St. Christopher, patron saint of travelers, and namesake of the hostel we stayed at in London! :)
Looking back on the weekend, I am so happy.
Being a traveller gives you this amazing sense of adventure and joy but transporting oneself from one place to another can be draining. I feel like a lot of the time I set off to have the perfect experience, try to plan everything, attempt to make everything perfect, and worry about things not turning out the way I planned. And it never makes me happy, only grumpy. I think if I learned more to take things as they come, I'd be better off and enjoy the moments as they're happening.
Despite being in London for essentially only day I did a lot of cool things:
1. Drank traditional UK/Irish drinks (Pimm's and Guinness) at two pubs in South London
2. Walked through Green Park and Hyde Park. (The British definitely do Parks better - they actually have flowers in them! ) :)
3. Saw Buckingham Palace and some redcoats
4. Went to TopShop and though it was fashion heaven the price to fabric ratio were not worth it at all - horribly overpriced! Gimme F21 over TopShop any day
5. Went to the National Gallery of Art in London and saw a Vermeer, Redon and Van Gogh art in addition to finding an interesting Renaissance artist that I want to learn more about - Jan Gossaert
6. Convent Garden
7. Talked to British Evangelics about Jesus
8. Took the Tube, Underground... Mind the Gap!!!
9. Walked along the Thames and saw Parliament, the London Eye, and Big Ben
10. Listened to British radio and were laughing and heard people talk about stereotypical British things like Posh and Becks and soccer
11. Got to talk to a few locals, though I would have liked to talk to a lot more :( that's what traveling is all about meeting new people!!
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When we got into the city Friday night we were all a bit frustrated from so many long hours of traveling then having to navigated the London Underground for the first time to get to the hostel was a challenge after being so tired.
When we finally did get out unto the street where our hostel was at and check in we went in search for a nice chill place to have a drink at. We were staying south of the Thames I think in the neighborhood Southwark.
We went up and down Borough High Street and it felt like EL on a Thursday night. The hostel bar was jam packed and there was club music on and a guy completely passed out in front of the bar on the ground surrounded by friends and police.
However we found the Old King's Head bar in a passageway and had a great first night in town. The Old King's Head was beautiful and classy on the inside and we all tried Guinness. The bartender was really cool and when he saw my passport started joking around about having to charge me more because of that 1-1 England vs US world cup game last weekend.
The next day we were up bright and early and were literally on our feet for 8 hours. I now possess an impressive level of endurance for walking.
We started on the tube which took us across the river to Green Park. We walked around Green Park for a bit marveled at the sun chairs in the park and strolled over to Buckingham Palace. It looks more grand I think in pictures or maybe just the clusterfuck of tourists waiting for the changing of the guard turned me off to it.
Then we strolled over to Hyde Park and walked around. Hyde Park is so beautiful! European parks actually have gardens in them, not just a rare and meek scattering of flowers as in the U.S. There was an enclave of roses surrounding a cherub fountain and it was one of my favorite places if not my favorite in London because once you stepped there the smell of roses surrounds you.
Then we went up through Soho/West End area and ate at Pret A Manger a healthy-environmentally friendly British fast food chain then headed to TopShop. Despite being in fashion heaven there, the prices plus conversion rate are too ridiculous and after much debate, left empty-handed.
We then stopped at Cafe Rouge and had a drink. One thing I noticed about London is the city's propensity to French themed food places. There were a significant patisseries and cafes lining the streets as we strolled through Soho, the West End, Westminster, and Convent Garden. I also heard French frequently spoken on the streets.
Eventually we ended up in Trafulgar Square where 3 awkward Evangelicals approached us. We had nice small talk with two of them until the whole God thing was brought up. One of the guys had a skin disfiguration and I was thinking that it must be better for him to believe what he believed given his struggles and disability from what he was saying to us about not letting other people's opinions get us down.
After the three guys had prayed over my friend Kaitie we headed to the National Gallery of Art and saw works by Van Gogh, Redon, Monet, Cézanne, and Vermeer.
We had dinner, strolled along the River Thames, and ended our stay in London by going to the Trinity pub in Southwark.
My only regret is that we didn't talk to more locals especially at the pubs. To me that's really the best part about traveling - meeting new people rather than wasting time and money in tourist traps.
1 comment:
I'm glad you're able to see more of Europe this summer. Now you know what it's like to stay in hostels and walk for 8 hours!I've done for the I don't really see the appeal of TopShop either. It's supposed to be budget fashion but it's still really expensive!
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