grass... not so much for me, thank you (london 2)

so we got to elaines apartment at about 1:15 am and chatted for quite a while. we had some tea to help us sleep and then realized it was technically elaines birthday and so we had some champagne to go with our tea. i think bubbly can be drank with anything. or nothing. just drink it.

anyway, saturday morning, we got up and i met her sister, martina, and her future brother-in-law, grant. martina, i knew, was irish like elaine (obviously) and it wasnt until i had been talking to them for about a half hour and grant made some comments about new zealand that i realized he was a kiwi! i am soo horrible with accents! i told them about how, when i was in new zealand for work, i was sitting around with about 6 or 7 people from work and one of them said something like, "well, mark is american, but we like him." and i said, "who's mark?" and everyone looks at me as i realize i was sitting next to mark, the american. i had been talking to him for a few hours and had no idea he was from the US.

so, after accent faux-pas cover ups, the 4 of us go to breakfast at some english pub. i dont think i'm meant to be english. so much beans and pork and marmelade. my food was good, but it was french. wait. maybe we were at a french place for breakfast. hmm....

either way, we ate and then went shopping. i bought 3 pairs of shoes which i thought was an excellent investment considering 1) i would prefer not to stand out like an american with my sneakers all the time 2) i needed shoes for the party that night 3) i only brought 3 pairs of shoes to germany - which is AMAZING and 4) i am pretty sure i am going to wear through the shoes i am wearing now.

oh, then, get this: we sat in the park after shopping. i just will never understand this concept. it was an abnormally nice day in the city, and we were worn out from fighting the crowds, so we go to hyde park to sit. when they suggest this, i am assuming there are park benches or tables or something. nope. its just a big area of grass. they had some lawn chairs but you had to pay to use them AND they werent in the shade. when we got there i said, "well, dont we need a blanket?" and both elaine and martina, being from an irish farm, said, "no, it's not wet." i didnt bother to point out that putting a blanket on wet ground means the blanket will get wet and therefore you may, too. since i felt i needed to protect my fair skin, i asked to sit in the shade. this means that 1) the ground is moist because the sun has not dried it and 2) as elaine pointed out (and which i probably would not have noticed if she had said something) "it smells like dog poop." GREAT. of course dogs pee and poop near trees. so we sit there and everyone else relaxes, stretches out, and takes a nap. i sat perfectly straight up, not moving, so as not to further expose my clothes to the dirty, dog poop infested ground. elaine said i should take my shoes off and walk barefoot in the grass. i gave her a look and later she told me she didnt push me because she thought i needed to take baby steps. this is true. i may never get to that point.

after about an hour, we got up and went back to the apartment to start getting ready. i was relieved.