Our practical walking tour took us from the study center to the beginnings of Soho (an amazing food district). On the way, we saw the post office, grocery store, drug store, walk-in doctor's office, and all the necessities for our three weeks stay. Our guide Blake took it upon himself to recommend good and affordable eating places - we made full use of this information, deciding to eat at Pret A Manger for lunch. A smoked salmon sandwich, love bar, and grape and elderberry drink all for five pounds - score! Pret (as people here call it) makes all the sandwiches fresh, daily. Any food that is not sold is taken to hostels and other places, for people not as fortunate. Can you tell why I have fallen in love with this place? We also grabbed some gelato from Scoop after we ate lunch at the flat.
Little did I know that our little stop for gelato would turn into that sight seeing I was hoping for last night. Since we were already nearly halfway there, our group decided we would walk to the Thames River. On that journey we passed through Covent Garden.
Looks like it's going to be one of those spots to return to one day. Covent Garden was bustling with activity - from little shops, to a street magician, little kiosks (including a fruit stand), and restaurants.
From there, we passed countless beautiful buildings, as we zigzagged through the London streets. Something interesting here - people cross streets when they see an opening. Cars will not yield to pedestrians (I've heard some irritating honks when pedestrians do get in the way). There are crosswalks (called zebras), and certain indicated zebras are supposed to give pedestrians right of way - though they are few and far between. Thank goodness we had some leaders that were more or less taking charge of our direction - Elizabeth, Eric, and Katy. Those of you that know me know that I would not be the most trustworthy with this job - me and my bad sense of direction! Here we are, wandering.
We were able to make it to the Thames. It was a bit windy ... and funny enough, it made me miss home a little bit. Although I've been here for two days, it feels like the warm beaches of Maui were forever ago. The Thames looks nothing like the beaches back home, but it's been a while since I've seen a body of water. Makes me thankful for home. The Thames was amazing in itself - I was able to see some really great sights, like the Millennial Bridge, the London Eye, and Big Ben. We'll be taking trips out to those places at some point during our stay.
Rather than retracing our steps, we decided to take the long way home, which was nice. We got sort of, but not really lost, thanks to the big maps scattered about London ... and Elizabeth and Eric, our wonderful navigators. I like getting lost. We've been told that traveling by foot in London is highly recommenced because everything is close and interesting to look at. I'm stoked we investigated like-so today.
I am feeling a little bit more confident about getting around London, which makes me want to see specific things that interest me. I used today as sort of a serendipitous experience - the rest of my plans will probably be built off of what I saw today. One thing I really would like to do is to locate street art by Banksy. Perhaps some willing classmates would like to join me? Here's a map that shows much of Banksy's work in London, though many of the works have been covered or tampered with.
All of the adventuring made for great exercise and also provided an empty stomach for my first experience with pub food at Marlborough Arms. It's always nice to see places where local people hang. The food was decent and the beer was good. I'm going to sleep a happy camper. Until tomorrow, cheers!
u drank a beer?! wut kind?? i'm so proud of u!!
ReplyDeletei was told that it was an ale ... it's called London's Finest. it was pretty smooth and not to hooppy. tell antwan that they do serve half-pints here ... for the lightweight :). it was just right. love you, sis!
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