Well it's official...I have caved and I am currently listening to Christmas music. At least I'm keeping it classy by listening to the Boston Pops, Buffalo Philharmonic and Mannheim Steamroller!
Where do I even begin with this weekend?? Jen and I were up and out by 7:30 am and caught the train to London. The entire ride there I was really worried about making the Top Gear Live show on time. Our train would arrive at 11:04 and then it would take at least a half hour to get to the ExCel center with no traffic. Seeing as it was a Saturday morning, I thought there would be a lot of traffic. The show started at noon and they said they wouldn't let people in once it started. I knew I would probably be fine, but I hate not having an adequate amount of time to get there with no problems.
We got into Euston and I RAN to the taxi pick up and there was a long queue. It was about 10 minutes before I got into one and we were off!! My taxi driver was so nice :). He was asking me were I was off to and we talked about Top Gear for a while. He asked what my other plans were and I said something about getting some food and then going for a pint somewhere. He said "Half pint! Ladies do not have pints. And if you were my young lady I would not let you have one." I laughed and he told me about the different parts of London we were going through. We got there with 15 minutes to spare but the place was HUGE!!!! Not only did the ExCel center hold the Top Gear Live Action Arena, the Exhibition and the indoor track, it was also holding a few other sporting events (including fencing). But I made it down to the Live Action Arena and joined the massive crowd going inside.
Once I was inside, I worked my way round to block 19 and I'm pretty sure I was skipping at one point!!! I COULDN'T BELIEVE I WAS ACTUALLY GOING TO SEE MY FAVORITE TV SHOW LIVE!!!!! I made it up to my seat and I was pleasantly surprised with my view. I was in the last row on the left side of the performance area, but I still could see quite well and it seemed like all the seats were good! The lights soon dimmed and some Citroen cars came out to advertise the Top Gear Car of the Year the Citroen DS3. They did a bunch of hand-brake turns and other fancy work. After that, some other cars came out to advertise something else.
FINALLY, they played a video on the two huge screens with some of the best clips from Top Gear and the guys saying random things :). After that, some bikers came out and were going off the big jump in the middle of the arena. A few more cars came out and were mucking about with their fancy driving skills! It was good fun, but then a Black taxi and a red Double-decker bus come out and start power sliding all over the place!!! I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND HOW YOU CAN GET A DOUBLE DECKER TO FLICK IT'S REAR END OUT LIKE THAT. I'm sure they used weights or something...but still!!! After they went off, a really nice Aston Martin came out to play but then went away and THE GUYS CAME OUT on a motorized version of their stage in Top Gear with the car seat couch and chair. I took a video of them introducing each other and I'm pretty sure I thought I was dreaming. I couldn't believe that they were really there and picking on each other as usual. AHHHHHH!!!! (Yes I'm smiling like a goof at my computer just remembering it all).
Now I could launch into a huge recap of everything they did...but that would take forever and I have lots of other things to talk about! So basic summary: Jezza, Hamster and Captain Slow decided to do their own version of the Olympics with sports that should be included or had been improved! These included: motorized limbo, curling, chariot racing, splat the rat, hurdling, synchronized swimming, and the beauty pageant! My favorite part was definitely curling!! If you want to know more about these just drop me a line in my inbox :) I can probably send you a video of it as well :D Jezza did end the show with a bomb shell!
After that I headed out to Exhibition. I meant to go change my track time since I had missed it but I couldn't find the table where you could do that. But the exhibition was AMAZING!!!! IT WAS HUGE!!!!! They had Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Porsches, Aston Martins, Audis, McLarens, a Bugatti Veyron, Morgans, Ariels, and a bunch of other cars! See my facebook picture album for all the hot, sexy cars!! They also had a bunch of games that you could play...but they cost money. They also had 2 virtual simulators: the first was the Michael Schumacher Grand Prix experience and the Top Gear experience...but they were 6 quid each so I passed on that. I found the Top Gear Merchandise shop and bought a lot of stuff. I got a t-shirt, a few programs, and a couple keychains. There were also a bunch of stands that were selling everything including Ferrari and Lamborghini merchandise, pillow pets, racing chairs, and RC helicopters! In the back corner there was a small track where you could drive around in a Ford Fiesta. I thought about doing this...but since I STILL don't know how to drive stick, I decided against it.
