London calling!

This weekend marked the beginning of my two week spring break. First stop: London. My roommate from last semester, Brooke is studying abroad there so I planned a quick trip out to visit! It was quite the adventure from the moment I stepped off the plane. Apparently, Thursday nights are very popular days to travel to London because I had to run all over the airport, between terminals, and different coach kiosks to find a ticket into the city. I guess that's that problem with Ryan Air's cheap flights- they always land at the most inconvenient airports. Oh well, I made it into London and to Brooke's front step four our momentous reunion haha. We caught up over gourmet cheese her mom sent her (yummm) before calling it a night!

Unfortunately she still had her internship on Friday so I made my way around London on my own. It was absolutely perfect. I walked around the area she lives in, picked up a cup of tea and a croissant and headed over to Hyde Park to eat my breakfast. Hyde Park is probably my new favorite place on earth. It was so peaceful and serene. I probably walked around for two hours. It was perfect.

Street Brooke lives on.

 

Gate into Hyde Park.

 Hyde Park

 After making my way through the park, I met up with Brooke for lunch. She took me to a cute little place close to her work. Good, reasonably priced food. Then she was back to work and I continued on my way to shop! Of course Brooke's internship is only a couple blocks away from one of the major shopping streets in London so I couldn't resist. I managed to escape with only one purchase though! Go me! Then I met back up with Brooke and we headed home to make dinner.

Saturday was a busy busy busy day. We went to Borough Market- which is basically a gourmet food market. It was heaven on earth. So much delicious food (and free samples!). We ate our way through the market- from beef and spinach empinadas, wild boar sausage sandwiches, carrot cake, maple praline goat ice cream. It was perfection.

 Left: Borough Market, Right: Olivesssss

  Left: cheese man, Right: empinadas (it was fate: B for Brooke/beef, S for Sheynn/spinach)

 Left: wild boar sausage sandwich, Right: grilled cheese man

 Left: carrot cake yummm, Right: guy making duck sandwiches

 Left: Brooke and Allie with their mulled wine, Right: bread

 Left: Greedy Goat Ice Cream, Right: Brooke and me with our ice cream

 After we were properly stuffed, we got walking! First stop: London Bridge! London Bridge is actually quite disappointing, nothing like London Tower Bridge but very historical and good views none-the-less.

We continued walking along the Thames. We walked for a very very long time, stopping to take pictures along the way- of landmarks such as the Globe Theatre, St. Peter's Cathedral, the Millennium Bridge, etc. Also, to take a picture in a phone booth. Unfortunately, it didn't turn out too well. Apparently Londoners like to use phone booths as urinals. Nasty.

We quickly walked away from that incident and took more pleasant pictures until we finally made it to our destination: Big Ben!

 Brooke and I on the Sphinx with the London Eye in the background.

 Left: the London Eye, Right: Big Ben!

 

 Left: Westminster Abbey, Right: Underground sign

After a long, tiresome day, we headed to the Tube to go home. Except the tube station was closed. Womp. Luckily there was a bus stop near by that got us home quick! Surprisingly, we still had room for dinner and made some fabulous grilled cheese! After dinner, we got ready for Brooke to show me the London nightlife- had to see how it compares to Dublin. I got to experience the club scene in Shortage (a borough in London) and the night bus! It was a fun night!

Sunday we got up to go to brunch at one of Brooke's favorites, Muriel's. We were hoping for breakfast but they had stopped serving by the time we made it there. However, my salmon cakes and mashed potatoes were delish. Then we headed over to Harrod's. There's not much to do in Harrod's but gawk and feel sorry for yourself. It is ridiculously amazing. There are four floors and it just goes on forever. There's a pet shop (with dogs costing 5000 pounds- roughly $7500), toy kingdom, shoe heaven, fine china and home decor, meet and produce market, tea room, ice cream parlor, anything anyone could ever wish for all in one place. Its actually overwhelming. Luckily, we cheered ourselves up by doing some real shopping at h&m :)

 Harrod's (unfortunately it was raining and the umbrella got in the way)

Me with the Harrod's bears!

After our shopping excursion, we were ravenous. We went to a pub close-by called the Queen's Arms. It was a cute and quaint little place. I got some authentic fish and chips and I was not disappointed. They were delicious. Then we decided to indulge ourselves once more and went to the creperie for some delectable crepes. Yummm!

We called it an early night and the next morning I was packing my things and off to the airport to head back to Dublin. It was a fantastic trip and it was so great to see Brooke! Now I have a couple of days to myself that I will hopefully be using productively to get ahead on some school work. Saturday Megan lands in Dublin and then Ana comes in on Monday! It is going to be amazing- I cannot wait! I will update you on all our adventures once we go on them!

Slainte!!!