London Round Two

Friday, we ended up waking up later than we wanted to. I made the decision to book my chunnel ticket to Paris for next weekend. I’m still not sure whether or not this was a smart idea since I can only go for one night, but I am determined to make it worth it. We got the afternoon train into London with the boys and checked into our hotel, Twenty Nevern Square, in Kensington. After making the decision (not mine exactly) not to buy DJ Tiesto tickets, we took the tube to Covent Garden. We walked around a little, went inside the market, and then up to a balcony bar to watch a street performance. Jack and his friend met us for a drink. I asked a few girls where we should get dinner locally and they told us Zizzi was inexpensive and had great Italian food. Dinner was a lot of fun and afterwards, we stopped by the Jack’s LSE dorm to have a quick drink. Of course, it got to be later than we had planned on and by the time we reached Victoria Park, Tiesto had finished performing. We ended up running into Andrew and some guys from our program. They joined us and we all went to a London School of Economics party sponsored at some club. It turned out to be a late night and we made our way back to the hotel, escorted by the guys. I loved hanging out with some of the other guys on our program that I honestly probably never would have gotten the chance to otherwise. They were so sweet to make sure we got back okay.
Saturday, we woke up and quickly checked out. We took our bags to the Paddington train station and headed to a local Lebanese place for lunch in Knightsbridge. Next, we stopped at Harrods and Topshop. After some retail therapy, we took the tube over to the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The weather was perfect, so we sat on a bench and enjoyed the views along the water. We called it a day and headed back to Oxford to go out for Ryan’s 21st birthday. We started out at the Kings Arms and met up with a bunch of people on our program. This was my first Saturday night actually out in Oxford. Afterwards we walked over to The Bridge, one of the big nightclubs in town. I’d say Ryan had a successful birthday night.
Sunday, Steph and I had a lunch-date at The Living Room, a more upscale restaurant. We sat outside and had amazing iced coffees and eggs benedict. I’ve really been enjoying her company and figuring out what we have been learning about ourselves. We walked around town some more, checked out the store Primark, and came back to the house. Once again, the weekend and going out took a pretty big toll on me. Although I was a little disappointed that I hadn’t quite seen everything on my original agenda, I’ve accepted the fact that I can’t see it all. London is just so huge that it is nearly impossible to. I am glad that I have figured out the tube system and the layout of the city much better. I’m also learning how important it is to make set plans. It is always so much more difficult to stick to them when trying to accommodate a group of people. That’s why I wouldn’t mind travelling with just one other person...who knows, maybe someday I'll have a husband to with.