Ladies do London

After deciding that we wanted to go to London for the day, India, Erika and I were very pleased when our tickets cost the grand total of £11.10. So pleased, in fact, that it wasn't until we were facing the 7:07am departure and 10:30pm return that we realised we'd probably had better ideas in the past. Still, not to be deterred, we dutifully set out alarms for 6am and met at 6:30 to catch the train into Brighton and then to London.

After arriving in London at 8:12 (dear God) we decided to get a few touristy things out of the way. First stop: Buckingham Palace.

After leaving via Green Park, a, well, green park, we passed one of the Queen's guards walking through the grounds.

We took the tube to Westminster and resumed the tourist thing as we took hundreds of photos of the land marks (we were also asked to take photographs of tourists in front of said land marks...I guess we looked like we knew what we were doing?)

We made our way to Camden Markets and finally it was breakfast time. 

We had BLTS and tea, and although the pub was quite nice, we immediately regretted our decision to eat so soon when we made it to the actual markets...

Of course, we managed to fit in a Spanish hot chocolate. Very worth it. 

After our breakfast/ brunch, we went to Platform 9 3/4, a place where dreams are made of...

Oxford Street was our next destination, where I met with my lovely cousin Taryn for lunch while the girls walked through Hyde Park and ate lunch near Harrods. Taryn and I headed to Attendant, a cafe that is, wait for it, an abandoned public toilet. That said, it was absolutely spotless and lunch was fantastic.

 

I parted ways with Taryn and headed to Harrods, where the girls were nearby eating lunch. I had a bit of a "pinch me" moment as I walked next to the iconic department store, and couldn't resist stopping for a few moments to take some photographs. After dreaming about exchange for so long, it's completely surreal to actually be living this experience, especially because it has completely surpassed my (incredibly high) expectations.

After a quick browse through Harrods, India and I headed to Notting Hill while Erika went to see some friends from her university at home. While I haven't seen the iconic film based in this location, India was devastated that some of her Notting Hill "must sees", namely the house with the blue door and the bookshop, had been turned into gift shops. Not defeated, we took lots of photos, ate some of the worst waffles we'd had in our lives, and then took the tube back to Oxford Street.

We finished the evening at a lovely Italian restaurant with Erika and her friends, before a massive rush back to the train station (we couldn't find a tube station!). But, of course, we had enough time to grab a few packets of lollies and chocolate before making it back to Brighton. We arrived back with the very ambitious idea of going clubbing but that idea was soon put to bed...and we followed it about 30 minutes later. Such a fantastic day - we saw so much and I can't wait to head back.