London

February 19th to 22nd

Aaaaah! LONDON is so AWESOME

So Lisa, Kathy, Chris and I took a weekend trip Thursday to Sunday. Though the weather wasn't amazing, we were lucky to get less rain than was forecasted. Let's go through the photos shall we :D

THURSDAY 

So our flight to London from Strasbourg left at 1:20 pm so we did not eat lunch thinking we should wait until we can eat awesome food from the metropolitan. The flight lasted a little over an hour and then there was train to take to the southern part of the Gatwick Airport, then there was another train to the city center and then we needed to switch twice on the Underground. Holy moly... by the time we got to our hotel in the Bethnal Green area it was 4 or 5 pm in Strasbourg we were STARVING. But we found the PERFECT place:

NICO'S DINER taadaa

A cool neighbourhood diner that serves waaaay too much food, and clearly receives that same clientèle every day. They were super kind! I had a hard time remembering to order and think in English. It has happened that I excused myself in French if I bumped into anyone from habit in Strasbourg, and also in Montreal.

Legit happiness

Photo creds : Kathy

(nope Chris you don't get anything, jokes jokes, we were too busy eating to take a picture of his food)

Can you see how happy we are to see food oh my gawd

This was legitimate English food and there were real vegetables

aaaaaahmazing

The waitress was surprised how much we finished. To be honest, so was I....

Our first tourist stop was the St-Paul's Cathedral. The first Anglican Church I visited in Europe.

Photo creds : Kathy

We used the Underground/Tube/Metro to get there (and everywhere else during our trip)

It was surprising how it was busy during all times of the day and how intricate the underground halls and passages were. Thanks goodness for signage or else we would have been completely lost.

Photo creds : Kathy

St-Paul's Back

St-Paul's Front

The view from St-Paul's Front

Inside, the choir was singing. The acoustic of the building made it seem as if the voices were coming from the walls: very angelic. We couldn't take pictures indoors but it was very different from the other cathedrals; the walls were all white, there was strong lighting, the shapes were rounder and the building gave us less of an impression of being cripplingly small.

We continued on to have a little stroll to the London Bridge

LoNdOn BrIdGe is falling down, falling down... oh wait I shouldn't be singing this when I am standing on it.

So the London Bridge gives a good view of the Tower Bridge

Photo creds : Kathy

Photo creds : Kathy

Photo creds : Kathy

 And a good view of the Shard (supposedly the tallest building in London)

People in London are busy and bustling by (not to mention it was raining). It was hard to get up the nerve to disturb someone to take a group picture but we finally got it and it was worth it :)

FRIDAY

 No raaaaaaaain woot!!

We started our day off at the Camden Market (and we were tempted to end it there. So much to see, so much fun!)

Photo creds : Kathy

Off we go!

First we thought it was this super touristy, commercial street 

but little did we know...

this was coming!

It looks small, but it is quite extensive on the inside and there are way more structures behind it.

This is the inside of the large building. Mostly artisanal stalls and specialty goods. Pretty cool. Pretty hipster. Pretty much me. Pretty busy, so we were happy we went on a Friday and not a weekend. 

Photo creds : Kathy

Photo creds : Kathy

We should have taken more pictures, but we were too busy being awestruck by how cool this place is

I bought headbands from a cutsie stall. The seller was Korean :D So I spoke to her in Korean and she gave me a good deal and a free head band :))

There were also many thrift stores.

Then...there was this store

Apparently not the only one out there, It has alien-like clothing and items and there is futuristic technomusic playing super loud. I can't image wearing anything from in there, but London is a fashion town, so there all kinds of styles, which we saw walking around town.

