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Ivan and I headed to get fish and chips at The Rock & Sole Plaice on June 25th. It’s London’s oldest fish & chips shop. Ivan got cod while I got the haddock. My dish was really good. The fish was delicious and not greasy. The fries were crunchy. Ivan liked my haddock better. He said it tasted sweeter than the cod.
We headed to Forbidden Planet. It’s a huge store with memorabilia, and tons of manga, comics, movies and anime. I could have bought so much here. The price of the mangas were about the same as in the U.S.
We headed to St. James Park and Green Park.
The parks are great areas to relax in. Ivan bought some bread at the store.
We fed the birds and ducks at the park. We also saw squirrels. They didn’t like bread only nuts.
That night, we headed to Hackney to see Madness at the Hackney Empire. Ivan said they’re the quintessential London band. The theatre was quite old. Ivan bought a Fez outside the theatre.
There were some guys and girls dressed up in old time London clothes. We were standing downstairs near the stage. The first half of the show was their new album. I didn’t find it as good as their older music. Everybody came to hear the classic stuff. I was waiting to hear Our House.
The band was good. The audience got really excited when the older stuff was being played. The people started dancing and pushing. It was a good show. I only knew some of their music.
Ivan saw on TripAdvisor about the Fat Tire Bike Tour. We went to take the tour on Thursday, June 26th.
We first biked down Kensington Road.
We stopped at many places like Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Hyde Park, Green Park and St. James Park. Our tour guide David was an American. He looked similiar to David from Real World: Seattle. He was very friendly and seemed to love his job. He told us history about the different sights we saw.
We stopped at a pub for lunch. I wanted to get the Bangers & Mash (in Violet’s honor hehe)… but they didn’t have it on the menu.
I had the Beef & Ale Pie. It came with mashed potatoes and vegetables. My pie was really tasty. The mashed potatoes didn’t have much flavor, but it tasted decent. Ivan had the Fish Pie. He ordered fries.
Ivan and I each had a organic cherry beer. It was cold and tasted sweet. It was a great tour.
I liked seeing the different locations and I got exercise too. It made me tired.
For dinner, we ate at Leon. I had the Moroccan Chicken Tangine. It came with chicken mixed with vegetables and rice. It also had some coleslaw. My dish was rather plain. We shared some hummus with bread. Ivan had the Magic Mackerel with Cous Cous. I was still hungry so I got a dessert. I ordered the Nectarine, Orange Blossom and Almond Pie. It was a nice and sweet pie. I’ve never had a dessert like that before.
We went to go watch Billy Elliott in the evening. It’s a story about a boy who is talented in ballet. It also shows the Miner’s strike that happens in County Durham. It’s a great musical. It’s funny and very entertaining.
We were going to catch a boat ride on the Thames Clipper but it was raining.
Sorry for the short update. It’s been hard to find time to actually edit pictures and put everything up online. I will be placing all pics on Flickr.. when I’m done editing them back in America. The next update will be about my trip to Southend with Ivan’s family.
I was thinking of sleeping early on the night of June 20th. Then I’d be really tired on the plane. But, I ended up getting like 6 hours sleep. I know I needed it since I haven’t been sleeping much lately. I woke up on Friday, June 21st. I went to get some last minute errands done. I had to buy my contacts. Then, I returned my library books. I came home and showered. I was ready to go after that. My mom and Dad drove me to the airport. I checked in my two bags at the airport. I got an aisle seat. I forgot that I could check-in online beforehand. I went to the gate area upstairs. I had a small pepperoni pizza at Pizza Hut. I didn’t have much food all day so I was hungry. It was taking forever to board the plane. They kept calling names to the counters. They actually called my name. I proceeded to the counter to see what was going on. The guy said how many bags did you check in. I told him two bags. Then the woman next to him said yes. Finally, we boarded the plane later on. The plane was a big 747. There was actually seats upstairs as well. Virgin Atlantic is a nice airline. We had some pretzels and a drink for a snack. Then a little while later we had dinner. I had chicken and rice. It came with a roll, cracker and cheese. I also had a red wine. The food was good. The airline gave us little bags filled with a toothbrush, toothpaste, socks, a pen and a sleeping mask. There was a good selection of things to watch like movies and comedy channels. I was thinking of sleeping. I couldn’t get comfortable for some reason though. My butt seemed to hurt. I even played my Ocean Surf on my iPod. It usually is very relaxing and helps me sleep. I only rested for a few hours. But, I don’t think I got any proper sleep. I was too excited to get to England. We were close to landing. The captain got on the intercom to talk about the weather. He said that it was depressing weather. It was rainy. I laughed at this in the bathroom.
