Weekend

Short post because I have to get on the tube soon and go home. However, a brief recap of my weekend:

Friday:
Visit to Hampton Court (aka 1 of Henry VIII's 50 homes) with Art and Architecture. Our professor had a friend there to lecture with her and was very giggly.

Shannon and Ernest got to London tonight!! After I got stuck on public transport FOREVER, I made it to the pub for dinner (bangers and mash!) and a tour by night of famous London sites.

Saturday:
Took Shannon and Ernest to Borough market with Omar and Mike. It was awesome- I got a cup of very good apple cider (since I had to miss Applefest in Ithaca), 2 lamb spring rolls, and some dessert. After we went to Westminster Abbey, Parliament, Big Ben, and Buckingham Palace. Took a break for naptime, then attempted to go to dinner at a Thai place that was recommended to us. Instead everyone learned the textbook definition of "dodgy" at our fine dining establishment, Little India, that wanted to "wellcome" us to their restaurant below Britain's version of KFC, Chicken Village. Expect a longer post on our dinner experience. After that we went to a friend's apartment in Hammersmith for what was supposed to be a party, but since we showed up 4 hours late, we kind of missed it.

Sunday:
Slept until 11:30 because we had gotten home at 4 am and then went to Cafe Forum for lunch. Shannon and Ernest adventured off on their own to the Natural History Museum while Omar, Mike, and I practiced. Then we stopped back to their apartment before heading back to Westminster Abbey for an organ recital. It was really good- all music of Ralph Vaughn Williams, mostly the Folk Song Suite that any band person will know. It was free and only like 40 minutes long. Andrew made chicken noodle soup for dinner, and I was going to make clam chowder, but all the grocery stores were closed so that was a no go. Instead we went to the small Halal grocers and got stuff to make bananas foster and Andrews concoction that was basically bananas foster on a pita baked in the oven. Everything was delicious.

The highlight of the weekend was getting to see Chris and Corinne via Alicia's skype. It was so good to see all of them! I need to work harder at figuring out how to get to chat with them (and Amanda).

Cheers!