As much as there were shopping stalls there were food stalls. Actually, that's false, there were definitely a lot less food stalls... Thursday was Chinese New Year (恭禧發財!), so I had to have "Chinese Food" (quotes expressing how not legit it is :P but in terms of Westernised Chinese food, it was very legit) 

Chicken, chicken, more chicken, noodles

Then came time for DESSERT (the best meal of the day)

This cake shop was too cute to bypass 

Photo creds : Kathy

Photo creds : Kathy

Meet our new friends (they unfortunately could not stay long) 

Left clockwise to front: Chocolate-Fudge Cake, Raisin Scone (with cream and jam), Cherry Cheesecake, Chocolate-Pear Torte

Photo creds : Kathy

Earlier we found a Retro Photobooth and took ridiculous pictures

Photo creds : Kathy

So much excitement! (Just waiting for Kathy and me to stop taking pictures so they could dig in)

We finally decided to leave the market and see the rest of London :'( 

Photo creds : Kathy

Goodbye Camden Town

Hello Tate Modern

We went to the museum of modern art because we are so cultured

Photo creds : Kathy

Yes, Lisa explain to us the concepts of nets and feeling trapped 

Photo creds : Kathy

*Ponder, ponder, ponder*

Photo creds : Kathy

Photo creds : Kathy

This shape painted on the wall is art

Something about not noticing it at first then it becoming blatantly apparent

 Photo creds : Kathy

After an hour of art we ventured back into the outdoors to walk to the most touristy destinations.

Photo creds : Kathy

Our view from the Tate Modern

Photo creds : Kathy

We crossed the Thames with this pedestrian bridge

That leads to St-Paul's Cathedral

(haha Chris)

Photo creds : Kathy

Photo creds : Kathy

We had a good view of London Bridge and Tower Bridge

While strolling along the Thames towards Big Ben, we passed many of these bike stations which are exactly like the Bixi's in Montreal. They are probably more successful in London...

Photo creds : Kathy

It's approaching!!

 Tum tum

Taadaa

Our best group picture!

The rest of the parliament buildings :)

We also saw Westminster Abbey right next to them... and somehow decided not to take a picture heheh...I think it was just to busy and full of tourists so it was difficult to just stop

NEXT STOP 

Piccadilly Circus (not a circus -___- just a circular square)

 London's kinda "Time Square" 

Selfie!

We walked to Oxford Circus for which I also have no pictures :(

The walking pooped us out so Kathy and Lisa went home for a nap and Chris and I went for a snack

at Central & Co. (fancy fancy)

Duck croquettes, blackberry compote

Grilled peach, burrata & cured British ham

Sauteed prawns, mango, mint, mooli

* I would like to mention that they had poutine on the menu...

We shopped a bit in the Oxford area before we went back to the hotel for our nap

But first we got attracted to the big blue lights that ended up being the BBC building :O

But we couldn't go in

We tried to go clubbing in Shoreditch but we arrived passed 2 am and all the clubs were closing at 3... So we had a nice late night stroll is all.

SATURDAY

We woke up nice and early (9am) to catch the changing guard at Buckingham Palace

But first we went back to NICO'S DINER!! for an English Breakfast (beans and everything) (so hungry we did not take pictures)

Photo creds : Kathy

Buckingham Palace

We made it just on time to catch the changing guard 

 I tried to take a selfie in front of the palace, but this fabulous male is grabbing all the attention

So many people...

From the palace we walked to Trafalgar Square

Lisa is workin it

Photo creds : Kathy

Walking towards the London Eye, I got lazy so I hitched a ride 

Photo creds : Kathy

 The London Eye (which we did not ride because... money)

Photo creds : Kathy

Photo creds : Kathy

View of the parliament buildings

We're on another bridge!

More walking.......

To the Tower Bridge!

Photo creds : Kathy's camera, Picture by Lisa

But first, let's take a selfie!

Photo creds : Kathy's camera, Picture by Lisa

YUSS! My Asian is rubbing off

ASIAN INVASION

Look at these cool kids

Photo creds : Kathy

View from this side of the bridge

Photo creds : Kathy

Finally a close up of the Tower Bridge

We went to Leicester Square in the hopes of finding a cheap show to see that night

Instead we found ICE CREAM

Häagen Dazs omnomnom!

That evening we decided to find a Karaoke bar (because Strasbourg is devoid of any decent ones) but the bar we found was not hosting it that night. It's called Birdcage. So hipster. Great mood. We have no pictures.

SUNDAY

Goodbye London :'(

I had a look at the view we had from our hotel room's balcony for the first time haha

6:50 am glow

you can see the Shard on the left

Our flight was at 10:20 so we left early

Goodbye Nico's Diner

We got home safe, missing the hustle and bustle of a big city, but also relieved from it.