Finally, we landed in London at 10:05 am on June 21st. It was a delay of about 15 minutes. I went through Immigration. It went relatively quick considering there was a long line. The guard asked me who I was visiting. I told him my friend. He asked if my friend was from England. I said yes. He then asked if we met here or in the US. I told him the US. He asked how long I had known my friend. I told him a year. So, off I went to get my luggage. The display screens weren’t showing any information. So, I waited to see if my luggage was going to arrive. I was there for a few minutes. Finally, I went to find an information desk. I asked where the flight 44’s baggage was. She said it was on 7 but the luggage is now on the floor. I got my luggage and left. There was nobody in the Customs area so I exited. I was so tired at this point. There were many people waiting for people. I hoped that I would be able to find Ivan. I saw him. We were going to ride the train and then switch to another train. It seemed like a lot of walking. I think my tiredness just made it worse. We were staying at the Marriott Hotel in the West India Quay which is in the Docklands. It’s a great area. We had a view of the water.
It was a great hotel. It’s very pretty inside.
Ok, I think England is backwards. The escalators have people going up on the right and people going down on the left. Of course, they drive on the wrong side of the road and the driver’s seat is on the right side. I noticed that the bathroom light is outside of the bathroom. On the keyboard, the @ and ” have switched places on an English keyboard. The toilet seats don’t usually have a handle. There’s a button to press instead. I’m sure there’s other things as well.
We took it easy that Saturday. I slept around 5 hours that afternoon. That night, we went to a pub close by called The Cat and Canary. Ivan wanted to watch the football (soccer) match. It’s the Euro 2008. The match was Holland vs. Russia. It turned out to be a draw, so it went into overtime. I had half a pint of Fruli, which is a great fruity Strawberry beer.
Next, we walked to La Tasca. It’s a Spanish tapas restaurant. We had ordered a bunch of little dishes. We had potatoes with spicy tomato sauce, Spniash Manchego cheese, shrimp cooked in olive oil and garlic, white fish in a batter with a roasted garlic mayonnaise, arroz with broccoli and chicken skewers. It was really good!
Ivan and I went to Leicester Square since the West End Live event was on on June 22nd. We only caught the end of Jersey Boys. We did see the cast of Mama Mia. But, sadly they were lip syncing. It was filled with people. We then walked to Trafalgar Square. There was an Indian festival going on. The chariots were coming in as we got there. The square is really big.. it was packed with people. There were some Hare Krishna’s there. They were singing and dancing in a circle. Then, we walked to Covent Garden. We saw a street magician perform. They also have jugglers. It’s a nice area to walk around since they have lots of shops. Then, we went to an internet cafe. It’s cheap like $2 for an hour. We went to a backpack store. There’s so many outdoors stores in London. I’ve been looking for a great big backpack for our world trip. Las Vegas doesn’t have a good selection of backpacks. So, it was great to look at some backpacks in London. I tried out the North Face W Terra 40. I was thinking about the W Terra 40 or the Solaris. The W Terra is a nice size and is big enough to fit a lot of stuff. It’s more expensive in London. So, I’m definitely going to buy it online.
We went to a pub called Two Brewers where I had a half pint of Kronenberg.
That night, we ate at Busaba Eathai. We had some fish cakes. I really enjoyed the yellow curry. The red curry was a little too spicy. We went to The Comedy Store. It was some great comedians there. I really enjoyed it. It’s improv and similar to Who’s Line is it Anyway?
On June 23rd, we were going to take the Thames Clipper boat. For breakfast I had a ham, roast chicken, onion and olive oil pasta salad. It was good. I also had a Breakfast2Go smoothie from Kruger. Ivan suggested this smoothie. Although, it wasn’t as tasty as Ivan’s Famous Smoothies. The boat was pretty fast. It had great scenery all around. We saw Tower Bridge.
We went to St. Paul’s Cathedral.
It’s simply beautiful inside. Unfortunately, there was no picture taking in the cathedral. We walked across the Millennium Bridge. It’s a long bridge. We were headed to the Tate Modern. It’s a modern museum. Public museums in London are free.
