London calling

On Friday morning, Harry and I caught a 7:16 am (ugh) EuroStar to London. We arrived in "the country of Shakespeare, Churchill, the Beatles, Sean Connery, Harry Potter. David Beckham's right foot. David Beckham's left foot, come to that." just after 9:30am local time, not exactly bright and bushy-tailed, but glad, at least to be able to stand up and walk around. Harry was rather miserable about not being in France; he spent most of the morning complaining about how everything was better in Paris than in London. I, however, thought the city was, as I remembered, wonderful. (Interestingly, though, I've decided I wouldn't be happy living there. As a place to visit, though, it's lovely.) We wandered around South Kensington until noonish, as I had to catch another train to Oxford. Harry had the brilliant idea to get off at the tube stop after Paddington station and then walk; don't, boys and girls, try this at home. It took FOREVER. We passed the Tate Modern, though, which was interesting, and were able to walk along the Themes for a bit, which was terribly romantic.

In Oxford I met up with Hannah, a friend from Columbia whom I met in a couple medieval classes. She's doing a program there for the summer, and so she showed me around the town and we caught up on six months' gossip and news. We had a great time; sometimes I forget how much I miss my friends until I'm confronted with them! We found a great Thai place for dinner, watched Love Actually, and then went out with her friends for the night. I must admit, I felt much more at home in the pub than I do at bars here in Paris. Somehow, when I go out here in Paris I feel like I'm always putting on some sort of Elegant Betsy suit. It's fun, and I like being elegant, but it was so refreshing to let down my hair and drink a beer without being afraid I'd be labelled "American."

On Saturday morning Hannah and I lazed around and then met up with Gen for lunch. She's grown - she's nearly as tall as I am! (Also, Kate, she's absolutely stunning. Good job.) It was wonderful to catch up. A little strange, though, to talk seriously about college with her! After lunch we hoofed it back to the station for my train, and I arrived in London around 4pm. Because of some snafus with Mel, a friend from both NCS and Columbia who's been living in London for the past year, Harry and I ended up bumming around King's Cross for nearly an hour and a half (not the prettiest part of town). Eventually we meandered back to his parents' hotel to shower and change for dinner. (Possible highlight of the evening: Mr. Smeeden telling Harry to run to thge drugstore to get some asprin and water for the Mrs. while he and I had a drink downstairs.) Dinner was a little intimidating at first; we (the Smeedens and I) met up with some family friends, a British couple and their two teenagers at a nice restaurant in Kew Gardens. Everyone was very nice and friendly, though, and it was tons o' fun. Poor Harry was on the end of the table and, as I was trying to be socialble to everyone else and he was sitting opposite his mother, I think he felt a little left out. After dinner I said goodbye (and thank you, duh) to Harry's parents and headed back to King's Cross to Mel's appartment. I didn't get there till nearly midnight, but things were lively as she had a few friends over - including Ashley and Claire, two friends from high school! Clare is studying in London for the summer, and Ashley is studying in Valencia and was up just for the weekend. We hung out for a few hours until everyone finally left, and crashed around 2am.

Sunday morning was blissfully uneventful: I left Mel's around 10:30 and met up with Harry back in South Kensington. We had a leisurely brunch and walked around some more until we had to go catch our EuroStar back to Paris. All in all, it was a lovely, if tiring, weekend.