Minding the Gap: Spanish Edition

Entertaining visitors is always a good time. And this was no exception. This weekend, Norah and Laura came up from Sevilla to visit. I got out of a busy half day of work (our channel launches in Italy tomorrow) and went straight to Gatwick Airport to pick them up. After collecting their luggage and taking the train into London, we arrived at our flat around 5:30 in time for some afternoon tea and crumpets. After chilling out for about an hour with Luke and Mary, Laura, Norah and I went out to the Bombay Palace for Indian food, which was pretty good, if a bit pricey. Then we went back to the flat and met up with Dan and Luke before heading over to Fabric to go clubbing for a bit. Sadly, the line was about a two hour wait, so we waited for about 45 minutes before we decided to go somewhere else. Nowhere else cool was really open without IDs, though, so we ended up going back to the flat around 1 or so.

The next morning, we all got up and ate breakfast (I made scrambled and fried eggs, crumpets, fruit and orange juice) before Mary, Norah, Laura and I started out for our tour of London's best parts. We walked through Hyde Park, past Buckingham Palace and through St. James Park before arriving at Big Ben, Westminster Abbey and Parliament. We made our way down the South Bank of the Thames, taking pictures and being the awesomest tourists possible, and eventually stopped at the Borough Market for lunch. They sold these really good toasted cheese sandwiches with spices, so Laura and Norah got one of those and we all finished off our lunches with smoothies. Mmmm.

After that, we met up with Amy, Eric and Melanie at the Tate Modern Museum. Laura went with them to go see the Museum while Norah and I went to get tickets for Spamalot. After we got our tickets, we came back to Westminster and took a ride on the London Eye before heading over to the Tate Modern for a little while. Then we went to go see Spamalot since neither of us were that hungry for dinner; Spamalot is always a hilarious show to see. After the show let out, we walked around the city for a bit and tried to find a fish and chips place, but no one would let us in because we were being discriminated against, so we just went back to the flat. Norah learned how to solve half a Rubik's Cube and then everyone went to sleep since daylight savings time had just gone into effect.

Sunday morning was pretty groggy for everyone, but we conquered our sleepiness with some Costa coffee before heading to Platform 9 3/4 and the Spitalfield/Upper Markets for the rest of the morning. Haha, along the way, I managed to get my debit card eaten by another ATM and only got it back from the bank this morning. Apparently it had eaten more than 20 cards that day, so it wasn't just mine. Anywho, after we left the markets, it was time for the girls to catch their train back to Gatwick, so we all said our goodbyes and parted ways. Melanie and Eric were taking the same flight, so we met up with them there and they all took the train together to the airport. Amy and I went back to her flat from there and made turkey sandwiches with hot sauce to take on a picnic to Hyde Park with Lauren, which was pretty cool.

But the day wouldn't end without something ridiculous happening. Luke, Mary and I went to Regent's Park after that to read in Queen Mary's Gardens for a bit. When we came back, our power was out. It turns out that the flat below us had had a flood and it leaked into the electrical, so the electricians who came had to shut the power out for the night. So, we did our homework by candlelight last night and woke up this morning to a building without hot water. It was an adventure and a half. And that was the weekend!

Pictures from this weekend are below:
Sevilla y Londres Ajuntos
(Sevilla and London Together)