Entry 8- London Round Duex: Modern Art, Missed Trains, and Glorious Food.

Greetings from The Captain's Quarters! 
This past weekend I had the wonderful chance to take hold of some prevailing winds coming out of the north, and ride them back down to Foggy London Town. Two of Becca's dear friends, whom I have gotten to know, Marie (who is studying in Spain) and Allison (who is studying in London), invited me to spend a day tromping around London looking for fun. I left early Saturday morning and arrived at the Voge residence to be greeted with hugs and a dinner invitation for my friends. The Voges are most definitely one of the most generous and caring families I have ever met. They will give you the shirt off their backs, or in my case the shoes off their feet. Seriously though, they gave me a pair of shoes that would stand up to the English rain a bit better than the Vans I have been wearing. I will never be able to thank them enough.
   So off I went to meet Marie and Allison. We met at Notting Hill Gate station at noon, and being a tall ginger sort of a kid, I was easily spotted. It took me a few more seconds to see them... the two girls waving their hands in the air didn't register with me I guess. We proceeded to head down Portobello Road to check out the massive flea market that occurs there every saturday. If you are ever in London, you should really check it out. They have everything from pocket watches, old cameras, vintage clothing, and old books, to Crepes, military surplus, knock off sports jersey's and one of London's best CupCake stores. There are over 2,000 stands so by the time we finished meandering, we were pretty hungry. This was at 1:15 by the way. The three of us were terribly indecisive, so we finally came to the conclusion (after some more putzing around) that we would eat by the Tate Modern Museum where we were headed. Two simple tube rides and you are right by the River Thames, and ready to eat... NOT! We thought we were getting on the train to take us there the fastest, only to learn after getting off to transfer, that we went the completely wrong direction and the train we wanted wasn't running. This lead to some more train hopping, and finally sitting down for lunch at about three. I ordered fish and chips, and a Guinness (commonly known as a meal in a glass). Both "meals" were a good choice as our food didn't come out forever, and by the time the waiter set my plate on the table, the food was gone.

   Finally we reached our destination of the Tate Modern Museum. It has 7 floors, but each floor is much bigger than one would think. Walking through there was more exhausting than trekking around London. However, there is some amazing art displayed there, with my favorite being a mirror glued to a canvas, titled "Unknown Painting". I love how art is what you make it. Simple as it was, it seemed rather profound. We managed to make it to the top floor, which over looks the river and the Millenium Bridge, pretty spectacular.
   From there we proceeded, quickly this time, to the Voge residence for diner. Upon arriving, the sweet aroma's of a home cooked meal hit our nostrils and our olfactory senses almost shat their pants. We discovered that the meal was to consist of steak, chicken, two kinds of salad, fresh bread. It doesn't end there though, homemade Apple Crisp was set to round the meal out, ice cream included. Needless to say, a tastegasm occurred at first nibble, sending the neurotransmitters of my cabasa into overload. After the Apple Crisp (two servings that is), we walked Marie and Allison to the train station and trudged through the pouring rain back home.
   Two nights later, Paul Voge got home from Boston, and we celebrated his birthday, the BIG ONE SIX! With a wit and sense of humor as sharp as his, it is hard to believe he is only 16. A wonderful dinner and delicious cake followed.
  Today however, I had to say my farewells, until friday that is. Jami so graciously invited me to spend this coming weekend in Cornwall with her and Paul. What adventures are in store, I do not know, but I have not doubt it will be exciting. That will be another story though, and I am not yet done with this one. I missed my first train this morning due to London traffic, so as I sat waiting the following occurred:


The Scene: London Liverpool Station at approx. 10:05 am. Paul Hester has just missed his first train (by one minute), and is waiting for the next one. Slightly despondent, he munches a glorious sausage breakfast pie-roll sort of a thing. He looks over to see a young girl staring at she-male, or a man-her... it is still under debate. Her Dad stands talking to a friend near by...


The conversation: 
Girl: "Daddy... Daddy... DADDY!"
Dad: "Yes love what is it?"
Girl: (points to above mentioned person of unknown gender) "Is that a girl or a boy, because I can't tell and I'm rather confused". I must interject here to say that this line is said at an audible level to anymore in earshot, possibly including the aforementioned subject of discussion.
Dad: (looks, and doing his best not to laugh, not at the person, but at the blunt nature of the childhood mind, simply says...) "It's not nice to stare. Pick on up now." At this point he turns his face away and begins to walk, tears streaming down his face. He looks at his friend, and just can't take it anymore. Nearly running at this point, he and his friend burst out laughing. The girl still looked rather confused and couldn't figure out why her Dad was laughing or why everyone around had a smile on their face... well almost everyone.
That made missing my train completely worth it. 


I will post again soon, hopefully I will have some fun stories, and some cool pictures from Cornwall. There I will meet the mighty sea again for the first time in many moons and starlit nights.
God Speed to all. The Pirate Crew sails on.