But...across from the Ford track...was the most amazing stand I came across. They were selling copies of Richard Hammond's (my favorite of the 3 Top Gear Presenters..who is very fit) DVD where he and Sir Stirling Moss talk about their racing crashes and their subsequent brain injuries. This one lady comes over to me and asks if I'm a Richard Hammond fan and I manage to stutter out that indeed I was a HUGE Richard fan! She said "Oh, well he's doing a signing at 4:15 if you want to meet him and get this DVD signed." She said this like it was an everyday, no big deal type of thing. She obviously didn't know that she had in fact just made my day? No...my week!...no MY WHOLE ENTIRE FREAKING LIFE!!!!! I am pretty sure I stood there like an idiot while she told me the details and sold me the DVD, which would get me a spot in line, for 10 quid. I called my mom right away and screamed into the phone that I was going to meet Richard Hammond!!!!!!!!!!! I'm pretty sure I started tearing up a little I WAS SO FREAKING HAPPY! It was close to 2pm then so I texted Jen and told her I would meet up with her after and I couldn't miss this for the world. She texted back and said she would be mad if I didn't stay for the signing. She's wonderful like that!
I wandered around the exhibition for the next hour and a half in a bit of a trance. I couldn't comprehend the fact that I was really going to meet Richard Hammond. I looked at all of the cars that they had brought from previous Top Gear challenges including: 2 of the cars from the Middle East special, the one "police car" from the police car challenge, Jezza's scooter and the American alternative bike from Vietnam, and lots of other ones!
Around twenty to 4, I headed back over to the stand and got in line. I quickly made friends with a teenage English guy and another boy with his mum. We all talked about how awesome the day was and later on the English guy was saying to me "You know what you should do when you meet Hamster? You should grab his face and kiss him!" I stroked my chin with an evil grin on my face and then said "But how many security guards do you think would pile on top of me?" Without missing a beat he said, "Wouldn't it be worth it!?!" I said "OF COURSE!!!!" We talked about some other stuff, like why was there a pillow pets stand and how Hammond was going to make his grand entrance? I think our ideas got as mad as a human-sized hamster ball that was bomb-proof that was led by a bunch of hamsters. We said that if that happened, we would kidnap Hammond and jump back in the Hamster ball since no one would be able to destroy it or get in. Finally, he did arrive :) OH HE WAS SO MUCH HOTTER IN PERSON...and so much shorter. He may look small on TV since he's standing next to the massive Jeremy Clarkson...but he is actually tiny, at least 3 inches shorter than me! We finally got up to the front. He said Hello to me, signed the cover of the DVD, smiled for a picture and I was ushered off so the next person could get in there. It was probably 20 seconds...if that. BUT I MET RICHARD HAMMOND!!!!!!!!!!!!
It still feels like it was only a dream...
But I had to snap back into reality and get back to London to meet up with Jen. I walked over to the underground station and stared at the map for the Tube. I think I stared at it for 5 minutes without making any sense of it! If you don't know why...
I bought a day pass and figured I would just take the DLR north and figure it out on the train. After getting off in a super sketchy area and asking one of the transportation guys for help, I finally figured out the Tube. He showed me where to change to get to Maryleborne...but I ended up being able to figure it out for when the Jubilee line ended up going down due to power outages. Between lines that were closed and having no cell phone service in most of the stations, it took us 2 hours to finally decide and meet up in Euston. We walked to our hotel, the Americana hotel and got checked in. It was small but good for one night. We looked up a place to go eat and walked 20 minutes to the Golden Hind for fish and chips. It was really good! On the way back we decided to pick up a bottle of wine. We got back to our hotel and enjoyed our wine while watching Friends on Jen's laptop. We decided to go to bed early so we could be up and out early in the morning.
