seekingmygreaterperhaps

LONDON!!!!

Today I spent the day in London, I am lucky enough to have visited this lovely city twice before, so on this visit, I wanted to try some new things… or at least see some different boroughs.

I started the day walking along Marlyebone High Street, which is home to cute (and some expensive) shops and cafes. I went into Anthropologie because, while I follow them on Pinterest, I’ve never actually seen there items in the flesh… and I didn’t want to touch anything, because there was a necklace for over 180 pounds. I quickly left and moved on, where I found Cath Kidstone. It’s similar and her stuff is full of cute patterns. I bought myself an update scrunchie. Yep- the inner 90s kid prevails.

Later on I went to The Wallace Collection. Aunt Terri recommended it, and it’s this huge house that is full of really old art, tapestries, antique furniture, and you know, an armoury. Every room was decorated differently, and each room had a theme. The master galley (seen below) was quite an impressive addition.

This is only 1 room. The others weren’t as big, but that is not to say they weren’t as glamorous.

They just don’t make armour like they used to.

This is me standing in front of the Wallace Collection.

Afterward, I made my way up to Little Venice. It’s a place with canals surrounded by outstanding homes. Since it was cold and gross out, as is standard for London during this season, there was hardly any activity. I did however see a tiny girl on a scooter almost run into a tree, so that was definitely worth the trip.

At this point I was hungry, so I made it back to Marylebone High St to eat lunch. There I had some baked eggs with chorizo and a cinnamon and apple steeper. What I got was not exactly what I expected. I thought I was ordering some kind of tea. While it was a hot beverage, it was just hot water with cinnamon and apples floating in it- and it still tasted delicious. The eggs came in these mini skillets and were just fried eggs, which I ate on toast. It’s funny how, even though I speak this language fluently, I still don’t know what I’m going to eat. Foreshadowing for future countries?

There was still some time before I met Aunt Terri, so I just kept walking. I walked on Old Bond St. and New Bond St. These are the locations of the top tier shops- like Chanel, Fendi, DeBiers diamonds, Tiffany’s, etc. At each of these places there are two doorman… who will open the doors for you if you are shopping there. Since I clearly couldn’t afford any of these, I just window gawked.

Making my way to Trafalgar Square, I returned to my favorite lion statues. 3 years ago I almost got hit by a car at this location, and I am happy to report I had no such repeat incidents.

My lion friend.

After quite a long time of people watching, I was cold, so I went into the National Gallery to hang out with Degas, Monet, Van Gogh, you know- my bros. It’s nice to be able to go into a free musuem and just sit. Currently they have an exhibition on Peder Balke, a painter I had never heard of, but went to see. His work is awesome, and it’s a lot about cliffs and oceans. It’s purty. Ha.

Before meeting up with Aunt Terri again, I headed to the South Bank to catch the famous glimpse of Big Ben and the London Eye. There I chatted with this guy from Algiers. Upon finding out I was from America, he asked if I had ever been help up at gunpoint by gangsters. I had to laugh- no sir, not in my America.

Aunt Terri and I had dinner at Pepe- which was Italian Street food, before we went to see a theatre show! She treated me to The Scottsboro Boys, which was a musical about the 9 black boys in the 1930s in the US who were falsely accused of raping a white girl. If you know history, it’s not a happy ending. But the musical was incredibly well done. The actors were fantastic. It was a cast of 13 people, and the only set pieces were chairs, which they would move arond to form sets, and paired with lighting, they made it work. It was really incredible.

I was hesitant to go back into London because I had already been a tourist there before. Boy was I wrong, and gladly so. I’m so thankful. Farewell for now!