Sometimes you have one of those days. That day was April 26th, 2013. And sometimes you just have one of those trips. London was that trip.
First of all, shout-out to my London buddies Victoria and Sinead for being bloody brilliant travel companions. Second of all, just so you know, this trip was so epic it's going to have to come in a three-post blog series.
I have to say, in the beginning things weren't looking too good for us. A late plane, a few sketchy bus rides, and an incredibly expensive taxi ride got us to our hostel around 3am on Thursday, but needless to say it was all uphill from there.
Thursday started with a stop at Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the London Eye (although we didn't ride it, because frankly it's really freaking expensive.)
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| Mandela holding Big Ben. |
We then took a tube ride to Farringdon where we downed two cups of house-roasted coffee at Caravan, a café Victoria had found while researching where to find crumpets in London. Unfortunately due to our late arrival and subsequent late start to the day, we were too late for crumpets. Even so, we spent around two hours there, talking, making friends with our waitress, and soaking in the Seattle-ness of it all. Before leaving, we told the waitress we would most likely be back for crumpets the next day, and contained our urges to run behind the counter and hug the barista to thank him for the best coffee we'd had in four months.
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| Straight, no sugar. |
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| It's more than just coffee, it's a love affair. |
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| Done. |
We took the tube up to Camden and explored a little before hitting up King's Cross to try to find platform 9 3/4--a task we had just as much trouble with as did young Harry Potter. We decided we would come back the next day because none of us actually wanted to ask someone where platform 9 3/4 was. So then it was back on the tube, towards Shoreditch for some authentic Indian food on Brick Lane.
Before meeting up for dinner with Victoria's friend who was studying in London, we were planning on killing some time checking out the vintage shops around Brick Lane. What we ended up stumbling upon was probably one of the hippest places I've ever set foot.
It's called "Boxpark", classified as a pop-up mall, but that description doesn't do it justice. It's basically a collection of boxcars painted black and turned into stores or restaurants, flanked on both sides by decks with picnic tables where, apparently, London's coolest youth hang out.
Intrigued, we climbed the stairs up to the deck with table after table full of people who looked like they were straight out of an Urban Outfitters display window. We all turned to each other like, "Uh, I'd be okay hanging out here for a while if you guys want to." So we grabbed a cider from one of the boxcar restaurants and found a table where we chatted and people-watched for an hour or so.
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| The view across from our table |
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| Victoria lookin cute |
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| Sinead being adorable |
That was followed by some downright delicious Indian food on Brick Lane, which is famous for its curry houses. With full bellies and happy hearts we jumped back on the tube to our hostel in Wimbledon to try to get a full night's sleep for Friday.
And good thing we did, because Friday had more waiting for us than we could have ever imagined...
(To be continued in Part II)
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