My weekend with Ruth!!

THURSDAY
Amy, Louise, Daniel, Tianda, Brit and I went to get wings at a place called the Sports Cafe for dinner. We got 60 wings for 9 pounds, and a different flavor every 10 wings. They were really good. Afterwards, Louise and Daniel came with me to go get Ruth at Victoria Station. She had estimated she would be arriving there (from the Gatwick Express, a train from the airport to Victoria) at about 8:30. Her flight had been delayed so she didn't arrive until 9:30ish. We journeyed back to Nido, and then a bunch of us went to a pub right next door called 'The Long Hope'. It was karaoke night, but there were only like two other people in there. That made it easier to sing karaoke, there was no one to judge... Us girls sang 'Stop' by the Spice Girls, as well as 'A Whole New World'. My favorites of the night was Leon's version of 'Everybody Hurts' and Daniel's version of 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love'. It was all highly entertaining, and to top it all off I was with Ruth!!!

FRIDAY
Ruth and I woke up early and went to Covent Garden. It's a market of sorts, and usually it has lots of street performers. There were none when we went, though. Maybe because it was a Friday or it was too early or something... We walked from there to Leicester Square, then to Piccadilly Circus (where we stopped at Lillywhites and bought some stuff), and then to Trafalgar Square. Ruth climbed up and got a picture with a lion. Then we walked down the Mall to Buckingham Palace and caught the changing of the guard. We didn't stay for the whole thing because it Square and ate at Pizza Hut. We chose Pizza Hut because they don't have any in Spain, and Ruth saw it and then craved it, as did I. We got the buffet, and stuffed ourselves. Then we walked back to Trafalgar Square and went to The National Gallery. We had to really limit ourselves in there, because we still had a lot we needed to accomplish. We looked at all the impressionists (Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Seurat, Cezanne, etc), because they are Ruth's favorites, and then swung by the DaVinci and Michelangelo. After that we walked to Westminster Abbey. There were a lot of things we wanted to do that would've cost money, so we decided to pick only one thing out for each day, so today was Westminster. I had never been in there, so I was excited, as was Ruth, of course. It was so beautiful inside. We were in the presence of many famous people's remains, including Elizabeth I, Mary Queen of Scots, Chaucer, Darwin, Charles Dickens, Isaac Newton, etc (full list here: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/history-research/monuments-gravestones/people/ and of royalty here: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/history-research/monuments-gravestones/royalty/).

Then we went by Big Ben/ Houses of Parliament/ London Eye area and got pictures, then hopped back on the tube to Leicester Square. We went to the theater to pick up our tickets for Avenue Q (we were going to an earlier show of 5:30). Then we had half an hour or so to kill, so we just walked down the street and found an H&M (clothing store) to look in. Our seats for Avenue Q were really good (I got a deal with my Oyster Card - 2 of the best available seats for the price of one). The musical itself was amazing. All the actors sang really well and sounded amazingly like the original broadway cast. It was sooooooooo good!! (http://www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk). After that, Ruth and I met up with Louise, Daniel, Brit, and Tianda, and went looking for a pub/club to go to in Leicester Square. Since it was later and a Friday night, every place had a cover charge, usually of 6 pounds or more, which we didn't want to pay. Finally we found this one place called 'Fudge' and Louise had argued with the guy until she got us in for 2 pounds each. It was kind of lame.

SATURDAY
We went to St.Paul's in the morning, we went inside (but didn't pay, so only saw the entrance). Outside some people were putting on a performance of 'A Midsummer Night's Dream'. Then we walked across the Millenium Bridge and popped into Tate Modern, but only for 10 minutes. We saw the Globe, and then walked over to the Tower of London. Tower of London was really cool. We waited for our guided tour, and our Beefeater guide was very funny. When we were done at the Tower, we went back to King's Cross area, ate lunch, and went to the British Library. We had to be very limited on our time there, as we also wanted time at the British Museum before it closed. Ruth had enough time to see all the cool stuff, though, like the first copy of Beowulf, the Magna Carta, original Beatles lyrics, DaVinci notebooks, etc. We had less than an hour in the British Museum, so we decided to look at all the Greek and Roman stuff (Parthenon, Greek vases, etc.), and of course, the Rosetta Stone.
After that we met up with Leon, Tianda, and Brit, and went to Abbey Road. It was cool. I'll have to go back there during the day. People write all sorts of grafitti on the wall outside of the studio, they have to paint over it every year. We found a place to eat dinner on Oxford Street, called the Spaghetti House, it was good. We went back to King's Cross, and got McFlurry's at McDonalds, and sat around and talked there until about 11. Then we went back to Nido and went to sleep, Ruth and I had to wake up early so she could catch her flight.

SUNDAY
We woke up at 3:15 AM so we could be at the bus stop by 4:25 so Ruth could catch the Gatwick Express at 5:00 to catch her flight at 8:00. It was early, but on the way to Victoria, we rode on top of the double decker bus, which was cool. I was sad to see her go, I wish she could've stayed longer, but I'm so glad she came and we had an amazing time!!