Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese

That was the name of the pub where I got lunch today.  Amazing.

I went out today with Jackie, Lenny, and my friend Emily, who goes to Barnard.  First we went to do one of my favourite pasttimes, second only to a few things like acting, singing, sightseeing and Danny... Shopping!  First we went to Primark, England's cheap shopping store.  I was pretty much in heaven.  Shirts were 3 pounds, and you could get a pack of leggings for 1 pound.  So much happiness abounded.  I got a really nice pair of shoes for 13 pounds.

Next, we went into Topshop, which to me is the epitomal icon of English forward fashion these days.  Burberry and such are older English fashion but Topshop and Kate Moss make me think of the younger generation.  Like the Topshop in New York, it was a tad bit too expensive, but I did have a nice time looking around.  The Topshop on Oxford Street is the single largest store (aka not a department store) in the entirety of Europe.

 

I just thought that pair of earrings was really ridiculous.

Next stop was a nice little tea shop right near Covent Garden. They had all kinds of tea I had never even heard of.  Jackie and I walked away with a nice assortment of ten English teas.  They even had Choco mint tea!

Then, for a late lunch we went to a pub called Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, a small pub in the City of London.  It was established in 1667, and it looked like it. We went in, then went three floors underground to a room full of very old casks and little passageways with a few tables and a ceiling so low that I could barely walk under it.  Lenny is a lot taller, and had some trouble.  It was awesome. I had an organic cherry beer and some beer battered goat cheese.  These English fry everything.

 

 

 

Then, we walked over the river to the Tate Modern!  It is a big, beautiful modern art museum.  I intend to go back and look at more of the exhibitions later.  However, it was great fun.  There was a strange interactive game. Lenny, Emily and I all played, and all of our competitors were children... but it was cool.  The exhibits were pretty fantastic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, we walked back to the North Bank along the River Walk, and back over Westminster Bridge.  It was beautiful.

 

Oh!  And the night before last night, I met up with my friend Alex from high school.  She has been studying in London since this summer.  We went and saw a pretty rad cover band at O'Neil's in Picadilly.  They played Blink 182, The Darkness, The Killers and a bunch of other great stuff.