The next morning we got up and had breakfast downstairs in our hotel. We checked out and made our way to the Sherlock Holmes museum! It was at 221B Baker Street! The museum was actually a full mock-up of Holmes' flat! They had his pipes, hats, detective instruments, and lots of cool stuff. They also had different instruments and weapons that were in some of the stories. They had this binder with letters that people had written to Sherlock and there was one from this little boy in Miami. It was adorable!!! The museum was really cool :)
After that we took the tube over to Buckingham Palace. While we were walking through Green Park towards the Palace it started raining! Luckily it didn't last too long. The palace was beautiful! We got there about an hour before the changing of the guard ceremony and saw some of the soldiers on horses riding around the palace. We didn't stay for the ceremony since we wanted to see lots of other things. We took the tube over to Westminster and saw Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament and the tower that holds Big Ben. We walked over to the London Eye, but it cost 18 quid so we decided not to go on it. We walked back over the bridge and walked along Parliament street and found this little Italian place for lunch. My club sandwich had avocado, brie, bacon and lettuce on it...so good!! We headed down Parliament Street and saw 10 Downing Street. We walked on and found this archway where 2 guards on horses were standing and people were taking pictures with them. Jen and I decided to get a picture together, and I stood next to the guy on the horse and he started kind of kicking me! Jen thinks that I could have been standing too close to him, but really?
We walked on and crossed over a bridge where we came upon the Christmas market!! All these little sheds were covered in greenery and christmas decor and were selling everything from watches to candles to outdoor wind ornaments! There was a lot of good food as well. We came across a crepe stand and had to stop and get one. I got a dark Belgian chocolate crepe and it was an explosion of wonderfulness in my mouth! SO DELICIOUS! :) We walked on and after lots and lots of walking, finally made it to Shakespeare's Globe theater. We took pictures and then walked over the Millennium bridge (the one that Death Eaters destroyed in HBP).
We took the tube from there down to Tower hill to take pictures of Tower bridge. We were both beyond exhausted at this point since we were also carrying really heavy backpacks. We took the tube up to Kings Cross so we could take pictures at Platform 9 3/4. I put on my Sabres jersey for this picture so I could send it into the Sabres Scrapbook where they show pictures of people with Sabres swag around the world before every home game. Even though we had a few hours to kill, we took the train to Euston and hung out there until our train home. It felt really good to lay down and go to sleep that night.
Well, that was my most amazing weekend ever!!! :) I took around a half hour worth of video at Top Gear Live so I'll be working on compiling that into one massive video of AWESOME!!! I hope you all enjoyed your weekends!! :) :) :)
~Carolyn
P.S. I apologize for more grammar errors than usual...it's 1:30 am here and I started writing around midnight. SO! ^o^zzzzzzzzzz excuse me while I go sleep :D
<3
This is Jen! She’s from Minnesota and she’s an English major. She’s a senior like me and lives right across the hallway. We met on the first day here and quickly became very good friends. Her hobbies include: not going to sleep until 6am, watching Friends with me, singing, playing the piano, blogging (http://jennifersaemi.blogspot.com/), pinterest, shopping, and being an all around great friend :) 
She is also an English major and lives in the newer part of Grizedale. She’s from the West coast of Canada and is also an English major. Meghan is a 3rd year and I met her only a few weeks ago!! Her hobbies include: reading and having good taste in books, asking me to go on last minute trips to Manchester, making cheese toasties and tea, being a Habs fan, blogging (http://inkingaway.wordpress.com/), enjoying when I stroke her ego, and being a wonderful friend!!! I can’t believe how close we have gotten in just a few short weeks :) Also, we’re planning on writing letters to each other, since Meghan is spending will be spending the entire year here.