They had a great exhibit called Street Art. The artwork inside was good. I saw a Pablo Picasso and Jackson Pollock. We walked back across the Millennium bridge. I was still jet lagged. I was just super tired. We went to go move into Ivan’s flat. It took forever for his roommates to read and sign the paperwork. It was a nice view from the agent’s office. I love looking at water. It’s relaxing and quiet in Ivan’s new neighborhood.
We were going to see a musical with Ivan’s family on June 24th. I was really nervous about meeting his family. I just don’t know what they’ll think of me. Will they like me? Ivan’s mum Denise and his brother Neal arrived at his flat. We then met his Dad and took the train. We went into London. His mum and dad were going shopping. Ivan, Neal and I walked to the Punch & Judy bar. We sat outside and had a drink. I don’t know what we had.. but the beer was really strong. Then, Neal got us more beer. I seemed to like the taste of the second beer better. Originally, we were going to all eat at a Greek restaurant. Ivan’s parents finished early with shopping and got to the restaurant early. We ended up eating at an Indian restaurant called Masala Zone.
They had these dolls hanging from the ceiling. It was really kewl. There was a special going on.
I had a chicken thali. It was delicious. We walked to the theater to meet Ivan’s parents. We were going to see We Will Rock You. It’s a musical with Queen songs. Oh my goodness.. it was just simply amazing! We were seated in the fourth row.
So, it was a great view and the sound was so loud. I loved it! It was a good night. I liked meeting Ivan’s family. They’re great people. His mom is really cute. She’s short like me.. a little taller though. His dad is nice. Ivan and Neal get their height from their dad, who’s 6 foot 2. Neal was very funny. I get to see them more this weekend. We’re going to Southend-on-Sea to stay at their house.
The weather’s actually been nice. It gets a little cold. But, I always have my jacket with me. It hasn’t really rained. I love the buildings.. they’re so old. London is a great city. We have been taking the tube a lot. I’m glad Ivan’s my host around the city. I’d get so lost without him. He knows London so well too.
Well… my week has been just packing.. and getting ready for my 2 week England trip. I can’t wait to see Ivan. Also, can’t wait to meet his family. I don’t like packing so it was a little stressful. I’m leaving in a few hours.
My mom thinks I shouldn’t sleep on the plane. She thinks somebody will steal from me while I sleep. She said don’t hold anybody’s luggage.. Tell them you’ll watch it. No, I’ll tell them.. they can take their own lugagge.
Ok, I’m off… next post.. I’ll be in England!! 
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My cousin Charisse wanted to meet up at Blue Martini on June 14th. We were going to meet her friends Lisa and Mao. I had previously heard about this bar since it has become a new popular spot. It’s located in the Town Square Mall. I got there a little late, but Charisse was still driving. She said that Lisa and Mao were waiting for a table at Yard House. I walked around to find an ATM. I met Charisse outside of the restaurant. We went inside to find her friends. They were already seated outside. I ordered a Kronenbourg 1664. I was trying to decide what to eat on the big menu. I finally picked the Vodka Shrimp Pasta. It was a heavenly angel hair pasta with a vodka tomato sauce. I ate the whole thing. I felt guilty afterwards though. It was so good though! Charisse got the beer sampler with six lighter beers. Yard House has the most draft beers on tap in the world. After dinner, we decided to go to Blue Martini. We got up there and there was a HUGE line to get in. I thought it was ridiculous for a bar to be THAT busy. Charisse said there was a house party at her friend’s house. Mao suggested that we head to eyecandy at the Mandalay Bay. I said that the lounge had great drinks. It’s located just down the street from the mall. We met inside the eyecandy lounge. We found a table near the front entrance. I ordered the Pure Joy cocktail. I’ve had it before. It’s so good! We talked for a little. Then, we decided to go check out the dance floor. There was a lot of people dancing. The music was a mix of hip hop, pop, and some rock. It was a silly night.
Charisse and I got hit on by two brothers. One of them was so drunk.. it was just hilarious. He said to me You’re so beautiful. I just laughed at him. Why are you laughing at me? It must be because you’re so beautiful and you know it. Hahaha. I kept moving away from him to go talk to the girls. The guy who liked Charisse was actually a nice guy. He gave us some water from the bar. He danced with Charisse for a few minutes and then disappeared. There was this one guy talking to Lisa. I couldn’t hear what he said. She just ignored him and kept dancing. I asked her what he said. She said he kept saying Can I have your PIN? She said what did he take my debit card or something? Hahaha. We danced for a few hours. I had fun dancing even though the music was mostly hip hop. I’d rather dance to some great house music.
