Beans Comes to London!!!

Hey hey hey!!!

Soo, on Thursday, March the 10th, Brian "Beans" Battista embarked on a journey to London. He arrived around 1pm London time on Friday, March the 11th.

I left my dorm around 10am to meet Beans at Heathrow...it takes a little over an hour to get to the airport via tube. He was due in around 12.30, so I wanted to make sure I was there in time. So I got to the airport around 11.30, only to find out that Beans wasn't due to land until around 1, because of delays in MN. Anyway, this meant that I had some serious time to kill before he got through customs and whatnot. I finally saw on the arrival board that he had landed…then arrived at gate. I thought to myself “Beans should be here in less than an hour!!!” I was quite excited. It’s quite the different feeling waiting to see a family member, the first in more than 2 months. So as I waited, I continuously checked my watch. And phone. And arrival board. 1 hour past..no Beans. 15 more minutes…no Beans. Finally I see some people walk through the doors with Minnesota sweatshirts on, so I know Beans can’t be far behind. As I stood with my “Mr. Beans World Traveler” sign, I’m pretty certain that I was indeed shaking. Finaly, BEANS!!!! He looked around, didn’t see me. I yelled his  name, he turned, we made eye contact, and both smile hugely! He then walked around the barricade and we embraced in a rather large hug. I had just seen my first family for quite a long time. It was fantastic. We then made our way to the tube, and began our journey back to Alexander Fleming halls where I live.

After Beans put all his stuff away, I took him on a “short” tour of London. We ate dinner on Regent Street, walked from Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus, on to Trafalgar Square, and finished down The Mall in front of Buckingham Palace. Eventually Beans got quite tired, even though it was only 8pm London time, but we’ll give him a break, it was a long couple of days. We got back to the dorm, and crashed pretty shortly after that.

On Saturday I was going to Stonehenge and Bath with ISA, so Beans was on his own to explore. Stonehenge was very cool to see, but probably only once. It’s quite impressive to think about how they possible stood those rocks up and moved them, but then again, they are only rocks. Bath was also a cool place to visit…we saw the only naturally occurring hot springs in the UK…but nothing that was too very exciting, but a nice place to visit, at least in my mind. During this time, I believe Beans explored much more of the city, and then went to a local pub to watch the Arsenal v. Manchester United FA Cup Match…which was huge. I support Chelsea, so I was indifferent to the result, but he watched the game at an Arsenal bar, and he really got the feeling for how much people here love their football. You’ll have to talk to him about his experience with that…Or ask me about my own experiences, they’re quite interesting and fantastic!

On Sunday we journeyed with ISA to Cambridge. I’m glad Beans got to get outside of the city to see a smaller English town. Cambridge is dominated by the University, and is a very cool place. We started the day off with a walking tour through the rain, which ended in beautiful King’s Church. As we talked with the tour guide inside the church for a while, the rain stopped, sun came out, and it turned into a great day. After the walking tour, we went on “punts” (gondola type boats) on the River Cam. It was a very cool perspective of the university…we got to see Sir Isaac Newton’s Mathematical Bridge…he designed and constructed a bridge that didn’t use nails or screws, only the forces of each board upon other boards to hold itself up. Google it, I’m sure it will explain it better. Anyway, a few years after Newton completed this project, a graduate student asked him if he could take it down and try to repeat what he did. Newton allowed it…but the student failed. So they had to reconstruct the bridge using nails and screws, so its not quite as cool as it once was…but still pretty cool to see. After the punt ride, we went to the pub where Watson and Crick announced they had “found the key to life”…discovered the make up of DNA.  After some exploring in Cambridge, we took the train back to London with everyone, and got ready to go to one of favorite local watering holes…B@1. The drinks on Sunday are 2-4-1, the bartenders are awesome (and always remember us and what we like to drink) and they play awesome music. Saying that, I’m glad Beans was with us on this night at B@1 because it was probably the best one so far. Everyone was dancing and singing and having a great time. After the bar we came home and had a much needed sleep.

On Monday I had class from 2-4, and during this time, I told Beans he should check out the British Museum in Trafalgar Square. There was one problem…I mixed up locations, and actually sent Beans to the National Gallery (an art museum) for 2 hours. Oh well Mistakes Happen. After that, we went down the Thames and ate dinner (proper fish and chips) while looking over the Thames at Tower Bridge…it’s always an incredible view at night, and I hope Beans enjoyed it!

On Tuesday I don’t have class, and it was a beautiful day out, so Beans and I went to Hyde Park and took a nice leisurely ride through on some rented bicycles. It was quite enjoyable. After that, I showed Beans through Harrods…During this tour, we saw a £300,000 watch. A watch. £300,000. Ridiculous! After we did this, we made our way towards the Houses of Parliament and got in queue to sit in on the debate going on in the House of Commons. We got in, sat in for a while, and then left. I’m glad Beans got to see the inside of this amazing building…for free! We then met up with Chris Brigham and Zak Kaufman (two of our friends who live in London) and went to Brick Lane for some Indian food. Brick Lane is packed with incredible Indian restaurants. We literally stood outside of 3, as 3 different workers tried to lure us in. We decided to go with the offer of “30% off total meal and 2 free pints each”. How can you refuse that? The food was amazing, and it was very cool that Beans was able to meet up with some high school buddies. When we got back to the dorms, we hung out with some of my friends and then made our way to Sports Café in Piccadilly Circus for student night…we didn’t stay too long so we could catch the tube home (which stops running around 1230), but still had a good time.

Wednesday I had class at 11, and afterwards I took Beans to the actual British Museum. I think he really enjoyed seeing some really, really old stuff. After the British Museum I’m pretty sure we went to Abbey Road…I kind of forget, that may have been done on Friday. It was quite the action-packed week!

Thursday was St. Patrick’s Day. I had class from 1-4, and during this time, Beans went and checked out the Tate Modern Art Museum. Before my class, however, we enjoyed the classic Pizza Hut all you can eat buffet for lunch…never gets old! Class ended a little early, so I met up with Beans back at the dorm, and we began making plans. We wandered around looking for an Irish Pub, found a couple in The City that were filled with Suits, and then eventually made our way back to Fleming. We ended up just hanging out there for a while before we went out around the dorm for a while.

Friday was Bean’s last day in London unfortunately. At 12.30 we went to communion at Westminster Abbey…I think Beans was pretty impressed with the Abbey, its quite amazing. After that we went up in the London Eye, which offered a very amazing perspective above the city. After the eye, we ventured over to St. Paul’s Cathedral where we attended the Evensong service…Westminster Abbey is amazing…but St. Paul’s, on the inside, is unbelievable!!! The service was quite good (all male/boy choir) and some of it was in Latin. The sound resonates inside that building incredibly well. After the service, Beans and I came back to the dorm, made some dinner, and Skyped with Mom and Dad for the last time together before he had to head home on Saturday. We laid low on Friday night, got Beans all packed, and went to bed.

On Saturday we woke up, made sure Beans had everything, and made the long, and pretty sad trip, back to Heathrow. We got Beans all checked in, I gave him one last big hug, and through security he went. I headed back to the dorm, feeling both happy that Beans was here and that we had such a great time together, and sad that he had to leave and that that time was now up. No more family for another 2 months…its tough.

I loved having Beans here. It was an absolute blast!!! It was definitely touch seeing him leave, but I’m glad he got to see the city that I’ve come so accustomed to living in, and go to see how I go about everyday life here. It was truly a great experience for us both I believe. I might be forgetting some stuff, so just ask any questions or add any comments…I just got back from a day trip to Liverpool today, so I’ll be blogging about that soon.

Cheers