31 December 2016
Last day of one
of, if not the, best years of my life! So yesterday after I got off the train,
I followed Laura’s instructions and got on the Underground and managed it all
by myself! After I got off at Waterloo I had a bit of trouble finding the
aquarium [where I was meeting Charlotte, the person I was staying with] but walked right out to the London Eye with
Big Ben in the background, wow. While I was waiting I got to take in the London
Skyline and had a nice conversation with the doorman of the aquarium. When
Charlotte was finished, we headed to her place on the tube. She lives pretty
far outside the city so it took a while. We stopped at a fish and chips place
on the way home and I got a spring roll (ehh…) and chips (yummy!). It was
raining so the walk home was rough but it made for perfect movie watching
weather. We watched “Bridget Jones’ Diary”, the quintessential British movie.
We had some tea and tea cookies as well. Charlotte is such a sweetheart and the
whole day felt really British. I loved it!
On the morning
of the 31st, I had the whole morning to explore before I met up with
Kasia, another one of my friends from camp. Let me tell you: London on New
Year’s Eve, even early in the morning, is absolutely INSANE. There were so many
people, and they were ev-er-y-where. I was really overwhelmed at first because on
top of that, the city is huge and there’s just so much to see. My original plan
for the morning was to see Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the
changing of the guard at Buckingham, and the Royal Opera House. I didn’t
realize that fitting all that in simply wasn’t possible. I ended up walking by
the first three buildings without stopping because of the crazy crowds. I got
to the palace about a half hour before the changing of the guard and realized
that there was no way I’d be able to see anything, but I waited anyway. When it
finally began I was
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| Typical |
disappointed that 1. I still couldn’t see anything and 2.
The guards were all dressed in their winter (i.e. not red) uniforms. At one
point, another girl and I climbed up onto this concrete wall thing to get a
better look, which only lasted for a minute before everyone else followed us
and then the police yelled at us to get down. After a while I gave up and went
to go walk around more. In the area I was in there weren’t many things to see.
Well let me explain: there were the “big” attractions and then a bunch of
business buildings and stores. I felt like I needed to be at Buckingham or
whichever big attraction and not in between them. Maybe this isn’t the truth
about the area, but it is certainly how I felt. I walked around a bit and went
into Westminster Cathedral before heading back to the palace. When I got there
the crowds were cleared and I got to go up to the gate and take a look for
myself. Looking back and comparing it to all the other castles/palaces I’ve
been to, Buckingham leaves a lot to be desired. I walked through the park
perpendicular to the palace with the intention of going to the Royal Opera
House before meeting up with Kasia but I’m glad I didn’t.
Once I made my
way back to the London Eye, our meeting point, I realized that we should have
been more specific about where we were going to meet. We must have spent a half
hour looking for each other because the crowds were so crazy. Maybe it’s because
I’m a small town girl, but I am still amazed by the sheer amount of people that
were there that day!
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| Lunch |
As with Laura, I
was super excited to see Kasia, she was the fourth person I had seen in as many
months that I knew from “home”. She loves traveling like me and has a super
cool new website Vivant Images that you should totally check out! Anyway, after
our reunion we walked down along the South Bank, past some Christmas markets
and The Globe. We went out halfway across the “Harry Potter” bridge and then
all the way across the Tower Bridge. Most places were closed because the city
was setting up for the NYE fireworks but we did find a pop-up bagel shop to
stop at for lunch. I had a sesame bagel with mozzarella, greens, sun-dried
tomatoes, and pesto and a flat white which is supposedly the equivalent of a café con leche, but it was nowhere near
as good.
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| Tower of London |
Don’t get me
wrong, I love traveling alone, but it’s so nice to have someone who knows where
they’re going. Some places are great for getting lost in tiny winding streets,
but others, not so much. Kasia was a fantastic guide because not only did she
know where she was going but she is also kind of a history buff so I got tons
of historical context with my tour. It was so cool seeing things that I learned
about in my Modern European History class this fall, though it was a bit
confusing at first because I forgot that names of people and places are not the
same in English and Spanish. I think that the Tower of London was my favorite
even though it was extremely eerie. Even after being in Europe for five months,
I am constantly amazed by the amount of history here! It’s crazy to think about
the buildings (and ruins) that have been here for hundreds of years!
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| Camp Reunion! |
After our
mini-tour we headed to Kasia’s apartment and I met her mom who literally is the
sweetest/cutest person ever. I didn’t realized how Polish Kasia is, she’s bilingual
and it was really cool listening to her and her mom talk to each other. We had
some “milk tea” while her mom cooked us dinner and then some lemon tea with
dinner (because Poland, also I drank so much tea that weekend and it was great)
which was cheese and potato perogies, a fruit platter, and a couple shots of
Polish vodka (with her mom!). We all talked for a bit, mostly about traveling
and how parents, understandably, have mixed feelings about their kids
traveling. Kasia and I are in the same boat in that we are both very restless
and don’t like to sit still. She’s going to Australia in September for a couple
years with Charlotte and I think that’s amazing…I want to join them!
