My Second Day in London

Since I went to sleep around 7pm because I was so tired I woke up at 4 am here wide awake and ready for the day. Good thing I decided to stay in bed because I had a ridiculously long day. Since we didn’t have a converter or anything I had to take forever to get my hair wet and put a bunch of spray in it just to make it look decent.

I'm not really sure what these building are of, but I took them on our walk from the hotel to the Magistrates Court. 

The infamous red buses that you think of when you think of London! I mean these things are everywhere with people standing outside of them waiting for you to spend your money to get tours of London! 

I really just love the old architecture in London! I mean a lot of these buildings have been standing for many more years than the building in America! Its just so fascinating!  

Our first adventure for the day was getting on the Tube. For those of you that don’t know, the tube is the public transportation here in London that goes all over the city. Since it was fairly early (9am) there were tons of people on the tube and it was very packed. Thank goodness I am not clausterphobic because I would have died if so. So there are a few things you need to know about the tube. The first, is that there are many escalators that are very steep. When you ride an escalator in the UK if you are just going to stand on it, you need to stand to the right to keep out of the way of the people that are walking up them on the left. Virtually, unless you are riding in the tube in the middle of the day, or the middle of the night, you are going to be getting up close and personal with a few people you don't know. So if you don't really like it, maybe you should learn how to drive a car here in London, but GOOD LUCK WITH THAT! Anyways, the first time I rode in the tube I was very confused, had no idea where we were or how we were getting there, but after 2 times riding on it, I finally got everything figured out! Now I'm practically a pro....ha!

Here is the Tube Map if you are wanting to try to understand the way I have been getting around and will be getting around the next two weeks. 

This is the track that the train goes on. I've never been to New York, but I'd like to think that its similar. 

Right when we go to the Magistrate Court we had to turn in all of our cameras because in London you’re not allowed to take pictures of the inside of buildings. Well at least some of them. After we turned all of our cameras in (which by the way took forever) our tour guide, who used to be a lawyer explained a little bit about the justice system here in London and here is what I got from it…

We couldn't take pictures once we got into the building, but at least I got a picture of the front! 

            In the Magistrate Court there are two forms of courts. The ones with the district judge (also known as DJ’s…he he) and the Lay Magistrate court. In the Lay Magistrate court there are three people that decide what happens to the defendant. When someone is arrested the police do all the work. They interview the defendant and conduct all the evidence. After that all the offenses (no matter how bad) first appear in the Magistrate Court. During their first hearing the Magistrate court decides whether or not they can see the case, or if it needs to go to the Royal Court (I think is what it is called). The Royal Court deals with cases such as Rape, Murder, and other terrible offenses. Some offenses are able to be dealt with in either of the courts and most people will choose the Royal Court because in Royal Court a jury decides the fate of the defendant and statistically they have a better chance of being found not guilty. We were able to sit in a few of the courts. We were supposed to try to sit in one with a DJ and one with the Lay Magistrates, but there were no cases being heard by a DJ so we just sat in with the Lay Magistrates. Here is what I observed about their courts compared to ours…

1.     It is much more laid back than courts in America

2.     The prosecutor reads what the defendant did and just bases it on facts rather than giving an opening statement saying why or why not the defendant is guilty or not guilty.

3.     The Lay Magistrates are able to talk down to the defendants and tell them that they are acting ridiculously and that they need to shape up.

4.     The Lay Magistrates are volunteers who have little training and are advised by the clerk as to whether or not they are making legal decisions about the cases.

5.     The set up is completely different from US courts.

Overall it was a great expierence because although I wrote a paper about their court system I had no idea how different it was until I got to see it first hand.

After going to the Magistrate Court we were able to go and do whatever we wanted so we went back to the hotel to change into some “regular clothes”.  After that Me, Allyson, and Morgan (my awesome roommates) decided to go get some food and tickets for the theater. We ate at Nandos, which is a chicken place that you can have chicken a ton of different ways. I had a salad ( I know kind of boring) but it was really good! It had chicken on it (obviously) with feta, cucumbers, peppers, and a delicious paprika dressing. Time got away from us and we just sat there talking about random stuff for a couple hours. We were planning on going to the Tower of London, but decided to just walk around instead.

