My first trip to Europe happened in the summer of 2007; now ten years later, I was back again. However, the only place I stopped at again was London; therefore it inevitably made me draw comparisons.
I headed out to the station an hour early; the smug feeling lasted all about two minutes before I realized that going to the UK meant leaving the Schengen area, and therefore, Passport Control.
When we arrived, I realized why people called London gloomy - even during rainy days in most other places, the sun shines through in spots and there are moments of brightness. In London, the skies were depressingly grey and drab, and it made its surroundings appear grey as well.
The first stop was to grab an ankle brace from the nearby Boots. Lights change extremely quickly in the U.K., and coupled with my lame ankle and not being used to the cars being on the 'wrong side', I got beeped at a few times while making my way across.
Afterwards, I made my way to Borough Market for some lunch; true hunger shows when there is no photo evidence of my food. I stopped by a Caffe Nero to rest the ankle more before embarking on another walking adventure.
London Bridge, Houses of Parliament, Whitehall Gardens, Golden Jubilee Bridge, London Eye, and finally the perfect view of Big Ben (minus construction) from across the Westminster Bridge.
I made my way to Trafalgar Square and once I navigated my way through the traffic, I found myself amidst a bustling square with helicopters constantly hovering above.
While just sitting and enjoying the view of the fountain, there were suddenly yells and a young man was chased by security and police through the square. The man was caught and pinned to the ground, and I decided to make my exit.
The next stop was St. James Park. My ankle was protesting strongly at this point, so I sat on the grass and watched pigeons picking on each other for awhile. There were views of both Buckingham Palace and 10 Downing Street on either side of the lake, and after sufficient rest, I decided to head towards the palace.
The sun suddenly came out, but unfortunately, the road was angled in a way that made picture-taking nearly impossible. I decided to head back to the hostel and check in.
The original plan was to head to a cafe and then dinner, but I found myself resting for much longer and decided to have dinner at Berber & Q Shawarma Bar in Exmouth Market. This was my first time dining at a restaurant alone, and it definitely made me feel less intimidated about future solo eating adventures. The food was delicious and the perfect portion - but this was listed as 'cheap eats' in London, and factoring exchange rate and rate paid to convert money, it was nearly a $30 CAD dinner.
I made my way back to the hostel and then had quite an interesting experience with my new roommates. Let's just say I'm the type to quickly disengage as to not take sides when presented with silly arguments.
If you were curious about the dorky brace that seriously saved me, well... here you go.
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