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| NYE on the tube |
After we were
done eating and chatting we headed back over to Charlotte’s house to get ready
to go out. Getting ready, per usual, was one of the best parts of the night-we
drank, ate chocolate, talked about traveling, and listened to music. Once we
decided that we should probably get going so we didn’t miss midnight, we headed
to the underground. Since Charlotte lives so far out the tube was pretty much
empty when we got on. Kasia and I decided that it was the perfect opportunity
to run up and down the car dancing around and swinging on the poles. When a
group of people finally got on, the made fun of us for a bit but soon joined in
and there was lots of laughing and photo session. When we got off the tube, we
had about an hour until midnight, so of course we dramatically ran through the
streets of London to the bar we were going to like we had someone important
waiting for us there. The bar was owned by a friend of a friend of Kasia and
NYE was their opening party. Honestly, none of us were very impressed by it. We
stayed until midnight and attempted, with Kasia’s Spanish friend, to eat the
traditional 12 grapes on the each strike of the clock…it didn’t work out very
well. We left shortly after that and when we decided that we weren’t about to
pay 20 pounds to get into a club or party we went and got some pizza and “garlic
knots”. The tube ride back was fun because Kasia and I spent the entire trip
singing, or attempting to sing, the songs we learned at camp this summer. I’m
sure our audience loved us. I was honestly impressed with how much we
remembered. Also shout out to Charlotte for being such a trooper. When we got
back to the house we stayed up trying to remember how one song in particular
started, even resorting to Google and Youtube but to no avail. After we gave up
I went to shower and by some magical force remembered that the “river song”
started “I went down to the river, brought me a sandwich”…
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| Camden |
The next morning
Kasia and I took our sweet time getting up and ready. We packed up and went
back to her apartment for some tea and to buy my coach ticket to the airport.
We left her house around 2 and walked around Camden Town, which is where she
lives. It’s a really cool part of London and I know that I wouldn’t have made
it there if I was traveling on my own. It’s super hipster and trendy but it
attracts a lot of tourist these days. I wonder how much the internet affects
growing tourism in the “hidden gems” of the world and how much is just
“natural”. There were tons of cool shops and street art. I was really surprised
by the amount of canals; I don’t think canals when I think London. We ended up
having lunch at this cute place called Café Loren. We got sandwiches but they
had this really cool sounding Middle Eastern dish that I want to try when I go
back. After that I took my first double-decker bus and we did some more exploring.
We went to this really cool/colorful/artsy/earthy area before we made our way
to Covent Garden. I absolutely loved the Opera House, but I had no idea how
expansive Covent Garden is. I could have spent all afternoon there at the
cafes, listening to music, looking at art…it was beautiful. After that we went
to Chinatown, which I was told has terrible Chinese food but very good secret
bars, and Picadilly Circus. They were cool, but too many people for me. We also
went into Hamley's which is the biggest toy store in Europe, but apart from the high
quality stuffed animals, I was not super impressed. For dinner we want to
Wagamama, a Japanese restaurant. I got a rice bowl with veggies and tofu and it
was divine. I was pretty impressed with myself for using chopsticks instead of
a fork. The meal came with green tea instead of water which I think is good
because when you mix the strongly flavored food with the almost harsh taste of
water it is not good. I was SO full after. As we started making our way back to
Camden we stopped in the National Portrait Gallery which was super cool,
especially this one painting that looks very distorted when viewed from the
front but normal when viewed from an angle. It was painted for a child in the
royal family. We walked past a bunch of really pretty/cute/expensive houses and
then Kasia took me up Primrose Hill. It was a bit of a climb but she had me
close my eyes on the way up so she could surprise me with the view. It was
amazing. Breathtaking. Indescribable. It was the perfect panorama of the London
skyline in all its sparkling glory. I of course attempted to take a picture,
which turned out terribly so I just took it in and I hope that my memory
doesn’t ever fail me! Kasia told me that one time she and her friends took a
picnic up to watch the sunset and then ended up staying there until sunrise.
I’m sure many a proposal happened there. On the way back to her house we walked
by a bunch of cute shops that were all lit up with Christmas lights. I imagine
that’s what a little English town would look like.
Just as a side
note: I think this year I’ve really come to appreciate Christmas as a season
that extends past the 25th, I was still feeling very Christmasy
then, and normally I’m done by the morning of the 26th or even the
night of the 25th. Maybe it’s because I didn’t have a “definitive”
Christmas moment this year? I don’t know but I could really get behind the
whole “Christmas is good family, friends, and food” thing.
Anyway, back at
Kasia’s we watched “The Holiday”, which is now one of my favorite movies and
had tea and snacks, including chocolate covered plums. I had to catch a
bus to Victoria Station around 11:30 and then a bus to Gatwick at 12:30. My
flight to Munich was at 6am but the 12:30 was the last bus that night. Though
it didn’t rank high on my list before I got there, I absolutely loved my time
in London and did not want to leave. That was the first time I regretted
planning ahead so much, I could have spent my entire break there. In retrospect,
I’m glad I did move on though because there were many more adventures to be
had!
Nice read!
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