You see, a room full of 21 other children is not quiet at 7 AM. It's very noisy, and, when trying to sleep, this is quite bothersome. Whatever shake it off, right? Free breakfast at the hostel was oranges, toast, assorted jellies, and oatmeal.. The breakfast of champions! But really the hostel I am staying at, St. Christopher's Village, is exceeding my expectations. It isn't horribly dirty, everyone is nice, and the only thing I have to complain about is the shower situation (imagine a communal dorm room shower).
Ok so onto the good stuff. Today's adventures include Covenant Garden, SOHO, West End, The London Eye, Big Ben, St. James Park, Brick Street, Indian food, and secret bars!
Covenant Garden, particularly the market area, is gorgeous. It is filled with higher end stores but it also has many unique boutiques and amazing looking places to stop for food. It's definitely a window shopping kind of walk, but it was worth it all the same. The area is gorgeous
I had never been to an Opening Ceremony before and I am so glad I got a chance to go in! It is super expensive but half of what they have is Kenzo (which I love (and you should too)) and the other half is equally as amazing. The men's clothes there are great as well.
The Covenant Garden market is also a go to place with food, clothes, jewelry and many specialty stores.
After walking around Covenant Garden, we travelled up to Soho and felt right at home with Zara, Urban Outfitters and American Apparel. If you want to shop til you drop, go to soho.
At this point I was about to drop so we began looking for somewhere to get food. One weird thing about London is that you can spend 10 minutes walking through an area of all restaurants and cafes, turn the corner and be in an area with shops on shops on shops, and then want to kill yourself as you try and find any place to eat.
Before finding a place to eat we ended up in West End (Theatre district I suppose) and that inspired me to really try and see a show in London before I leave.
Finally found a place to eat, rested, turned the corner and naturally we walk right into one of those streets that are just filled with food that had been so elusive.
One thing I have discovered in just two days of traveling is that Starbucks is literally a life saver. Its got the holy trinity.. wifi, bathrooms, and food. It will give you that pick me up that is necessary in the all day treks when traveling in any city.
After the Starbucks we decided to be a little touristy at least and head to the river and see the London Eye and the whole Westminster deal.
unashamed of my selfie
We proceeded to St James Park which was also stunning, got hit on by some odd middle easterners and then headed back to the hostel. I was meeting Monika at 6:30 and was in desperate need of a cat nap.
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| McDonalds is witty in England |
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| St James Park |
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| Top of Victoria Memorial and Buckingham Palace |
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| Flowers in thaa paahk |
Met Monika (my nanny back in the day, living in London now, looking lovely might I add) at the Liverpool St. station after a refreshing 30 minute nap and she took me through an area full of really gorgeous buildings and nice pubs which were watering holes for hundreds of men in suits. This was on the way to an even cooler area on Brick Street just lined with Indian restaurant after Indian restaurant. The funniest part of the whole thing was how these men just aggressively talk at you trying to get you to go to their Indian restaurant. They throw in 25 percent off and free drinks to try and lure you in but little did they know we were just looking for any place that had butter chicken. Hah. The food was amazingggggg, for anyone who loves Indian food you really can't go wrong on this street!
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| The feast |
Barely able to move after the food and the 2nd free beers that we bargained for it was time for the secret bar. At a location I can't disclose, we entered through a refrigerator and entered a very very cool bar where the drinks are overpriced (just like every other goddamn thing in London) but delicious. I was fine with it because we were in A SECRET BAR.
We made it to the tube and said goodbyes and now I am in the hostel.
I set my alarm clock for 7 AM to the tune of people talking loudly about how "they were like soo drunk last night"
Cheers!
Oh Maren, what a great summary! Brave you, setting your alarm at 7am. I got up five to nine, with just enough time to roll out of my bed, brush my teeth, make a tea (a must) and sit to my desk to wfh (work from home.) No, I am not wearing my pyjamas.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear you enjoyed yourself and liked the food. The last time I felt invaded like this was in Alanya, Turkey where they try to make you buy anything and everything along your stroll to nowhere. But for us, it was indeed all about the butter chicken and we chose well. Even the Indian beer Cobra was refreshing.
Enjoy your last day in London, looks like it will be a beautiful day so make the most out of it. Look forward to hearing what you did.
I am truly jealous of your semester at sea, or SAS as properly known to insiders. Enjoy it!
Was great seeing you and you look lovely yourself!
Monika
Oh, btw, I must disappoint you but there are many people in their 30s that use the response "oh I got so drunk last night" when asked how their evening went. Quality!
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