London with Liz

When I told my brother I was meeting up with my friend Liz overseas this week, he said, "Oh, that's going to be a disaster."

Liz and I have known each other basically our whole lives, and there is one fact about our friendship that you absolutely need to know: we bring out the worst in each other when it comes to common sense.

We've shared many adventures together over the years: our annual pilgrimage to Family Camp in Michigan, our yearly tandem bike ride around Mackinac Island, creating new hot chocolate recipes, exploring off the path in the woods, sleeping straight through breakfast - but this was our most daring adventure yet. Since Liz is student teaching in Luxembourg and I'm studying in Edinburgh, we decided to meet in the middle: London.

SATURDAY

Early in the morning I hopped on a train; five hours, several naps, and one train switch later, I arrived in London to my childhood best friend and rain. We navigated our way to our hostel, her in a raincoat and me under my umbrella.

We stayed in a Smart Hostel in Russell Square, in a private room for two (including bunkbeds, our own bathroom, and a small table). Here's my rating of the experience:

Comforter warmth: A+

Mattress Comfort: A (the plus got knocked off because the bed squeaked every time I moved)

Breakfast: C

Shower water pressure: A+

Feeling of safety and security: A+

Interactions with staff: A+

Overall, the hostel experience was a good one. The aesthetic was cute, colorful, and a little quirky. Breakfast got a C because it was, indeed, average (toast with options of butter, jam, or Nutella; oatmeal; cereal; tea; coffee; orange juice). Not a continental breakfast, but better than nothing. Everything else far exceeded our expectations - we highly recommend it.

After checking in, we headed straight to King's Cross, the station made famous by J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series. We wanted to get a picture with the iconic trolley stuck halfway in the wall, but the line was insanely long, so we just looked. Outside we were greeted by rain and wind so strong we were walking with my umbrella directly in front of us, unable to see anything - the strongest rain I've seen since I moved to the UK. Thankfully, rescue came in the form of Pizza Express. A few dough balls with garlic butter and two delicious pizzas later, we retreated to the hostel for a late viewing of "Sherlock Holmes: Game of Shadows".

SUNDAY

Our first breakfast at the hostel, complete with a rugby game on one screen (Russia vs. Wales) and a newscast on the other (riots in Catalonia). Our first stop was the British Museum, impressive because of its sheer scale and Greek-inspired architecture. We focused mostly on the Greek, Roman, and Egyptian exhibits, but my favorite was an exhibit on clocks and watches.

We were searching for an entrance to the London Underground (which, surprisingly, we had no problem navigating) when we stumbled onto a Hillsong Church being held in Dominion Theater. Stellar worship and a compelling sermon on the Kingdom of God in a beautiful theater - we couldn't have planned a better afternoon.

A late lunch at a nearby 5 Guys and a trek over Millennium Bridge (the one destroyed by Death Eaters in the "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" movie) led us to the Tate Modern Museum. In contrast with the architecture of the British Museum, and very fitting for its contents, Tate Modern is a very industrial building. Liz and I have decided modern art is a bit of a mystery to us, but we enjoyed ourselves all the same. We came up with our own interpretations of the pieces, and were forced to evacuate when a security guard caught me standing inside a low-hanging chandelier. If you're a fan of modern art, it's worth the visit, but if you prefer older paintings and museum artifacts, I'd stick to the galleries.

(Hint: Tate Modern, The National Gallery, and The British Museum are all free, donations encouraged but not mandatory.)

Not wanting to end the day early, we took the tube to Piccadilly Circus, which is essentially the Times Square of London. Due to an act of Divine Providence, we wandered into the best gelato shop in the world. It's called Grom, and it ships its gelato straight from Italy. I had a dairy-free dark chocolate, which had little slivers of chocolate stirred in, giving it both a creamy smoothness and a delightful crunch. Liz had a cappuccino gelato with hot chocolate poured over it, which she said was divine. Grom is an experience we highly recommend.

Once the gelato was gone, we were tired and our feet hurt, so we had Chinese food delivered to the hostel and feasted while we watched the movie "Kingsman".

MONDAY

Another hostel breakfast, this time quicker and earlier to get a head start on the day. We started at Buckingham Palace, accidentally stranding ourselves in the middle of the changing of the guard. Don't get me wrong, it was cool to see the big crowds, hear the marching band, and catch a glimpse of those wondrously tall furry hats - but we were ready to move on before it was over, and we were stuck directly in the middle of the parade.

