Time. The clocks jumped ahead and thus I got less sleep than I was hoping for, even though I woke up a little late. I grabbed my empty duffel bag and ran down to the train station and just caught the train for Victoria. When I reached the hotel, Mom and Dad were still getting ready. Mom decided to abandon her plan to go to Alton since the morning had already progressed further than would have been suitable for such a trip. Today was Sunday so Westminster Abbey was closed. We had already finished most of what I had planned for them, so the question remained as to what to do today. I proposed a walk in Hyde Park followed by some time at the Imperial War Museum and then dinner in central London. Mom was still acting morose from yesterday’s unfortunate experience and it wasn’t until we reached the Speaker’s Corner in Hyde Park that things began to brighten for all of us. There were religious speakers on the soapboxes today, one apparently Muslim and the other Christian. The Muslim leader fielded questions about the recent riots and protest concerning the publishing of cartoons offensive to the Prophet Mohammed. One British woman started arguing with him about free speech and, considering the political leanings of this country, it wasn’t surprising that the audience was almost completely on her side. Woman: 1 Speaker: 0

We ate lunch at a Pret a Manger (a shiny, ubiquitous, café-styled food chain owned by McDonald’s Corporation) and then caught the Tube south for the Imperial War Museum (IWM for future reference). Mom and Dad were delighted to see a piece of the Berlin Wall outside the museum and were impressed by the large, 15-in naval gun out front that could hit targets over a mile away! The shells for that gun are actually taller than Mom…

They enjoyed the IWM more than I thought they would which was quite pleasing. We went through the Trench Experience and Dad and I sat through a simulation of Britain during the Blitz. After the IWM, we went into town in search of food. For my benefit, Indian was once again chosen and dad picked out a place called Mela from one of our London guides. It was situated in Piccadilly Circus and so to get there we caught a bus from a little ways outside the museum right into Piccadilly Circus. Although the guide said PC, it might as well have said Charing Cross road because the restaurant was much closer to that road than to PC.

Mela is a funky place with a polite and attentive staff, cool décor, and EXCELLENT food. The presentation of the dishes was superb, especially my paneer tikka masala. This was the first Punjabi dish I’ve ever tried that was not curry based and boy did they do a good job of it. Mom and Dad ordered wine while I stuck with tap water (so boring, I know). Dinner took some time and then we caught a bus for Victoria.

My train was set to leave about 20 minutes after we reached Victoria station which barely gave me 10 minutes there (since the walk to the station was about 5 minutes each way). They hastily stuffed the duffel and another handbag with all the clothing and supplies they wouldn’t need for Spain and then I left. I made it to the train with only a couple of minutes to spare, and then had to walk miserably up Champion Hill in the steadily falling rain with an incredibly heavy handbag and a sort of heavy duffel slung over my shoulder. Oh, and the backpack to boot. J Eh, it wasn’t that bad. I was just a little concerned because I still hadn’t packed for Spain (I couldn’t really, since I was going to use the duffel bag) and I had to be at Victoria early the next morning.

I packed as quickly as I could but couldn’t make it to bed before midnight. Spain tomorrow and for the next two weeks! Huzzah! Cheers!