'Merican: the OTHER English accent

Back from England today - yes, that's right. Not last night, this morning. But, more on that later. Here's my London trip back to front in a couple posts:

One of the airlines that hops you around Europe is EasyJet. It's decor looks like a blaringly orange misunderstanding between Barbie and one of the Disney Princesses. But, no matter. I WENT TO LONDON!!!
Carrie...apparently, was that excited, too! I flew into Gatwick, took a train to the Victoria Station at London (I wonder if it's an obligation for every UK city to have one of those - Belfast and Edinburgh have one, too!) and met Carrie at Buckingham Palace. Really, The Palace is a lot like the Mona Lisa - overly-romanticized into being this giant feat of artistic prowess or glamor or...something besides an execution-hall-esque dob of concrete. The shiny gold on the tips of everything was awesome, though.
Anyway, that's Carrie in one of those rock-you-right-to-sleep chairs they've got at Hyde Park. You've got to pay a pound fifty to sit there for a couple of hours, but really, it's totally worth it. We had dinner at Santo and then, she introduced me to Marta, a YWAM leader...and the girl who hosted me for my stay in London!
(Marta is this gorgeous Portugese (so she's got the gift of "FEED") and Bristish (so she sounds all proper and awesome while she executes that large helping of gift) 28 year old who lives on Notting Hill.)
So Carrie and I had a lovely but difficult evening together. It was SO good to see her again, but it reminded me of how much I miss her - living with her, meeting with her, talking about stuff with her. She's the only friend my age I've got. And actually, I don't feel like I've got her anymore: God's changed her life and her heart - I'm jealous, yes, and I'm also worried that she's now off to better things than hanging around little old, un-changed me.

Anyway, the next day, Carrie had to flit about readying for Argentina so Marta took me around London in the non-crazed-American-tourit kind of way (even though that, sadly, is what I've found the bit of London I saw to be primarly geared towards). After a day of walking around London and shopping a bit (earrings, of course, and presents for people back home), Marta, Carrie, me and two of her DTS friends (Rebekah from Edinburgh, Scotland, and Sarah, from Minneapolis) went to "The Diner". This restaurant, apparently, is a place of notoreity for the rather boy-crazy Sarah and the trying-to-be-unassuming-but-also-really-likes-boys Rebekah; I think that's why they wanted to go back. The Diner proportedly serves American Food...but it's more like 'Merican with a hint of Europe. That's Marta and Carrie trying to corral a bee that was threatening Rebekah's pancakes and Marta's pecan pie while the rest of us screamed like pig-tailed school girls. (As you can see, the salmon is not cooked and the pecan pie is too fluffy to be American, but it was fairly fantastic anyway).
It was a bizarre experience being one of the ones who "knew better" about the food - traveling round the world to Europe to go to an American food place was not exactly my cup of tea (I don't really like American food even if it's done right...), but it was better than expected - a cup of apple juice, you might say!