Playing tourist: Day trip

Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, and Bath...in one day.

Windsor Castle is the Queen's residence. It's gigantic, old, and lovely. And it has some of the most crazy beautiful interior decorating I've ever seen. Unfortunately, it also has a strict no photo policy inside the castle, so you don't get to see any of that. But the exterior is nice too.

As our tour guide said, "When we get to Stonehenge, some of you will be having deep and profound thoughts, while others of you shiver and drink coffee. It means different things to different people."

Bath is such a pretty little town. And we were lucky enough to see it in the sunshine. It's famous for its hot springs (and the Roman baths that made use of them), but I was probably most enamored with the impressive stone architecture.

Saturday in Surbiton.

Since I've submitted my dissertation, I haven't known what to do with myself. When I get home from work, I just kind of wander around the house aimlessly. In the back of my mind, I've got this feeling that I should be writing or editing or formatting, but I've got nothing to write or edit or format. 

Guess it's time to get a new book.

But I've decided that I should use my spare time to go exploring. I still don't really know this new area, even though I moved in three weeks ago. And pretty soon, it's going to start getting dark around 4pm. So I've got to get moving.

Saturday was a good day to wander around our town, as there was a little festival going on. It was sunny out, so we just strolled in and out of the little stalls lining the high street. There were crafts and food and entertainment. We stopped for several things.

The first was this puppet show. Punch and Judy. It was kind of weird. (Spoiler alert: Punch just beats up on Judy, and then the audience chastises him. What?) 

This is before Judy made her debut. Then things got violent.

The second was a stall where a little man in a funny hat was selling fudge. We bought three bags: coffee, mint chocolate, and chocolate and vanilla. Delicious. I'd post a picture, but we ate it already. Oops.

And finally, the street musicians. There was a gorgeous string quartet (with a really attractive cello player), and this cute little band of older men just jamming away.

Isn't that the best? The little kids near us were dancing up a storm, and we found we couldn't help but walk to the beat once we turned to leave. That tuba was just so catchy.

All in all, it was a lovely way to spend the afternoon.

Oh deer.

First things first: apologies for the cheesy title. I just couldn't help myself. 

Remember when I told you about Richmond Park? I said I'd like to visit it again. Well, it took me almost five months, but I finally made it back. And even though one of my housemates pointed out that it could be a dangerous decision, I'm glad I did.

The largest of the Royal Parks, it also happens to be the biggest enclosed space in London. Its 2360 acres are home to a wide variety of flora and fauna, but it's most famous residents are probably the deer. Oh, and the reason it exists in the first place is because Charles I didn't want to get the plague.

Fun stuff.

Anyway, the last time I visited was in February. While I definitely enjoyed myself, it was still winter, so everything (well, except for the deer) was kind of dead. This time was different. Sure, the skies were still grey. But this time, everything was green! And there were flowers! It was lovely.

It's crazy how just stepping through the gates seems to take you straight out of the city. It's so quiet and peaceful, and with all the wildlife, you don't really feel like you're in London anymore.

(But you are.)

There's so much to see, and we only made it through about a fifth of the park. But since it's only a 5 minute bus ride from where I live, I plan to go back and do some more exploring soon.

Who knows? Maybe there will even be sunshine.

Third time's a charm.

  

To market, to market.

We decided to check out the markets at Camden today. The Northern line was half closed, so that made things a little interesting, especially since we had a limited amount of time to explore before church. But we made the best of it, sprinting through the Underground like true Londoners.

And once we finally made it to the markets, it was all worth it.

Such a fun little area! Great food, quirky shops, and the best people watching. 

I'll definitely have to go back soon.

Walking tour.

We made up our own walking tour of London, hitting all the major sites: the Eye, Big Ben and Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, the British Museum, a crazy old pub, the Tower of London, the Tower Bridge, and Buckingham Palace. It lasted approximately 7 hours. I'm spent.

But what a sweet time with good friends! I'm so glad they're here, and I'll be sad to see them go. I've promised myself to take more pictures of them and not stuff when we go exploring tomorrow. Because I seriously failed at that today.

Sunday stroll.

My Sundays typically look something like this: train to Waterloo Station, Northern line to Tottenham Court Road, church at the Dominion Theatre, Northern line to Waterloo, train home. But today, the sun was so shiny, and the sky was so blue, I decided that I didn't want to spend my time underground. So rather than take the Northern line, I decided to walk to Waterloo. 

But here's the thing: I didn't know how to get to Waterloo from the Dominion Theatre. All I knew was that when I pictured it on the map, it was southeast-ish. Now, I'm not the best at maps and directions and such (understatement of the year), but I do know that the sun sets in the west, so I figured if I could keep my shadow in front and a little to the left of me, I'd be going the right direction. And, what do ya know! I made it there...eventually. But I definitely took the scenic route.

Still, my dad would have been proud.

I got an ice cream cone and strolled down Oxford Street for a bit, before heading over to Piccadilly Circus. Then I went on to St. James's park, down around Westminster, and along the river, where I walked across the bridge and found my way to the station.

Lovely.

 

Serious information overload.

How did it get to be Saturday already?

If I had to sum up the past few days in three words, they'd be, "Serious information overload." I've learned so many names -- of people, of cities, of streets, of shops -- and I'm just hoping it'll all stick.

I live in a big hall of flats with 39 other people, and we're seriously from all over the place. There are people from the UK, the States, Greece, Ireland, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Slovakia and more. It's amazing. (My flatmates and I have decided we need to run a language school out of the building to help us pay for our degrees.) A lot of us went out the other night, and I laughed pretty much the whole time.

So what I'm trying to say is that I'm really happy about my living situation.

In addition to "important" things like figuring out how to use the public transportation and learning about the university (oh, right...I'm here for a degree...), I've also gotten to do a lot of exploring. There's a great little market place/shopping center downtown and the weather has been absolutely beautiful, so I've spent most of my free time just wandering around. It's kind of fun being anonymous in a new city.

And then there's central London. I got to see a bit of it today. We went down to some antique shops and found our way to Kensington Palace. And we found this little gem:

So glad I'm rocking the frizzy Hermione hair. It's totally on purpose.

It was lovely. We're planning to go back and do all the touristy stuff like Big Ben and Buckingham Palace on Monday.

But for now, I need to catch up on sleep.