I started my diet on June 9th. I’ve been putting it off forever. I just love food too much! I decided to do the 1500 calorie diet again. I have The CalorieKing Calorie, Fat & Carbohydrate Counter book
I went to an open bar event at RUB BBQ in the Rio with Alisa, her husband Jay and her sister on Wednesday, June 11th. Alisa wanted me to meet her sister Beazus since she’s in town this week. We got there and it was slow. I’m glad we got there early so we got seats at the bar. Spiked Lemonade was the free drink for the open bar event. The bar normally serve these drinks everyday for $2 each. The drinks were good.. not too strong though. They also gave us appetizers wings and fried pickles (ewww I don’t like pickles!).
Everybody was hungry (except me since I ate at the mall). Jay ordered BBQ shrimp for an appetizer and a pulled pork sandwich. Alisa got the portobello mushroom sandwich with french fries and Beazus got the hot chicken wings. The food was good. I had a BBQ shrimp which was different but tasty. I had some french fries and two hot wings. Good food! We had a good time laughing and talking. We took some funny pictures in front of the big Chippendales advertisement.
I went to my eye doctor appointment on June 12th. I went to a new doctor since they have good hours and it’s very close to my work. I went right after work. I wanted to get fitted for contacts and get some new glasses. Somehow, my eyesight improved a lot in each eye. I don’t know how. My old doctor said that some of her patients experienced improved eyesight when using the Acuvue Oasys, which I use. I asked my current doctor about this. He said it may be possible to improve it, but not that much. I was thinking about seeing the Bleach Memories of Nobody movie at 7:30 pm. I was super tired so I decided not to go.
The diet isn’t going so well. I’ve been just a little down this week. I’ve been so tired, so I haven’t even exercised at all. I have been eating a lot less though. So, that’s good. I just don’t want to starve myself though. I just need some motivation. I’ve been so lazy lately.
I went to meet Alisa at her friend’s house after work on Friday, June 13th. We were going to meet at Sapporo. It was a Girl’s Night Out. It turns out all the other girls were married. Alisa doesn’t have kids but the rest have at least one child. It was Bernie and her friends Holly, Natasha and one more lady (who I forgot her name). They were very nice. The restaurant had a Happy Hour menu with sushi, appetizers and drinks on it. I ordered a Rose Pomegranate Martini. It tasted good. You can really taste the alcohol. Alisa got the Pear Martini which was sweet.
Everybody put what they wanted on the Happy Hour menu paper. The plan was that everybody was going to share. I picked the Chicken Lettuce Wraps. The ladies shared lots of stories about their husbands and kids. It was really funny. There was so much food ordered. We got three types of sushi – Surf n’ Turf, Philadelphia and Tootsie. There was also Coconut Shrimp, Stuffed Shrimp, Ebi Nigiri and Mongolian BBQ ribs. I tried a little bit of almost everything. It was a great night with fun, food and drinks.
My Favorite Bellagio Fountain Show song
This the best free attraction in Las Vegas. Ahhh, this is the best Fountain Show song. It’s simply beautiful!
I went to the Grand Opening VIP party for the Sapphire pool at the Rio with my friend Alisa on June 6th. It’s the world’s largest topless pool. There was complimentary drinks and hors d’oeuvres. The drinks were beer, water, Blue Hawaiian and Long Island Iced Tea.
Alisa and I each had a Blue Hawaii and and a Long Island Iced Tea. The drinks were so strong that it made us buzzed for almost an hour. We sat on a round bed and people watched. They had food like lamb with cous cous, little Fatburgers and small desserts like creme brulee with berries.
There was also go-go dancers from the Sapphire gentleman’s club. There was this one lady who danced really good. We stayed for 2 hours and then got bored. I wanted to catch the Masquerade Show in the Sky. Ivan told me that they had changed it to be sexier. So, I wanted to see how different it was. The show now has girls in a short skirt and bra dancing around. They still throw beads to the visitors. I also noticed that one of the floats had a topless girl on it.
It’s the same show, except it’s trying to be sexier now. It was a good relaxing night.
