Customs in London took about an hour, but I was sure glad I wasn’t a member of the EU… Their line was 3x as long as the “all other passports” line was… After customs, I hopped on the Tube and met my friend from Montpellier, Heleen. We headed to her place and went grocery shopping. She cooked dinner for us and we got to know each other a little better, since we didn’t hang out a lot in Montpellier actually. She was living in a flat with 4 other roommates who were all really nice.
Saturday, we went and checked out some of the markets, but when we were in Knotting Hill, it started to rain! And of course, I didn’t have my umbrella with me.. We ducked into a pub for some good cheap food – I had bangers and mash.
The market in Knotting Hill was pretty cool, maybe some place I’d like to go back either with an umbrella or ideally not in the rain…We also stopped into Pain Quotidienne while we were in Knotting Hill and I had an amazing Belgian hot chocolate and a delicious scone! Afterwards, we headed back to her place before going out to a Columbian restaurant with a friend of Heleen’s.
Sunday, I headed off on my own to go to church in Westminster Abbey (and avoid the 16 pound entrance fee!!!). There was a lot of standing during the service, but it was still an okay service. I was appalled that when I watched people go and take communion that they actually DRANK from the goblet… they all drank from the same goblet (sure the man holding it wiped the edge after each person (with the same dirty cloth), but… EW).
After the service, I wandered around some of the parks in the area since it was beautiful out…
Then sat in front of Buckingham Palace to people watch for a little while. I sat at the feet of the woman on the statues left… so I think I was in a lot of tourists’ photos for that afternoon.
Eventually I met up with Heleen for some tea and to take a peek at the London Chinatown. Afterwards, I headed back to Heleen’s and bought a pizza to bake in her oven since she was off to a date! I had a nice evening chatting with her roommates and eating a yummy pizza.
Monday, Heleen and I looked at Harrod’s, which is really a giant expensive mall, but interesting to see. We grabbed lunch at a tavern she likes and I headed off to look at Camden Town while she went off to write a thesis proposal. I found Camden Town to be rather cool and a place I would definitely like to go back and visit (with company). It was very alternative and quirky, a bit touristy, but full of funky shops and booths.
Afterwards, I grabbed a scone and hot coco again at Pain Quotidienne then headed back to Heleen’s where we grabbed Indian food and made sure we were both packed up since we both had early trains in the morning (Heleen was off to Brussels and I was off to Paris)!
Oh... and these were just cool buildings I found...
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