A few weeks ago I went to England (once again) and made a visit to some friends. The first night I slept over at a quite centric hostel where I had already been to in the past:
Picadilly Backpackers. My bedroom was called "the pod room" because its beds slightly resembled the well-known Japanese pod beds. Obviously as it was just a cheap youth hostel any comparative about quality or cleanliness is not appropriate. I shared the room with two Irish girls who were really nice, an Italian guy and two Brazilian sisters. Apart from being cheap (it costed me 22 pounds), the good thing of this hostel is that it is well located in the center of London (in Picadilly circus).
このあいだ、私は英国へ（再び）友達に会いに行きました。最初の夜、行ったことがあった中心のホステルに寝ました (
Picadilly Backpackers)。私の寝室は”ポッドルーム”と言いました。日本のポッドホテル見たかった。しじゃし、とても安いユースホステルでしたから少しきたなかった。私の寝室でいろいろな人と共有した。人達はアイルランドやイタリアやブラジルから来ました。安いホテルでしたが（22ポンドぐらい）ロンドンの中心部にあるからとてもべんりでした。
The next day, after having a capuccino, two bananas and some biscuits for breakfast, I went to north west London to meet my friend Debbie (
Nusense). We went shopping to a department store in
Harrow-on-the-Hill where I bought a cool jumper that looked like I was wearing it inside out. I also loved an electronics shop called
maplin where we spent some time looking at gadgets and kits to build your own inventions.
次の日はカプチーノを飲んだりバナナを二つとビスケットも食べた後で、私はロンドンの北西へDebbie (
Nusense)に会いに行きました。私たちはHarrow-on-the-Hillのデパートで買いものしました。私はいいジャンパーを買いました。そのジャンパーは少しおかし見たかった。それに家電店でいろいろな品物を見てから家へ帰りました。
At lunch time, we went to the
west end, met my friend
Yvon at Oxford street (a famous shopping avenue in London's west end) and went for a burger :). After that, we went to two comics shops (Orbital and
Forbidden Planet) and a second-hand DVD shop. We found a book containing an illustration by
Castelló at Forbidden Planet and decided to take some photos holding it. Debz also bought a t-shirt of her favourite movie "the lost boys". When we came out of Forbidden Planet, we passed by a sex-shop in the Soho and decided to enter :D. Actually, the first floor was a normal bookshop and you had to go downstairs to the basement to find the sex-shop. I though it was a funny trick so clients could pretend to be entering to a normal bookshop.
昼食時には、ウエストエンドへ行ってオックスフォード通りで（有名なショッピング通り）私の友人に会って、ハンバーガーを食べました。その後で、私たちはマンがの店(orbitalとforbidden planetも）へ行きました。友達が書いた本を見付けました。ですから、写真を取ったことが決めました。そしてDebzさんはロストボイスのシャツを買いました。マンがの店の後でセックスショップを入りました。おもしろかったです。一階はつうじょうの本じゃでしたが，地下室はセックスショップがありました。
In the evening, Debz and I watched one of the horror movies (she is fan of them) that she had bought at the second-hand DVD shop: the film "Pumpkinhead IV". I had never seen one of those movies about Pumpkinhead but she explained me the basics so I could understand the story (most of them have almost the same layout). I also wanted to watch "
The toxic avenger", but we didn't have time.
At night, we went out and hanged out in a place called
Rowans (near Finsbury park) for some time. Debz was wearing a t-shirt that she had bought in Orbital which had the Joker's face and the phrase "why so serious" on it. Then Debbie's friend Lee picked us up and drove us to a club in Islington called
Elbow Room were we stayed until late at night. The club's music and atmosphere was mainly hip-hop. In the middle of the place, there were like two circles of people. In one of them
breakdancers were showing their moves in turns while in the other one, there were mainly
streetdancers.
The following day was Sunday so Debbie took me to see the
Wembley market which is the largest Sunday market in England. Lots of stands filled the parking in front of the beautiful Wembley stadium. I especially loved one of the stands (basically a big van) where a guy was selling at auction many electronic devices and other kind of stuff. He would start with a high price and then set it lower until someone bought the item. After bargaining with a seller, Debz bought a tracksuit for her. Most of the clothes there had famous brands (Nike and so on) but I think they were fake.
In the afternoon, we went to visit her French grandmother because it was her birthday. I made a portrait of her based on a photo that Debz gave to me and it made her really happy. In the past, Debz's grandparents used to have a business (a cafe called Berta) in south Spain (Torremolinos, near Málaga). But after the Spanish civil war they had to run away from Franco and the Guardia Civil (I suppose that the fact that they were Jewish didn't help at the time). I had to tell them that those guys with the black hats (Guardia Civil) still exist.
At night I said goodbye to Debz (thanks!!) and took a National Express coach to Cambridge where I was going to meet my friend Simon. It will be continued... ;)
You may or may not know that I like drawing comics (check out this links: comics label, drawjam-session and my old drawings). The last few days I've been drawing quite a lot. I post here three pages from a comic that I just have drawn in less than three hours each. Which is your favourite page?
The next day, after having a capuccino, two bananas and some biscuits for breakfast, I went to north west London to meet my friend Debbie (Nusense). We went shopping to a department store in Harrow-on-the-Hill where I bought a cool jumper that looked like I was wearing it inside out. I also loved an electronics shop called maplin where we spent some time looking at gadgets and kits to build your own inventions.
At night, we went out and hanged out in a place called Rowans (near Finsbury park) for some time. Debz was wearing a t-shirt that she had bought in Orbital which had the Joker's face and the phrase "why so serious" on it. Then Debbie's friend Lee picked us up and drove us to a club in Islington called Elbow Room were we stayed until late at night. The club's music and atmosphere was mainly hip-hop. In the middle of the place, there were like two circles of people. In one of them breakdancers were showing their moves in turns while in the other one, there were mainly streetdancers.
I took a FEVE train from Santander to Cabezón de la Sal. Bikes can be carried in the front carriage of the train without problems. My new backpack has some nice features for biking too. I can put the helmet in a especial pocket and I can drink from a tube without needing to stop.
From Cabezón de la Sal, I rode my bike to a small village called Sopeña. The intention was to check out a camping that I had seen on the internet called el molino de cabuérniga. The place looked good and it was very close to the river. At the entrance to the village there was a sign saying that the writer Manuel Llano was born there. That was a very nice coincidence because I had been planning to write a comic related to the Cantabrian Mythology and both the writer and the region is very significative to that.
On the way back north I stopped for a little bit at Ruente, to see "La Fuentona" (literally the big fountain) where it is said that an Anjana (a mythological creature) lives in.
Before getting to Cabezón de la Sal I turned left in Santibañez and headed for San Vicente del Monte through the mountains. In San Vicente there is a youth hostel that I wanted to check out because it looks like a good place to start routes.
It wasn't an easy job but the views of San Vicente, on the skirt of the Escudo de Cabuérniga, were very beautiful. I rode my bike along the Escudo and after a pleasant downhill I arrived at Valdáliga. Then I went back to Cabezón to take the train back home. It was quite a long route in the end (at least for me).
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