The first thing we did was get on the Tube and ride to Leicester which is where all the theater stuff is located, and get tickets to a show. Right when we got out of the tube, in the train station there was a ticket booth for evening shows so we stopped by there...

It took us awhile to decide, but we finally decided on Rock of Ages! And boy was it worth the 35 pounds we paid for the tickets! 

After getting the tickets we decided to do a little shopping and get souvenirs for people back home. I would say that it was pretty successful, but I guess we’ll see when we get back. 

These are some pictures from when we were walking around Leicester. It was kind of rainy but it was still beautiful and you can see how the theater is very important in this part of town. 

Even though it was super rainy, it really wasn't that cold outside. I actually enjoyed it! Since I had an awesome umbrella that my grandmother let me borrow! 

Next stop was M&M world! And I must say, it was pretty freaking sweet! 

We took some pictures and found out what our color of M&M was. Apparently I am a red M&M because I am feisty and outgoing…I’d say that that fit me pretty well :P 

If you couldn't tell, there was pretty much any color of M&M that you could think of.

After walking and walking I needed to sit down because I was wearing healed boots so my feet were killing me so we went to a little pub called Waxy’s Little Sister and there was a very attractive Irishman who was the bartender.

Nooo, its not creepy to take a picture of the cute irishman that was your bartender...is it!? :P 

I decided to have a pear cider! And it was freaking delicious! 

I mean it was totally worth it just to hear the bartender talk. 

Since we were sitting in the sofa lounge, which was above the bar we looked and noticed this awesome lift. 

Its used so that if you're too piss assed drunk to walk all the way downstairs to get your booze, you can just send your order and your money down and they will send it right back up in the lift. I thought it was pretty neat! 

But after sitting there far longer than we needed to we found our way to the theater to start the show Rock of Ages!

The Theater that Rock of ages was at was called the Garrick. 

And this guy, was the best part of the whole show. Not only was he hot with his mullet! But he was freaking hilarious! Loved every second of it!

As soon as we got there we were pleasantly surprised when they found us seats closer to the stage! And it was freaking awesome! I mean look at how excited we all were! Whoot! Thats me on the left, then Morgan Black, and Allyson Digman (my roommates!) 

and if you didn't believe me...look at this face! 80's music is my favorite genre! I don't think my life would be complete without it!  

Soo, not supposed to take a picture of the stage, but I did it anyways...yeah I'm a rebel! 

There are no words that I could use to describe how good that musical was! All I can say is, if you ever get the chance to go…you definitely should!

After a very eventful day it was time to make our way back to the Hotel so on the Tube we went. We didn’t have to switch trains or anything so that was good. The part that wasn’t was when I started laughing at a man that hit his head when the doors closed and he proceeded to tell me how nice my smile was and continue the conversation. I could barely hear him but I think he did that on purpose so that I had to lean in to talk to him. I mean this guy was like 50 something…it was just weird, thankfully, we only had to deal with him for a short time before our stop was on. When we got back to the hotel and changed we decided to go out looking for a converter so that we could start our blogs. We walked quite a few blocks and realized that it was too late for anything to be open so we got back on the tube and made our way back, defeated.

Again, we only had to ride one train, but right before we got onto the train there was this little Asian woman that fell over right when the doors opened and an Asian man that helped her up. As soon as she got up I noticed a little pile of puke right on the doorway so I stepped over it. It was hard not to stare, but I couldn’t help it. When I looked over, I noticed that there was puke all down the front of this woman. All I could think was (well I thought the whole public transporation thing was good, until you’re piss ass drunk and everyone gets to watch and make fun of you).

We made our way back to the hotel, and here I sit…writing this blog…tomorrow will be another fun journey!