Friday morning, we start our day with a bus tour of London. We drove all over London in a nice hired coach. We saw some of the sights in our neighborhood, including Harrod's, Piccadilly Circus, and Trafalgar Square. We also passes over the new London Bridge (the original was falling down and was purchased by a wealthy man who moved it to Lake Havasu).We drove past Parliament and Big Ben and over the Tower Bridge. We also saw the London Eye and the Tate Modern from across the Thames. We then came around to Buckingham Palace. We arrived just in time to see the changing of the horse guards. There was no changing of the guards on this day as it was an odd day. At the moment, the guards only change on even days but our tour guide gave us tips on where to get the best point of view.
A little later that day was a walking tour of Kensington. Kensington is part of a borough (or city) known as the Royal Borough of Chelsea and Kensington. There are not many royal boroughs left. Our tour guide took us through Imperial College, for which we can join clubs and use their student union. At the north end of Imperial College is Royal Albert Hall. All I could think of is the movie Spice World and during the climax they go running up the steps. I walked up those very steps. Very exciting. We continued past it to Kensington Gardens. We walked around the gardens and saw where Princess Diana lived. People still leave flowers and pictures 11 years later.
Our tour ended at Kensingotn High Street. This street is where all the local shopping is. They have a TKMaxx (like our TJMaxx), a H&M, a Gap, and a Marks & Spencer which is like an everything store. They have groceries an prepared foods (very big here) in the basement and clothes and home goods on the ground floor and up. We walked back to our flat and also saw a Whole Foods, American Apparel, Clarks, and Urban Outfitters. It is like being back home.
That night some people went out. I stayed in along with my flatmate Nicole. We decided to go get some ice cream and explore the area a little more. I had a good idea of the direction that we were going but did not know exactly where we were because the streets change names every block or so. Eventually we saw an orange light ahead. Our walk led us to Sainbury's. We got ice cream and chocolate chip cookies (according to the packaging, they are an American dessert).
All in all a lovely day.
Until we meet again,
-Maggie the traveler
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