London and Edinburgh

After completing General Assembly’s Web Development Immersive bootcamp, (and unbeknownst to me on the verge of a rough breakup), I spent about a month in London with my friend Anna who recently moved to a flat in the Fitzrovia neighborhood.

Thursday, June 22

I arrived to London at around noon, met up with Anna, showered, napped and then Anna and I got dinner at a spot near her apt.

Friday, June 22

I visited the General Assembly campus in Whitechapel and stopped into the Whitechapel Gallery to see some art. That night Anna and I went to Queen of Hoxton in Shoreditch.

Saturday, June 23

Met up with my friend Joe (who I met 5 years prior in Croatia) and we all went to the Museum of Natural History. I also got a consultation at Good Times tattoo (but ultimately chickened out and didn’t get it). Then Joe and I went to Old St. Records, another pub, and The Magic Roundabout (we drew pen tattoos on each other). We had dinner at an Indian spot on Brick Lane. He missed the last train to his town out of London and ended up sleeping at the station. We also saw someone who was possibly stabbed and walked streets littered with metal nitrous pods.

Sunday, June 24

I met up with my friend Harry who I met in Thailand, his sister Michaela, his friend visiting from Melbourne, Nick, and their other friend Timmy. We watched thee England/Panama World Cup game (England won 6–1) and then went to the park in Hackney near where Harry lives.

Monday, June 25

Met up with Nick to go to the British Museum. We managed to cover most of the museum, got coffee, grabbed a bear, and then headed to. Shoreditch to have dinner for Harry’s birthday at Flat Iron (a steak spot). Afterwards we watched some of the Iran vs. Portugal game at The Enchanted Garden.

Tuesday, June 26

Met up with Nick to go to the London Museum and then got coffee in a park.

Wednesday, June 27

Went to the National Gallery solo. Got sick.

Thursday, June 28

Met up with Nick again to go to Camden—we explored the market and went to Platform 9 3/4 and back to Shoreditch for a quick dinner. After dinner we met up with Harry at a pub to watch the Belgium vs. England game. We moved to a second pub called Salmon and Ball and there was a hilarious heckler starting the most ridiculous chants (started ‘Wonderwall’ at one point) and when the Belgian goalie hit himself in the head with the ball as it bounced off the post he started the chant “You soft Belgian cunt.” It was a riot.

Friday, June 29

In the evening, Anna and I met up with Harry and Nick at a spot called Nettlehouse 360—a cafe rooftop bar with hipster vibes. We picked up dinner at a spot called Bella Vita and had dinner and beers in the park. After dinner we went to the Dolphin, which is a great dive bar in Hockney—Anna and I sang “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” at karaoke there and hung out with the boys until around midnight.

Saturday, June 30

Anna and I went to the Victoria and Albert (V&A) Design Museum to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition, but it was sold out so we just viewed the permanent collection complete with costume/fashion—it’s quite an impressive building.

In the evening, I met up with Harry and Nick and we went to The Alibi in Dalston (which has since closed and reflects a change to the east London club scene brought on by Hackney licensing laws). We danced for quite a while—the bar was a great little hole in the wall establishment. After the Alibi closed we headed to the Dolphin to finish the night out until 4:00 am (a delayed celebration of Harry’s birthday). The sun was coming up when we left and I followed the boys back to Harry’s flat where we continued to talk and hang out in Harry’s yard until the really wee hours in the morning—listening to music and chain smoking cigarettes.

Sunday, July 1

We woke up at 1:30 p.m. Harry grilled sausages and we had salad while Adam (Harry’s brother) and Nick watched an Australia Football League (AFL) or ‘footy’ game on the tube. I made my way back to Anna’s and after a shower and a nap we had dinner at East Street (the Asian spot downstairs from her flat). We planned out our trip to Scotland for the following weekend and called it a night.

Monday, July 2

This was Nick’s last day in London before heading to Greece, Spain, and Portugal. We met up near next to the National Portrait Gallery and then went to grab a coffee (he has my order of an Americano with almond milk down) and then we got a pint and some fish and chips at Sherlock Holmes pub. I walked him to his tube stop with the parting words “If you’re ever in Melbourne!”

Tuesday, July 3

I worked on a coding assignment for a job I was in the process of applying for and then in the afternoon went to St. Paul’s (just’s the exterior) an Tate Modern solo. I bought a bunch of books (including Noam Chomsky on Palestine) and spent a good portion of time in the book shop. While checkout out, I chatted with the shopkeeper about my visit to Palestine. Exploring the city without Nick was a little sad since we were London buddies and had established a habit of hanging out everyday—I especially missed his sprinklings of Seinfeld quotes.

Wednesday, July 4

Back to my usual antics of being abroad for the 4th of July.
Made it to the Tate Britain and out for groceries, them packed for our trip to Edinburgh.

Thursday, July 5

Anna and I made our way to Edinburgh for a mini weekend trip. We stayed at a hotel called The Hotel City Line on Grove Street. We grabbed dinner at a spot called ‘Home’ and I had the haggis (fried meatballs) and fish. We tried to go to a restaurant called ‘Forge: Chatter,’ but they were booked. We tried a night out on the town—first stop was ‘The Hive,‘—apparently it’s a student club., which we didn’t know at the time and it actually smelled like vomit (whoops). We tried to go to a few other spots, then stopped in a ‘haunted’ bar, but most bars were oddly dead. We ended up at a spot called Stramash Live Music Bar and listened to music and got pizza and returned back to the hotel.

Friday, July 6

We packed a lot into our one full day in Edinburgh. We started out at the Edinburgh Castle and then walked through Old Town and The Royal Mile. Ended up walking by Parliament and Holyrood Palace (where the Queen was visiting) and then we hiked all the way to the top of Arthur’s seat (it took about 2 hours). We stopped for Mexican food for dinner and then went back to the hotel to chill (we ended up walking over 10 miles) and watch a bit of our guilty pleasure: Love Island. We went to the Bogo Club and paid a cover, but it was dead, and just got a drink at Cafe Voltaire where we were harassed by two men who wanted to know ‘where we were really from.’ Went back to Bogo and while there were now more people the music was very trance-y so we left and got some fish and chips and called it a night.

Saturday, July 7

Anna and I walked through the streets of Soho after Pride—which were pretty chaotic in a good way. We tried to go to a club called Borderline, but it was dead and still a £10 cover so we decided against it.

Sunday, July 8

My last day in London.

Got brunch at a spot called Lantana Cafe in Fitzrovia and had some pints at a nearby pub called ‘Rising Sun.’

Update: Now that I am removed from this particular trip, I keep replaying it in my mind because it happened in the middle of one of the hardest upheavals of my life thus far. From London I tried to secure an apartment back in Brooklyn, but it fell through and I got scammed. When I returned to the States, I had a lot of pieces to pick up and put back together, but the changes made were all necessary and I’m better off for them.

A mutual friend told me that Harry tragically took his own life in 2019.
I spent his last birthday on earth with him in London and this trip still haunts me because I wish I knew that he was suffering that much and that I could have helped him in some way.