London Take 2

London the second time around was a much more accurate depiction (I think) of what winter London weather is like. Except that it was almost April. When I was there in February it was about a million times better weather-wise, but the blizzard and the shut-down underground didn't stop us from getting everywhere we wanted to go during our 2-day stint there. 

We flew into Stansted again so it was like deja vu repeating the same process of going through customs, getting bus tickets, waiting at station 13 for the bus that goes to Liverpool street, getting to Liverpool and going down to the underground ticket office for day passes, and then navigating the subway to the city center (all of which I did with MC 3 weeks earlier). But our first stop in London? Portabello Road Market, a place Stephen and I hadn't made it to. The street goes on forever, selling antiques, baked goods, farmer's market items, souvenirs, and finally lunchtime stands with food from around the world at the end of the street. Once you buy your lunch you can sit inside in an open cafe area and listen to live music. Perfect spot to get away from the cold and still experience the market atmosphere which I love so much. And it was cold. The snow made it hard to see in front of you, and you didn't want to look up anyway because the wind would hit you in the face and make you shrink back into the scarf wrapped 3 times around your face and your tightly-cinched hood, leaving space for only your eyes to see out. That was basically me for the entire trip. I gave up on relying on peripherals for any kind of direction and just followed Kelsey's footsteps in front of me pretty much all week. 

I got a hot chocolate with my lunch but when I took the first sip I was overwhelmed with hazelnut flavoring. And even more, with actual little chunks of hazelnut in my hot chocolate. I used to love Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, but Europe is absolutely way too gung-ho about their hazelnut (and entirely too lacking in the cookie butter/peanut butter department). Everywhere you turn there's a Nutella-flavored dessert, and I am dead sick of it. So when I drank my hot chocolate expecting the normal flavor to soothe my freezing throat, I was instead choked by a thousand little pieces of this overused and abused nut. Not worth 4 GBP. But my Indian curry chicken wrap definitely was. Our next stop was the Natural History Museum and National Science Museum (interesting, yes, but mostly just in a heated building and free). 

Kels pondering one of life's greatest questions, "Who am I?" in the Science Museum

After we left the museums we walked down by the river, to St. Paul's Cathedral, over to Borough Market (which was a ghost town), by the Globe theater and the arts district, and then made our way back to Palmer's Lodge, our little cottage of a hostel, and had some hot tea before bed. Kelsey wasn't feeling great and only wanted a banana and to go to bed early, but Caroline had her mind set on sushi for dinner so I walked with her to Me Love Sushi for her to order something to-go (for take-away). Why didn't I get anything to take-away, you ask? Well because the doughnut lady at Portabello market was yelling "50 pents a piece!" for all her baked goods, so I bought the biggest jelly filled powdered sugar doughnut and carrot cake slice I've ever seen. And then proceeded to devour them both. And unfortunately Kelsey took plenty of pictures of me to document the entire process of first trying to save some, realizing it would get squished within my many layers of clothes, and making the executive decision to stuff my face until it was gone. WELL. All in the past. We hit the hay early and woke up all feeling much more ready to embrace the weather and take on London bright and early. Except I didn't wake up as rested as I probably could have had I not been awakened countless times during the night by my bunk mates (who just so happened to be overzealous Asians, whispering about who knows what). It was my first real hostel experience so I assumed this is probably something I can expect from any type of room I might stay in. But I did learn one thing: If you lock your stuff up in a locker when you go to bed, don't accidentally lock your room key up too. When you wake up early in the morning having to go to the bathroom and then remember you need to unlock the locker, uncover the key, and then book it down the hall, it makes for a rather annoying way to start the day). And maybe it was something to do with staying here, or my bathroom fiasco, or maybe something totally different, but I woke up for good around 8 am sobbing! My dream had been so sad that I woke up with actual tears running down my face. It was the strangest thing, and I ate my continental breakfast of cereal turned oatmeal and "orange juice" rather solemnly. But you know what they say, out of sight out of mind. Today was going to be a full day! We bought a day pass for the subway and were going to get our money's worth out of it, so we took the underground to Buckingham Palace, walked through Hyde Park (the same walk Stephen and I did just 3 weeks earlier, so hard to believe), and after setting our minds to finding crunch Cookie Butter, searched grocery story after grocery store in hopes of finding some for our train ride later. No such luck. 

Did you guys plan your outfits, C?

And because it was still early Sunday morning, so many places were closed. We resorted to warming up in a McDonalds where I ordered coffee for the first time in Europe. Ehh, I could take it or leave it. We trained to Picadilly Circus, then to Camden Market where we sampled and had a great lunch (Jamaican chicken and vegetables), and then made our way to our final destination: the biggest Whole Foods in the world. 3 stories. An entire escalator for your cart to ride. 2 full isles dedicated to Yoga. An unreal salad and hot bar. Delectable hummus samples and a woman making dark chocolate in front of your eyes, to try for free. It was one of our more brilliant ideas to get a salad to-go to have for the train ride that night. After exploring the store front to back, we purchased our salads, went back to the hostel to grab our stuff, and left for Kings Cross Train Station. 

Biscoff spread and banana crepe, no filling...interesting choice?

We had a table for the three of us, and our fourth seat partner, Mandy, a middle aged cruise agent from a small suburb in England, was the best company for our 5-hour ride to Edinburgh. We ended up chatting the entire time, asking each other stupid questions about each other's cultures and countries, the truth to any stereotypes we've heard of, what our daily lives are like...really anything and everything. I think it was the first time I've talked to someone abroad who was actually interested in hearing about aspects of my life in the States. It generally is a one-way questionnaire. And our salads were just as good as we had hoped. We arrived in Edinburgh by 9:30 and walked to our hostel, the Calcedonian Backpackers. It was definitely a polar opposite feel from our previous Swiss cottage- punk rock graffiti and boldly colored abstract art plastered to every wall and a 24/7 bar- but it was so close to the station and we were grateful to have beds to crash into. 

Blissfully enjoying the scenery, not dealing with Ryan Air, and looking forward to our salad bar concoctions (which tasted just like a little bit of home)...Kels, aren't you glad your bag of handy dandy nuts made it into the shot?

Our little nook with our new friend

My 10 GBP (and maybe 10 pound) salad

A sample of the images that covered every wall in every common room, bathroom, bedroom and hallway in our hostel. To anyone who's been to Tijuana Flats in Sarasota, Florida before, think that environment x 100.