Once we finally did escape from the Palace, we strolled though the lovely St James' park on our way to find Big Ben.

Here's what we didn't know: Big Ben is under construction. The only thing you can see is the clock face. Liz was also suffering from disappointment that the clock tower wasn't as tall as it looks in the (animated) movie Peter Pan. According to signs, the tower is being renovated and should be finished in 2021. Until then, Benny.

Lunch was at Nando's - they are famous for their chicken, and for good reason. Another high recommendation. Sadly, this good lunch experience was sandwiched with disappointment. On the front end, the construction-cocooned Big Ben, and on the back end, Westminster Abbey. The Abbey itself is beautiful in the extreme, but neither of us realized it costs actual money to go inside. In the interest of our bank accounts, we opted for a quick peek in the gift shop and a stroll around the block.

One of the reasons we opted out of Westminster Abbey was because of the tickets we'd already bought for the London Eye. That glorious, enormous ferris wheel with its thirty-two cars (numbered from 1-33, skipping the unlucky number 13) lifted us slowly to a 360-degree view of the city. The view is breathtaking, and worth every pence.

Though the sun was shining in the morning, the Autumn chill crept in to the afternoon, so a warm drink from Starbucks was key in getting us from the Eye to the National Gallery. Outside the Gallery is a courtyard which, among other things, has four big statues of lions in it. Believe me when I say I did not see the "do not climb on the lion statues" sign - in my excitement I jumped over the fence instead of walking through the entrance, so I missed it completely. Liz, being the wonderful friend she is, caught a few shots of me awkwardly clambering onto the slippery beast's back, until a guard blew her whistle at me and I had to slide down the tail to make my getaway.

The National Gallery was very good - both Liz and I are more interested in landscape paintings than portraits, so we were able to find our favorite sections together. It would have been even better at a different time; sore feet, tired limbs, and overstimulated brains kept us from staying too long.

There's a pub just around the corner from our hostel called "The Green King: Friend at Hand" where we had dinner. Two and a half days in and we finally made it to a pub! After burgers and ice cream and a viewing of Shrek (that part was back in our room), we fell dead asleep.

TUESDAY

We started our day at Tower Bridge, admiring this feat of architecture first from one side of the Thames, then from the bridge itself, then from the other side of the Thames. We spent most of the morning wandering around the London Tower (hint: both the Bridge and the Tower cost money to enter), and then doing some window shopping on Oxford Street. Liz and I each found a cute pair of shoes we liked in TK Maxx, and exercised an incredible amount of self-discipline to not buy them.

For lunch, we looked up the nearest Shake Shack and stumbled into Covent Gardens to find it. Covent Gardens is a beautiful plaza with shops, restaurants, bakeries, and live music - we spent hours just walking around. We were also able to make a last-minute reservation and enjoy Afternoon Tea in the Whittard Tea Bar. Liz had Goji Acai tea and a slice of chocolate and pear cake, and I had Coconut Truffle tea and a pistachio brownie. We both agree it was a highlight of our week here.

The night ended with a series of misadventures caused by lost reservations and misleading websites. I made us a reservation to see Sky Garden, but they couldn't find us in the system, so we couldn't go up (seeing Sky Garden is free, but they only have a certain amount of spots available throughout the day, so you have to book online). Instead, we walked to a nearby Starbucks and got some work done.

For dinner, I made a reservation at what I thought was a library bar (that's right - a bar inside a library. To enter this one, you go through a secret door in a bookshelf). However, it turns out that particular library bar is only for private hire for big events, and I'd made a reservation at a fancy restaurant instead. One look at the contents and the prices of the menu, and Liz and I snuck out before they'd even brought us water.

We ended our week where we started it: Pizza Express. Although many of the plans we made fell through, every day we managed to stumble into something wonderful: Hillsong Church, Grom gelato, the changing of the guard, and Covent Gardens. None of these things were on our list, but they were some of our favorite moments. To quote our favorite show, Avatar: The Last Airbender, "You've got to focus less on the 'where' and more on the 'going'." Sometimes the best destination isn't the one you planned; it's one you find along the journey.

Book recommendation: Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng. This novel tackles some difficult questions about family, and it does it beautifully. We mainly follow a mother-daughter duo who live on the road and never spend too long in one place, but find themselves rooted in a gated community when they get caught up with a neighboring family and a court case.