Oh London!

April 3

When you are staying alone in hostels it can be difficult to sleep peacefully. Your body never truly goes into deep sleep, instead it remains alert in the unfamiliar surroundings. I woke up repeatedly that first night, and finally got out of bed in the morning to go eat breakfast and drink some tea. After eating and planning out my day, I decided to go check out the Museum of London first, so off I walked. Side note: I only took the tube once my entire trip because it was expensive and I am frugal, so walking became my best friend. I am just grateful that navigating maps and streets comes very natural to me. In half an hour I found the museum, which took you through the entirety of the city of London’s history, from the Stone Age until present day, a history buff’s dream. Needless to say I learned so much about the city’s history in the three plus hours I wandered through it. I was in heaven!

The Medieval version of St. Paul's Cathedral 

A painting of the Great Fire of London in the 1800s

?

When I finally departed the museum I walked further south to see St. Paul’s Cathedral and then kept strolling through the streets of London. As I ambled through the streets, I somehow ended up in Covent Garden, which was just the amount of liveliness I needed. I appeared in the courtyard surrounded by the aroma of food stalls, the overwhelming conversations people had as they perused the street vendor stands and the stores, and the cheering that accompanied the unicycling performers. I was overcome with everything that was happening in this garden that I could only stroll through the aisles and take in the sights, smells and sounds, until I chose somewhere to eat. Since it was Good Friday I could not eat any meat and of course that was all that the delicious smelling food booths sold, so I ended up eating a gigantic baked potato. As I was ingesting the potato it started to rain, so I made the couple block trek to the actual St. Patrick’s Church in Soho Square for Stations of the Cross. I arrived super early, but it was better than being wet, so I sat and prayed. This church was definitely Catholic, and even though we went through the stations quickly and the deacon had the bushiest eyebrows I have ever seen, it was nice for some normalcy in comparison to last night. Before heading back to the hostel, I perused the streets some more. I made my way onto Oxford Street and into a Primark, which is a retail store that is super cheap and this one was the biggest I have ever seen. It rapidly became dark though, so I decided to go back instead of staying on the streets of London at night.

Unicyclists

Covent Garden

The next morning I was due to catch a noon bus to Cardiff, Wales, so I had to check out of my hostel and then walk to Victoria Coach Station. I did not realize that this walk, which does not seem that long on a map, was in actuality about a six mile walk. The walk across London took at least two hours, but part of the reason was because my bag was heavy, as it dug into my shoulder causing me to stop and rest in random city parks. Along my walk, I passed by shops and had to go into Hamley’s, the world’s biggest toy store. I felt like I was five in the six story toy store, as I looked at all the toys and watched the toy demonstrations. Also on my journey I stopped at Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard, which was a nice royal surprise. Finally, after walking many miles I made it to the coach station, and soon boarded my bus to Cardiff!  

God save the Queen!

The Guard doing their thing

Future home!