Manushi Comes to Town

The best addition to London has been Manu.

While I looked almost haggard and aged (20 year olds cannot endure the London rains, or heat waves as a matter of fact), my sister walked out of the plane looking fresh and young and happy. I forgot she was jetlagged and complained of my exhaustion (a culmination of one month of not sleeping--see next entry for more info) the entire day.

Always the good sport, she dragged herself, without having slept 24 hours, through the inevitable, tourist sights of the city (the ones people always hate but must see to "earn bragging rights at home," as my father says) via a city tour on a double decker bus. It started raining while we were on top, the information was distributed quite fast, and the one thing I could discern was, "and they have maintained Harry Potter's platform 12 and three quarters at the King Cross station." After heaving and then correcting the tour guide, we jumped off the bus, and we went on a quest to find some crepes.

We finally found the perfect banana and nutella crepe at a small restaurant near my university hostel, and after watching the swans like little old women in Kensington Gardens, we headed back to my aunt's house, for some hot food and more importantly, some bed.

Bed didn't last too long. We needed to binge London in 3 days, so we were off again, this time to catch a cruise to Greenwich. We stood on the center of the world, admired the quaint streets of the town, and managed to get a free train ride back to London (no idea how).

We tasted the best falafel in the world at Borogh Market. After filling ourselves up with free samples and a very large, fudgy brownie, we decided to split the lebanese wrap, only to realize the biggest mistake of our lives. We tried to share, but wanted to rip each others throats out for the delicious sandwich. After it was finished, we stared into the sun, letting the wind blow vestiges of the garlic and lemon smell, and physical fragments of the falafel, into our faces.

We ended up paying more for 2 lemonades at the next cafe we went to, only because Manu had to use the bathroom and the only public toilet in sight was closed. It took the waitress about 30 minutes to get our bill, but we enjoyed our view of St. Paul's and this mysterious English boy with a suit case who sat on the curb for over half an hour.

After shopping and hoping to catch a glimpse of some bloody street fight in Oxford Circus, we headed back to E. Croydon. In Victoria, I actually ran into a friend from Ridgewood who I hardly see back in the States, but found in one of the many train stations in London.

Again, we came back to a delicious meal, and then slept like drunk babies the entire night--

until my alarm clock sounded the start of another hurried blur through London.

We left early so that we stroll across (run) Abbey Road before seeing the obligatory Changing of the Guard. Of course, our camera malfunctioned as soon as Manu crossed the road. I told her to cross back about 3 times, before coming to terms with the fact that either the batteries were faulty, the camera was defective, or, like all my friends joke, I genuinely have a cursed hand when it comes to cameras. We were then late for Changing of the Guard, and were even more delayed by the hundreds of avid cricket fans coming to Lord's for the Ashes tournament.

I found new batteries by a convenience store by Buckingham Palace, and we decided we would head to Abbey Road again. We visited Embankment first, went on the London Eye and raced through a huge meal at Wagamama (so quickly the waiter hesitated to take our plates away), thinking we had no time. We went back to St. John's Wood, this time without a stampede of national fans, and took our pictures and raced back to E. Croydon, just in time to head out.

Once we were finally seated onboard the train, in the first class compartment which was cheaper than standard on Sundays, we sighed, leaving behind us the fast paced and tiring life of touring London. Our aunt had joked that if we don't stay alert we might end up in Scotland.

2 hours later, I happened to glance on the screen and saw that our stop was next. I nudged my sister, though I was still not fully comprehending, and said nonchalantly, "I think this is us." She looked at me, and blinked. Then with a start, the both of us crammed all of our belongings into the backpacks, and rushed out of the train and onto the platform.

The train sped away from us, leaving my sister and I out of breath, our bones aching with exhaustion and the weight of all the candy bars I collected from the cafeteria.