Aug
9
safe in London, riots and all
Posted by: Natasha Chiang | August 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment
What an amazing day. Started out early, got a delicious house brew coffee from Pre a Manger, walked over the London Bridge, coffee in hand. It was refreshing to walk alongside all the Londoners on their morning commute. Some rode bcycles, many more walked. Caught a bus down to Trafalgar Square. Was a bit lost, so I went into a travel information center where an extremely friendly guy helped me print out the voucher ticket for the bus tour—he kept joking about how I should just work there because I’m so attractive… that was a rather flattering way to start off my day.
Hopped on the Original Bus Tour and went all over the city and Westminister. The bus took us to all the main destinations, describing the history of the city. It was extremely relaxing and enjoyable to just immerse in the history of the city… it was so awesome, to think that people have lived in those very streets for thousands of years. I got off on Oxford street and did some shopping, then met Lisa at Topshop.
Shopping on Oxford street was so nice. I thought that I should’ve kept going with the tour, but I really just wanted time to myself, to be flexible. So I shopped, and it was really fun to walk alongside (extremely fashionable) Londoners and browse through the stores. I got myself a really cute necklace, extremely comfortable and classy summer sandals, and a fun dress. I was seriously debating buying a dress from Topshop because they are such great quality and look so unique… I may do that on the last day. Finally, Lisa and I walked over to the British Museum and browse around for the last 20 minutes they were open. We planned to do a River Thames ride, but we saw headlines on the news, ‘Stay at home, Police recommend’, so we decided not to. Which was a bummer because my Thames ride was included in my Bus tour ticket. Instead, we found a restaurant near the underground station that was in the middle of both of our accommodation stops.
The restaurant was extremely fancy. The whole street was really fancy, actually. All the couture names were there, and we walked up the quiet street in awe of the fashion and sophistication. It was really exciting to see all these famous couture houses, and see how contemporary fashion (i.e. Oxford street) had adapted from it. When we finally found the restaurant, we realized it was a lot fancier than we planned for, but we went for it anyway. The duck I had was delish, and I tried pavlova for the first time… and fell in love with it. It was really luxurious to be served so well, and it was a well- deserved treat for myself.
Lisa and I had an amazing dinner conversation. It was so nice to be able to relate to someone who had been in Africa for the past little bit too. It was really a huge relief to get some of the things I’ve been thinking about, out and discussed.
Booked it home because I didn’t want to get caught in the dark. It was 8pm and it wasn’t even dark, though, so that’s a big difference from Uganda, where it got dark by 6pm. In my bed, reflecting over the day and looking at my new purchases with fondness.
Tomorrow I will be my “culture day”. I plan on visiting the Tate Modern, Tate Britain, and the British Museum.