A Day Trip to London

Now that term is over and I have some free time (at least until I get back to the states because then I have to conduct a case study), my friend Carly and I decided to go into London.

Upon arriving, we went to the Pepperdine London house at 56 Prince's Gate, my home away from home. We dropped off our bags and I said hello to Carolyn, Fred, and Jenny. It was around lunch time so we figured we should probably fuel-up for the long day ahead of us. I brought Carly to Kulu Kulu Sushi where I realized that I hadn't had sushi for over 2 months! That is insane. When our tummy's were filled we made our way to Christmas World in Harrods, but not before stopping in Laduree to pick up an assortment of macaroons. I chose Christmas, Hazelnut, Raspberry, and Rose. Then we went down the street to the Natural History Museum; Carly taught Geography before coming to Cambridge so this was right up her alley.

Of course we went to the tourist-y spots: Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. It started to get dark around 4, 4:30 so we thought it would be a perfect time to go to the Christmas market at the Southbank since there were Christmas lights everywhere. We tried to see the giant tree in Trafalgar Square, but unfortunately the lights weren't on when we went. I don't quite understand why since it was pitch dark outside...oh well.

There was a chill in the air so we stopped in Starbucks to get hot soy Chai Tea Lattes to warm ourselves up before going to Hyde Park for Winter Wonderland. We met up with my friend Borja, Jenny, and two of her law school classmates. We enjoyed the Bavarian Village, the 60-something year old D.J. who sang along to songs like Gangnam Style, We Found Love, and Summer of '69, and the endless amounts of Christmas cheer! I was absolutely frozen by the end of the evening, but all I can say is, is that there is NOTHING like Christmas in London. I can't really describe it, it is just purely magical.

This morning I caught up on some sleep on my train ride back to Cambridge. My aunt Annie drove down to deliver some Christmas presents and to take me to dinner. We went to a French bakery called Patisserie Valerie, which is absolutely to die for! Of course we had to order dessert, so we decided to split the Blackforest cake. I have already decided that the next time I go, I am going to try the Strawberry Mille-Feuille with fresh strawberries and cream filling....Yum! Annie then helped me pick out the right medicine at the pharmacy. I am suffering from a cold brought on by my lack of sleep, I'm sure. Hopefully I will feel better by my flight on Thursday because nothing is worse than being sick on a plane.