Taking part in London's spring

After a fun and tiring adventure Friday on our way back to London from Ireland we met up with Kylie at the Generator. We got all dolled up for a party that was being put on in our hostel, definitely the place to be in London :) We met so so so many people on account of so many of them being stuck in London and being too broke to do anything else. Our favorite bunch we met was surprisingly a group of Germans. We danced the night away, or at least tried to with the Germans and Australians.

Saturday we found out that our flight was cancelled for the next morning so we began to look at plan B. That only took a moment though after finding out that a train ticket would be 300 pounds. We decided to wait out the volcano and enjoy our extra time in London. Kylie had gotten a walking tour route of things to see by a native Londonan so we headed out on the positively sunny Saturday morning with our hearts ready for adventure. We saw the city from a different point of view, we went to a very busy square with live music and soooooo many people in it. It was probably my favorite time in London. I bought some salads from a vendor and found a spot on a curb to enjoy my lunch and the guitar players sound and voice. We headed back to the hostel to figure out plans for the rest of the night. We decided to get all dressed up and go down to Piccadilly Square because we figured it would be the happening place to be, it sort of was, but we were so hungry and a little broke we ended up just going to McDonalds having dinner and people watching. Back at the hostel we met more new friends, these ones were from Australia.

After getting over our initial annoyance and disappointment of being stuck in London with pretty much no way to leave, we planned a fun Sunday. I found out about Camden Market. It was a part of London that had several discount stores and open air markets. We bought fun little things like jewelry and trinkets. Lunch was my favorite part of being at the market. There were so many different types of food from all different countries, made by people native to the country. With all that at hand picking what to have for lunch was the hardest decision of my trip! I went with a smoked salmon salad made by the cutest 20 something year old. He did everything himself, from smoking huge pieces of salmon to making his own dressing. Mmmmm... best meal I have had in so long. After lunch we split up in twos. Kylie and I continued exploring the market. We found the perfect tea parlor to have tea in and take pictures for Rebecca (she wanted me to have tea in a pretty dress, in a picture perfect place in England) it was so much fun and I happened to be wearing my dress. I had wild rose tea with real rose buds in it :) For dinner we went across the street to a grocery store and bought a bunch of very fresh fruit for super cheap and had a fruit feast together. Kylie and I then went and explored London for a few hours. We ended up in a Claire's and had a giggly good time.

Monday I woke up grumpy and wanting to be by myself and with a book. So I didn't buy an underground pass for the day. As a group we found a used book store called Skoobs! (brilliant, books spelled backwards). I found a brand new ESV bible for 20 pounds cheaper than any of the older bibles there and I promptly realized it as a gift and bought it. I then parted from the group and just hung out at the park and read. It was so lovely. I then went to bed early and woke up Tuesday a happy girl :)

I had really wanted to see Wicked since I was a freshman in college, so Kylie encouraged me to go see it in London. We went out in the morning in search of cheap tickets and ended up getting what we thought were going to be decent seats for 25 pounds each. We then split up and I went back to Camden Market with Jordyn to buy a few more little things and then we went to Kensington Gardens and just sat in the beauty of spring. When we got back we all helped each other get ready for the play. Everyone looked so beautiful. We got the theater and found out that we were as far back as you could get. We decided that we would move to empty seats at intermission, but as soon as the lights dimmed the audience from the balcony rushed the open seats. We refused to be left out of this London activity so we too grabbed our things and ran for the best open seats. The play was so beautiful, I cried through the opening scene all the way to the closing one. I believe it was a combination of my prior connection to the music, the fact that I was finally seeing it, the actors fabulous voices, and my heart missing a few girls who I really wished could have seen it with me. Overall it made my London trip.

Wednesday was our last day in London. Jordyn, Stephanie and I decided to spend the day in Kensington Gardens with our books and spring exploding all around us, definitely a perfect choice. We found the Peter Pan statue, so many beautiful flowers, and a beautiful pond. It was the perfect way to end an extra long vacation. We headed to the airport at 7:30pm to spend the night there before our flight was scheduled to fly out at 6:55am. Everything went well, we slept as well as expected in an airport and made our ways safely back to our own parts of Germany.

Our extra time there was a blessing, I was able to really see London. I cannot express what a world of good it did me to be around kind, English speaking people for 12 days. I shed a few tears on the way back to Garmisch hearing the harsh German and having my smiles returned by smug looks, but hey I was given a fabulous break :)