21 October 2014
Hej hej from London, England! Erik and I had a fabulous time exploring for the past few days. We spent the entire first day on foot and covered 11 miles worth of London. We stayed with an awesome guy named Henry through Airbnb in Battersea. During our first morning we walked over to King’s Street, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, London Eye, and to afternoon tea at Brown’s Hotel. Thanks so much to Erik’s mom for sponsoring eftermiddagste for us :) The food was delicious, the tea was amazing, and of course I finally fulfilled my childhood dream of having a real life tea party. Here’s some pics from that morning’s adventures!
After tea, we continued exploring the city. We walked to Hyde Park and walked around the lake. It was absolutely beautiful! Then we walked up to Baker Street to visit the home of Sherlock Holmes. It is helpful to note that before this trip I wasn’t a huge Sherlock Holmes enthusiast. On the first night here, we were quite exhausted from travel, so Erik and I watched the first episode of HBO’s Sherlock Holmes with Benedict Cumberbatch. I got instantly hooked, and was quite delighted to visit 221b Baker Street the next day.
On Monday, we did a little bit less walking. We started off the day with some shopping on Kings Street. We finished off the afternoon with Chipotle (Erik’s first time and I was having withdrawals), visiting Shakespeare’s Globe, the Tower of London, the London Bridge, and of course the Tower Bridge. As it began to rain, we scurried home to watch another episode of Sherlock Holmes and rest before dinner :)
On our last day, we went to a super adorable cafe called Kaffeine. I found it on a Buzzfeed list of cafes around the world you must visit before you die. I’ve made it a personal goal to visit all the cafes on this list. I’ve already been to Drop Coffee (Stockholm), Blue Bottle (SF), and now Kaffeine (London). Thinking about visiting all those coffee shops makes me want to start another blog about coffee. I think my coffee journey started like many others. The summer after my freshman year of college I worked at Cisco Systems in the Bay Area. My whole team drank coffee and so it seemed like a good idea for me to start. I wanted to fit in with them and join in on their coffee convos in the break area. Coffee by itself tasted horrible, so I would mix 1/2 of a packet of hot chocolate, coffee, and milk in a cup… Poor woman’s mocha :P Today, I still always put milk in my coffee, but I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t always put sugar in. I don’t see myself becoming a “black coffee drinker.” There is something really soothing about drinking coffee with milk. Anywho, if I decide to start a coffee blog, I’ll be sure to let you all know.
After Kaffeine, Erik and I met up with his Aunt + family at Kings Cross Station. They just happened to be in London at the same time! What a happy coincidence. You know what’s also at Kings Cross Station? Platform 9 3/4. Woop woop. Turns out Erik and I both were chosen to be in Ravenclaw by the sorting hat, and we were off to Hogwarts for the rest of the semester! (We wish!)
Overall, the trip was absolutely amazing. Erik and I had so much fun exploring. The weather was awesome, and it was quite beautiful. I’m not quite sure London is a place I’d ever want to live, but it is definitely a fun place to visit :) Sweden is starting to get colder and darker which is making me miss home a little bit more than before. Luckily I have travels, friends, school, and Erik to keep my mind off of that. To all of you back home though, I miss you lots <3. xoxox
PS: I forgot to explain why I chose, “We all live in a yellow submarine” as the title this week. One could simply say it’s because Yellow Submarine is my favorite Beatles song… and I spent the weekend in London… but that would be too simple. Turns out there’s big news over here in Stockholm, Sweden. The Swedish government speculates that a Russian submarine has been exploring the depths of the Stockholm Archipelago. No one knows for sure, but the Swedish military is out and about looking for the thing. Don’t worry, I’m safe. I can say that I have no interntions of taking anymore boat trips in the Baltic Sea anytime soon though… better safe than sorry. Read more in the link below!
