NoHos in SoHo

Monday night after blogging, I decided to get a bite to eat somewhere and wandered down Union towards the Westminster area. One of my greatest joys in visiting a city is getting lost and finding new and fun places tucked away in corners of the city. I passed a bar that would have had my friend Chuck green with envy, it was garishly decorated and the inside had all manor of bizarre antiques and lighting on the walls. I didn't stop in as I was looking for a bite to eat. I ended up walking to the Westminster bridge and then walking down to the boardwalk along the Thames.

This is a common area for the locals as they seemed to be enjoying themselves taking night strolls along the water. I passed a number of higher end bars and restaurants and eventually settled on a curry wrap on Borough High Street.

The next morning I was determined to see the famous SoHo area, though I stopped by a neat art installation I missed taking a picture of the prior morning. The lights changed colors and sometimes made patterns.

 I wanted to hit SoHo in part as this was a famous shopping district and part as it was also the "seedy" area of London. Well, its pretty much been gentrified as between all the fun crafty, antique, and mall shops - there was a tiny two block area with sex shops. At no time did anything seem seedy or dangerous. Meh. I left and walked over to the British museum area was located and had a nice pizza and mint lemonade. Unfortunately, my elbow started bothering me again, so I opted to head back and find a pharmacy where I could get an ice pack. I figured I could stay in a relax, read a book, and nap. The best way to cure ills is eating well, resting, and letting your body take care of itself.

I had met my first hostelmate on Monday, a 20 year military man from Canada named Jeff. Good guy and he was staying until his folks came into town on vacation and he was to head out with them to see Edinburgh. He would be leaving Edinburgh about the time I arrived, so timing was off on that one. Too bad, as he was a good guy and it would have been fun to share a pint or two with him at night there. Tuesday when I came back to the hostel to rest I met my other hostelmate, Jess. A German student that was on vacation in London for 9 days until her boyfriend came into town and they were to drive to Edinburgh. Cute blonde gal but she was having a tough time with English. We hung out and had dinner, then went to have a couple pints at the hostel where we met up with Jeff. Apparently the night before, a gal got beaten and her stuff taken a couple blocks from here. I figure I'll make myself available at night if she needs an escort to get dinner and such.

This morning, after doing the bloggy thing, I figure I'll head down to London Tower and teabag the Crown Jewels. Family jewels, meet family jewels.