Pub Crawling in England - Day 5 & 6 The Exciting Conclusion

The following day was crazy!  We were told no matter what we did we had to visit the Tower of London.  I am a huge fan of the history of King Henry the VIII and his wives and was ready to check out one of London's greatest landmarks.  As we were walking, we stumbled upon an area across the street that sold food.  There right in front of us was KFC in tacky neon.  Kentucky Fried Chicken at the Tower of London!  What was going on?  Why was this allowed?  I couldn't help but start laughing uncontrollably as I walked over to the Tower of London.

KFC!

The laughter died as soon I saw the entrance fee! This was no laughing matter!  We were broke Americans and the exchange rate was horrible!  I told Angie that there was no way I was paying the amount they wanted.  She talked me down explaining that it took us 1.5 hours to get there because the Tube had shut down stations that would have gotten us there quicker.  She argued we had changed trains four times and it was wrong to leave.

Finally, I agreed and shelled out the dough.  Afterwards we took a photo with the Tower in the background, tickets in hand and a certain gesture that includes one finger.  Sadly, this photo will not be in this blog as it is may be deemed inappropriate, but it has been a favorite of guests.

Though I enjoyed the Tower of London, I felt it was a little overrated.  There were so many people and so many lines that it felt like we were being rushed through many of the smaller rooms; especially the room with the royal crowns and jewels.  When you enter, you step onto a conveyor belt and are then zipped through a tunnel where the jewels and crowns are displayed, but the conveyor belt moves at a decent pace so you have to go back again and wait in the line to get another good look at them.  I felt a little dirty after I was done.

I did enjoy the rooms with the historical artifacts of historical figures of England and the old school bathroom in the same building as the armor of King Henry VIII.  It was basically a small room with a hole in the wood that dropped into a bin in the yard.  Yikes!

His Royal Package

One of the stranger things we came upon were random actors re-enacting famous scenes from earlier centuries at the Tower.  Now being a fellow thespian, I understand that actors have to work, but the shows were distracting and cheapened the experience, so I ran away from them whenever we stumbled upon them. 

At around 5PM, the Tower of London was closing up for the day, so Angie and I decided it was Saturday and we needed to experience the ever popular pub crawl.  We were in England and could not skip this national pastime.  So, we hit a pub and decided to get a seat and grab some grub and let the games begin.

I don't know if it is customary or if it was just at this pub, but you order from the bar rather than have someone take your order.  But that was okay, because we needed some drinks so we killed two birds with one stone.

I won't lie the food was pretty bad.  I had ordered a fajita; probably not the best food choice while in London since I don't think they have a high Mexican population, but fajitas are pretty easy to make.  I do it at home all the time.  Angie had fish and chips.  We were both surprised to see that the fish still had scales on it.  It really freaked Angie out so she picked at it with a fork removing all of the scales in the process.  I think it killed her appetite because she left half of her meal on the plate.  So, we did what any easy going tourist would do.  We got another drink, finished it in record time and then hit another pub.

The Tower of London

At the second pub we visited, we met a few people at the bar who offered a shot of bubblegum vodka as I walked to the bathroom.  Not a good time to offer a girl a drink, so I had to decline.  I walked back to the table I had left Angie at and within five minutes these two guys sat next to us.  We are the friendly type so we had a drink with them before they suggested we hit yet another pub.  At this point, I had had a few vodka drinks and Angie had had beer and wine, but we were game and willing to stick it out until the last call.

So off we went!  The next pub we went to only served beer and cider.  I don't drink either, but decided to try a cider which was supposed to be fruity.  Nope, it was chock full of icky.  But I nursed it so as not to be rude to any of the locals.  One of the guys (we will call him Lush) started to scream about how he hated England and how he wanted to move to the US.  Uh huh. Then he began screaming "God bless America" at the top of his lungs over and over.  Angie and I panicked.  We were the only Americans in the joint and we didn't want anyone to think it was our idea, we just wanted to drink!

Finally, his friend (we will call him The Snogger), decided to shut him up by suggesting we hit another pub.  Good move!  The Snogger then decided we should do a shot.  Okay, I can handle that, but Angie cannot mix alcohol.  Ever!  So I tried to tell her she didn't have to do it.  She told me she would be fine, I knew the truth but she was way gone and would not be swayed.  So, we clinked glasses and knocked the shots back and prayed

Within five minutes Angie disappeared.  The Snogger decided that this was his time to make a move even though I had told him earlier that we were not interested in anything like that before he could even suggest it.  I think he forgot that conversation because he filled my ears with such crap as we were soul mates but only for that weekend.  Huh? I didn't realize soul mates worked that way.  He also said that he is a spiritual person and that this would make us both grow because we were on the same wavelength.  Again, Huh?  What wavelength?  The booze one, not good enough buddy.

It was time to leave so I went in search for Angie.  It wasn't hard as I knew where to find her.  She didn't disappoint.  I found her doubled over in the ladies room.  I grabbed Angie, walked out of the bathroom, told the boys goodnight and headed for the door.  But The Snogger wasn't through, he told us we would never find our way home this time of night since the Tube was closed and taxis were impossible to get at that time of night.  In your face Snogger!  We got lucky because right as he said that one pulled up and we flagged it down.

The Snogger was disappointed, but he would not let up and suggested he escort us back to our hotel room to make sure we were alright, but if he did, he would have to spend the night.  Finally, to get rid of him, I told him I would meet him at this pub tomorrow since Angie was sick and she wouldn't be feeling well enough to go out; he left us alone in hopes that I would be there tomorrow; he would be wrong.  Apparently, someone didn't get the memo that no means no.

The next day, Angie was feeling pretty lousy so I suggested going downstairs for breakfast for the first time as it was free.  She agreed it might be good to put some tea and toast in her stomach.  That wasn't enough for me, so I ordered the English Breakfast.  Oh, the horror!  I am a picky eater and I did not know what to expect.  I wish I had known!  It consisted of sausage, bacon, a potato square, mushrooms, baked beans and a stewed tomato.  An evil tomato!  I didn't want to insult anyone at the hotel so I tried to eat what I could which wasn't much.  I don't eat pork, baked beans or tomatoes.

Angie looked up from her toast and tea and gagged at my plate.  It was time to go; she wasn't going to make it.  We went back to our room immediately.   I began to pack while Angie excused herself and closed the bathroom door.  This would be our last afternoon as we would be leaving that afternoon so we planned a quick trip to Kensington Gardens since we were close by. 

I have to say even to this day, London remains one of my favorite traveling memories.  There were a lot of crazy moments and we crammed so much into the days that we were there that I couldn't get it all into this blog.  I hope to return someday soon, but this time, I might have to skip the pub crawl and leave it to the professionals.