retroposting

I hope I don't hate myself later for posting this, which I wrote for an email to a friend, as a placeholder for these vacation days so I don't forget all about them, because this just does not feel like my normal kind of post.

If you ever get a chance to go to the Tower of London (assuming you haven't, already) remember to slow down and enjoy yourself.  There's a restaurant of some sort in there which we did not avail ourselves of because by the time we saw it we were almost done, and so tired and overwhelmed by the crowds, that we really just wanted to see the armory and get out, so my advice is to eat before you're so exhausted that you feel like you need to leave.  I don't think we'd left many stones unturned, though we did not go to see the actual Crown Jewels - just, not really interested in jewels.  They have so many wonderful exhibits, decked out rooms, old weapons (some really odd and interesting designs), and the whole gestalt of architectures and building materials from different periods is so cool to see that even if we had known there was a place to stop and eat we might not have been able to make ourselves do so, we were just too fascinated.  Eor's absolute favorite, though, was the cocky ravens - so completely fat and spoiled! :)  We watched one, completely surrounded by staring school kids, quite unconcernedly peeling a hard boiled egg (by dropping it on the cobblestones) and eating it - he knew the kids wouldn't touch him, even though they were close enough to try to grab him, crowded right around. 



After we'd finally decided we could not stand a moment more we wandered out to try to find the pub at which we were supposed to meet Kryptyd.  We wandered into a Wetherspoons (a pub chain), dried off a little, then located the Anchor Tap, as that was where we were supposed to meet her, then when she showed up went back the Wetherspoons so we could eat because the Anchor does not have food or warm drinks after 3pm!  A guy at the bar offered me some crisps, though. :)  I ended up drinking cider after cider - I love that cider is automatically of the hard variety, there, and very easy to get anywhere you go, of the same availability as beer and you don't get stared at for ordering it instead of a beer.  I discovered that at both places getting to the ladies room was like a drunk test.  If you can find your way there and back you're fine; if you fall down the steep stairs or get lost amongst the maze of doors that all say 'fire door, keep shut!' then you need to stop drinking. :)  (Also, it took me the entire trip to get used to the fact that it's never called a 'rest room' or any of our other cute euphemisms, it's called a 'toilet.'  Which, I suppose, was also a euphemism when it was first introduced, but is nearly impossible for me to say without feeling, well, just wrong.)



We strolled along the river to see the Golden Hinde (Sir Francis Drake's ship), a gorgeous little ship that looks like a classic pirate vessel. Kryptyd's dad had missed seeing it when he was visiting the weekend before, so we took a pic of her next to it so she could show off to him. :)  We actually kept walking up to the Millennium Bridge (where there was a guy down on the narrow strand of rocks by the river taking photographs in the dark) and then back and over into Whitechapel, where she wanted to take us to a party at a community center place she and her boyfriend belong to.  I was a bit nervous about this because A) walking into Whitechapel after dark - Kryptyd's like "People think this area is dangerous, but it's not, really.  It's... well, you can see, it's like this!  There are racists during the day, but they wouldn't dare stay here after dark because there's a mosque just down here, just up the road from the Center," where she was taking us.* 

This community center is used by quite a number of disparate groups - it's a tiny three-story building that looks a couple of hundred years old and was packed to the gills because there was live music going on.  I was imagining something like a community center, here, which would undoubtedly have high ceilings and fluorescent lights.  No, this was brick and plaster and a steep staircase with no landing for the second floor library (where we sat and talked because the downstairs was too packed to even get in), and then a conference room up under the eaves (also packed with people) and french doors out onto a roof garden.   We talked with a guy who's doing good work with inner city kids, and then Kryptyd and her M. escorted us most of the way back to King's Cross on the Tube, M with one of the guys from the party sitting on his lap most of the way, just because he's far too manly to need to act it. ;) 



Waking up the next day was not so easy after that, if you can imagine!  But we did it, and went to Bletchley Park, where all the code-cracking stuff was done in WWII.  And maybe I've written enough for one night, though Eor's trying to write it ALL.**  But I don't want to overwhelm with too much all at once! :)

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*Kryptyd = awesome!
** My entries should in no way be considered a replacement for Eor's, which will undoubtedly have much more real detail.