Penguin egg!
In classic English tradition, we drank tea before bed while sitting in Michele's kitchen, which may not be part of English tradition quite exactly.
We promptly (and thankfully) passed out.
MONDAY - MARCH 5, 2012
Monday morning began with breakfast - which included the best yogurt I have ever ever had! It was hazelnut flavored and actually had bits of hazelnuts in it. YUM!
Michele had to work at her internship all day so Kirsten and I were pretty much left on our own. Since it was an odd day, we decided we wanted to make it to see the changing of the guards in front of Buckingham palace at 11:30. We left the flat at around 11, by ourselves, with a vague idea of where to go. Of course, we ended up not even finding Buckingham palace, yet alone getting there in time to see the changing of the guards. But we did get some valuable practice in navigating the tube.
After walking around the general vicinity of Buckingham Palace, we gave up and headed to Westminster Abbey instead. On our way, we got distracted by TopShop, a trendy European fashion retailer that is soon expanding to the states.
I'm a sucker for pretty dresses!
Oxford Street is a goldmine for shopping. We also went into an amazing H&M, Zara (who is slowly expanding to the US), and some other cute European retailers.
We practiced self control and harnessed our shopping to go do something of cultural significance. Luckily, we had better luck finding Westminster Abbey.
Ok, so here's my thoughts on this place. It's very old and that's cool. Lots of significant people are honored here. But it's super creep-creep-creepy. Basically, it's a tomb disguised as a church. I really didn't like that part too much. We took the walking audio tour, so at least I knew whose tomb I was stepping over as I ventured the Abbey. I guess that was helpful. But still. Kind of weird.
After the Abbey, we randomly frolicked until it was time for Michele to get off from work. We were to meet her at Ronen Chen where she interns.
Following the directions she gave us, we got off the tube station and then we turned left after the "chicken place" - which was really KFC.
...That one threw me off a little.
Then three of us then went down the street to this crazy store called Primark.
Where everyday looks something like this:
People freaking out over cheap clothes.
There were so many people, so many clothes, and just so much madness that somehow we got split up. This was the first time we got semi-lost from each other in London. We eventually found each other and headed home to recoup for a bit before getting ready for some SALSA DANCING yaya!
TUESDAY - MARCH 6, 2012
Michele had to work all day Tuesday as well, so Kirsten and I went for round 2 of being lost in London. As per recommendation from friends, we went to Camden Town which is sort of the hip/artsy part of the city. We spent much of our day here...
...Shopping, eating amazing food, and spending too much money.
Shopping highlights of the day
These cats:
These pants: And the bargain bin behind me:
Said bargain bin lead to several of these purchases:
Food highlights of the day
Feeding the duckies:
Organic fair trade cafe lattes and baby cupcakes
4 pound curry and birdie friends:
Random highlights of the day
Finding this statue that states 'fortitude', one of the pillars of Cardinal Key :)
This:
Olympic Countdown in front of the National Gallery:
After a long day, we were ready to join Michele for a nice, relaxing dinner. We choose the Lebanese district of London as our destination.
Michele ordered lamb. God bless her soul. I stuck to moussaka, a vegetarian dish :)
After dinner, we ordered shisha and some weird desert made with rose water. I enjoyed it, it tasted like honeysuckle flowers.
WEDNESDAY - MARCH 7, 2012
Michele got to join us on Wednesday! Per London tradition, it was rainy.
Our first stop was St. Paul's cathedral. Little did we know that St. Paul's cathedral was closed that morning because the Queen was visiting! As we walked up, she was leaving the cathedral and getting into her car. I saw her for a very brief second, but was unable to get any successful pictures.
After walking around in the rain we decided we deserved coffee.
Since St. Paul's was still closed and waiting for the important people to clear out, we headed to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge.
Then we stopped for lunch - vegetable ciabattas and white zin :)
Refreshed and ready to go, we headed for the TATE Britain museum.
And later that night we met up with the Delta Sigma Pi London Alumni chapter for a truly delicioso dinner.
THURSDAY - MARCH 8, 2012
Another day for Kirsten and I to adventure. We headed back to St. Paul's cathedral and toured inside. It was breathtakingly beautiful, but we couldn't take pictures of the inside.
Then we went to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre after crossing the Millennium bridge.
And then the Tate modern art museum. I really enjoyed Tate, I could spend a whole day there... just getting lost in the awe.
That night we tried aspal again at a different pub. This time it was much better, probably because it was sweeter. In fact, I liked it so much that I kept the glass :P So even if I can't find aspal, I can find an aspal glass. Hehe.
After that, we got ready to go to O'Neils (what I am going to refer to as the "pub club").
It was off of Piccadilly Circus (sort of like London's Time Square) and it was soooooooo much fun!
When you first walked in, it was a bar-like atmosphere but the 2nd floor was a fun dance area with live music. You could also go up a floor and outside onto the roof.
Most of the people that I met weren't actually from London... they were travelling from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, etc. It was fantastic getting to talk to other students who were out and about. In fact, I think my favorite part of travelling is meeting new and random people.
This is also the night I got lost at the bus station by myself at 4 o'clock in the morning. The tube is easy to navigate. The bus maps are confusing.
FRIDAY - MARCH 9TH, 2012
The day started off with a pub brunch! Fish n' chips had to be had.
Then began our 2nd attempt to find Buckingham Palace. What Kirsten and I didn't know the first day was that you have to go through this quaint little park in order to get to the palace.
Found it!
And thennnn we went to Harrods. Oh boy, did we go to Harrods. Harrods is getting its own blog post soon. Because. There is just a lot to talk about. Retail mastery and magic, gross consumerism, starving children in Africa. We'll talk about that later. Of course I thought the store was fascinating. So many pretty things. But it was extremely overwhelming. Except for these bears, these bears weren't overwhelming. They were just awesome.
I felt obligated to buy something at Harrods so that I could then say that I had bought something at Harrods. The cheapest thing I could find was a 4 pound scoop of Nutella gelato. It was scaringly delicious and maybe worth the $7.
As if we hadn't had enough shopping by now, we made a stop at the M&M store. This place was just stupid. I don't really get the appeal of M&M merchandise. It's just chocolate in candy coating. I understand (sort of) what they are trying to do with their brand, but it just doesn't work for me.
Friday was a very long day. But that didn't keep us from going to TigerTiger (rawr!) Which is easily one of the coolest places I've been. Each room of the club had a different theme, different music, and lots of cute foreign boys :)
My favorite was the cheesy light-up floor.
So that was the gist of my week in London. I'm sad that I'm not there anymore, I really am. I loved the city so much that I'm currently looking at Masters of International Business programs, whereas I have been initially been planning to start work immediately after graduation and go back for my MBA a few years into working.
I guess London will do that to you.
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