Ivan and I went to the Las Vegas Mini Gran Prix on May 31st. We rode the Sprint Kart Speedway cars first. These cars were pretty fast. Ivan slowed down so I could catch up. I ended up passing him and it was hard for him to catch up. It was fun.
We wanted to ride again. So, we headed to the Go Karts. These cars are similar, but may be a little slower. It seemed like that everybody was running into the sides or crashing into other people. When this happens, they slow down all the cars. I was trying to squeeze past a lady. I was driving right next to the side of the track. The lady was trying to turn and I think I hit hurt her car which made her car turn. It made everybody slow down and they had to put the lady’s car in the right direction. It was fun driving go karts.
We booked the Hard Rock Hotel for two nights starting on Sunday, June 1st. It’s really cool because if you’re a hotel guest, you get free entry and a line pass to their popular Rehab pool party. We asked front desk to give us a room in the new tower. The clerk told us that the room wouldn’t be ready until later on and she would call us when it was ready. We went to the pool. It was around 10 am. The pool was already filled with some people and all the chairs were taken. We did find a space on the floor right by the pool. So, we placed our towels down and then headed to the bar. They had a Rehab cup where you can get any drink inside. We got two Strawberry Daiquiris. The drinks tasted really good.
The pool has a big pool. This area has sand at the bottom of the pool. Then there’s a long lazy river. It doesn’t have jets that pull you along it though. We just walked around in the pool. We rented a raft. We both laid down on the raft and floated around the lazy river. It was great. Rehab was crowded but not as busy as I’ve heard and seen in pictures. A lady from the hotel called to inform us that the room was ready. We went to check in. The room turned out to be a nice pool view. There must have been no new tower rooms so they upgraded us to the great view. We could hear the music and see the pool from the room.
Today, Tiesto was playing at the pool. We didn’t get to see him on Memorial Day weekend. So, it was cool that we got to see him this weekend. It didn’t seem advertised much. We only saw it in the Las Vegas Weekly. He was great. We had a good day at the pool drinking and floating around the pool.
Ivan and I went to Origin India for the second time. It was convenient since we could just walk there. We got the Aloo Mattar Tiki for the starter. It was good. Next, we got Chicken Haryali Kebab for one of our main courses. We also got the Chicken Makhani, which is a chicken in a creamy tomato curry sauce. I like the Chicken Harylai Kebab. But, the Chicken Makhani was really good. I love curry! I got stuffed fast. It was a good dinner.
Sadly, it was Ivan’s last day in Las Vegas on June 2nd. I’m so sad to see him go. We just have the best time together. I met him at the Hard Rock pool for the Relax party. We swam around a little. The waterfall was on today. We went down the slide twice. That was fun! We just hung out in the hotel room talking and watching tv. We ordered Room Service. We were planning on heading to the casino area to get a drink. But, we were both too tired.
Ivan was leaving on June 3rd to head back to England. I didn’t want to see him leave. I was supposed to leave for work around 6:45 am. But, I couldn’t bring myself to leave. So, I was late for work. It turns out that his plane was delayed four hours. He called me from the airport and I was going to pick him up from the airport after work. He decided to take a cab to my work. We chilled at the Treasure Island pool. Then we went to go eat at Todai. We had lots of sushi. Then I took Ivan took the airport.
I came home and all my nieces and nephews were at the house on June 4th. It’s such a treat to see all of them at once. They were having a Wii party for my niece Maya since she’s getting her tonsils out on Thursday, June 5th. My parents got a Wii. We were playing tennis, bowling, Mario Cart and Mario Party 8. We had Pizza Hut for dinner. We had pizza, chicken wings and the new pasta dish. I was playing with the kids playing Hide n’ Seek. They had a game called Monster. One person is the Monster and chases everybody else. If the Monster touches you, you become a monster too. I think it’s just an excuse to run around. I was picked Monster. I touched somebody. I was going to run behind the couch and hide. Then, I would jump out and catch them. That was the plan anyway. But, I was going too fast and slipped.. I got two rug burns on my knee. I had to stop and get some band-aids. We decided to play Pirates. We pretend the big leather couch is the pirate ship. We sail the ship to a deserted island to find treasure. We scour the island looking for gold, pearls and other treasures. Then we try another island to get gold for the treasures. We can buy food with the gold. It was a fun night.
