A Successful Adventure!

So after an early morning meeting and a few hours of rest (we had a late night) a few of us decided to break out of our little Kensington bubble and explore London. If you know me and my sense of direction, you'll be surprised to find out that I was the navigator, but it's true! Before we left, I looked over the map and found a few iconic, free landmarks that were relatively close to each other and to Tube stations. 

So with a surprisingly large group, we met up and headed out for Picadilly Circus. Despite the dreary England weather, we had a good time shooting photos and being typical American tourists. From there, it was only a short walk to Trafalgar's Square and the fantastic giant lion statues! Unfortunately, it was a bit misty and rainy, so the statues were extremely slippery and I was embarrassingly unable to climb up for a picture, but I am determined to try again when it's dry. 

From Trafalgar's Square, we wandered down to Buckingham Palace! It was a pleasant walk, though I think I'm going to in great shape after this semester - there are so many places to walk in London! Anyway, more photos were taken and we were very clearly tourists but we'd decided that as a group, we couldn't help it and we might as well embrace it, at least for the first month or so of the trip. 

At that point, we had run out of solid plan, but weren't ready to head back. My roommate Sammie had wanted to stop by Primark, which we'd heard was a cross between Target and Forever 21. 

Since we were all getting a bit hungry, we first found our way to Nando's, a British fast food place we'd heard about. We were all incredibly surprised when we got there! We'd expected something set up like our McDonalds, but instead we were seated in our own alcove, practically a private room, but distinctly more booth-like. I know one of the other girls took a picture, so I'm hoping to get ahold of that later. We placed our orders at a counter and they brought them to our table. The restaurant seemed mostly focused on chicken, but had a few other interesting options as well. Every sandwich option could be a wrap, burger, or pita style. Overall, a fantastic experience!

Once we found our way to Primark, we discovered that it was HUGE! 4 floors of huge. It was mainly clothes and fashion, with a few odds and ends such as pillows. Even better, everything felt very reasonably priced and was super cute. So I know where I'll be shopping if I need replacement clothes. 

Now that we've gotten out of our little area, the city doesn't feel quite so big and scary, and I'm looking forward to planning a few more of these excursions. It made me really happy to sort of head up this group and make this adventure happen. I have a few others in mind and can't wait to share. Before I go, allow me to leave you with one of my favorite pictures I took today, it felt very London-y to me!