I had time to fit in one more longer
trip to London during my “study week”. Megan and I left on Monday
Dec. 9th and stayed until Friday Dec 13th. Our
days here were full and lots of fun. After we got off the plane we
took a bus, train, the tube, and finally made it on foot to our
hostel! That night we met up with a friend of mine, Julie, from DU
(also from the Seattle area!).
On the first day we accomplished
walking from Waterloo station all the way to Camden town making stops
along the way. The day started by walking past Big Ben towards
Buckingham Palace. There was some sort of event going on so lots of
dressed up people were entering through the gates with pink tickets
in hand. Perhaps a Christmas party? All of the cars and taxis
entering had to be searched before driving through.
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| Harry Potter being searched. |
After, we headed
to Hyde Park to see Winter Wonderland! This is a huge Christmas
market/amusement park. It was HUGE, and I was very thankful to see it
in the morning when very few people were around. Next, we went the
Sherlock Holmes museum, Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill, and to
Camden. Is a neighborhood in the north part of London. The Camden
Lock Market is here, and it is enormous. There are large horse
statues throughout the market too! That night we went back to Hyde
Park which this time was filled with people. Megan and I enjoyed
mulled wine in the Bavarian Village and Nutella crepes after!
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| Winter Wonderland! |
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| View from Primrose Hill |
The next day started at Pax Lodge, one
of four Girl Guide World Centers! I originally signed up for a tour
but it happened to coincide with their annual Christmas party so
Megan and I attended this instead. There were crafts, food (yule
logs, scones, and carrot cake), tea, and carols. We didn’t get an
official tour but were able to look around the ground floor after. I
am halfway done with visiting all the centers now! Visiting Pax Lodge
made me want to volunteer at center, perhaps one day.
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| Contribution to the hand wreath. |
After, we went
to the British Library and National Gallery (both free!). I would
highly recommend both. That night we went to dinner at the Lehore
Kebab House, as recommended by our free map. It was a shot in the
dark that turned out to have really good food! We had seekh kebab,
bhindi gosht, sag paneer, and garlic naan.
Our final full day started the in the
South End at a smaller Christmas Market at Gabriel’s Wharf by the
London Eye. We continued walking along the river to the Borough
Market. I had been here previously and remembered it having lots of
good food. I bought a slice of cheesecake and sampled lots of tea.
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| Millennium Bridge in the fog, not snow. |
After, we went to the Tate Modern. There was a lot of strange modern
art...I took a serious of photos I call “Turds of the Tate”.
After the Tate, I went to Paddington Station where I got on a 25 min
train ride east to Reading! My friend Penny (or as I know her,
Queenie!) who I have worked with for 2 summers at Robbinswold lives
here!! Reading was a bigger town than I thought, I learned the only
reason it’s not a city is because it doesn’t have a cathedral.
She had 3 hours off from work so we went out to dinner and then I got
back on the train to London. She is headed off soon on a 5 month trip
of her own to Asia, Australia, and New Zealand (and maybe more...).
I got back to Waterloo station on
the tube and heard some members of the London Philharmonic Orchestra
playing Christmas songs in the station to raise money (I can’t
remember the charity).
We left our hostel at 4:30am the next morning
to catch a bus to the airport... There was minimal studying had
during this trip but it was worth it. I studied the rest of the
weekend and all of this past week for 3 finals, the last of which
ended at 6pm on Friday!
