danie and i had this whole trip super planned out so our itinerary was pretty packed with all the instagram worthy sports. the first morning in london we went to farm girl in notting hill. farm girl is so cute from the building to the menu everything is styled to perfection and made for the best pictures! also farm girl was TASTY. i had the farm omelette and a butterfly latte. farm girl is focused around clean, organic eating - my omelette was fresh with micro greens and cherry tomatoes on sourdough toast, my butterfly latte was made with blue matcha and almond milk - it was so good! they also provide you with cucumber infused water - which is a big deal for an American traveler that never pays for water back in the states! danie got a liquid gold latte and the farm salad - seemed like a normal salad to me, but i did love her latte. really loved farm girl and recommend it through and through!
after brunch we walked around portobello road, which is another big recommendation of mine - i could have spent the whole trip walking around notting hill and portobello road. it is such a unique and creative area. everything is so walkable in the area, perfect for photo-ops, and packed with good shops and food stops. we were there during a time where tons of street vendors were set up, so that was super neat to see! the street vendors weren't bothersome like some you may have encountered before - from antiques to jewelry to produce we saw it all. after a stroll around portobello road we were off to kings cross station!! i LOVE Harry Potter and danie claims she does to and i believe her BUT i'd say my love for the culture is a bit more intense. haha. i've had a mad crush on daniel radcliffe a.k.a harry potter from the beginning, so deep i've dedicated school projects to him. it's true love. naturally i wanted to check off all of the harry potter spots off, first was platform 9 & 3/4. honestly i had no idea how much of a tourist destination this fake train platform was, i had seen pictures but just assumed they had slapped the sign on an empty column in the station, but nope - there is a whole shop and photo experience to be had. i for sure got emotional waiting in line to take the iconic photo running into the wall! i did dress in a Gryffindor, but i will say that i'm a scorpio and my personality is ultimately a Slytherin hahah - but when in london i will be a Gryffindor! i had a lovely time taking my photo and shopping in the store - obviously bought the print and digital image of my photo as well as some souvenirs and the most amazing sweatshirt. i can't even imagine how emotional and excited i will be when i make it to Harry Potter world in Orlando, Florida someday... we took a break after all of the harry potter love and then explored oxford street, london bridge, tower bridge, and millennium bridge (Harry Potter!!!). i grew up by a cool bridge so i just have a thing for a good bridge and river. tower bridge was so awesome to see and walk across, but millennium bridge was so cool getting to see and be on! we were so hungry after touring the bridges, we stumbled upon a vapiano and i took danie's word that it was good (i'm a little bit of an italian snob ever since i studied abroad in italy). boy was it so good though, it made us both happier haha. we decided to take an underground train from a station nearby, but a little bit away so that we could go by st. paul's cathedral - where Princess Diana got married! wow is st. paul's nothing but gorgeous, and huge. it was so great to see such a huge landmark during a more hush time of day, it was so peaceful. we also stopped by some phone booths and took the iconic picture. honestly the phone booths were a little underwhelming in my opinion - they are certainly neat, but not well maintained. maybe that doesn't pertain to all phone booths though! overall a classic and must-do though. we took the metro back to our airbnb and called it a night. -britney
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so i went to London! thanks to a steal roundtrip ticket on Kayak.com i was able to scurry away to the UK. really it was such a whirlwind trip. i got the ticket only three days before my flight departed (YIKES) which left me only a couple of days to outfit plan (omg) and pack. my sweet pup of over 15 years also passed away just hours before my flight which left my heart broken and conflicted on if this trip was even possible for me to take on.
i departed early from STL to Toronto (except that we sat on the plane for three hours due to mechanical malfunctions in STL), upon arrival in Toronto we witnessed a plane engulfed in flames on the tarmac (not ideal). my then three hour layover left me with a newfound appreciation of Tim Hortons and i was off to Heathrow! on that flight i was squished between a nice, but inquisitive lady and an unaccompanied minor who watched questionably mature movies throughout the flight... airplane food sucks. upon arrival to Heathrow and my passing through the customs line i had to hop on the tube (metro) to get to actual London, but the station at the airport was closed due to a fire inside the tube station. i had to take the overground to Paddington station where i waited for my friend (she had been on a UK tour before starting class the upcoming week at Kensington) to arrive so that we could commute together to our airbnb near Russell Square. once my friend arrived we contacted our airbnb host, but had to sit in a cafe for several hours waiting - this was not great since i had not showered in almost 36 hours and we both had luggage with us. after waiting and having lunch we made our way to our airbnb (which was a great experience, such a sweet host and nicely kept apartment). i showered and we made plans to go to Notting Hill to explore, get Indian food for dinner, and bubble tea for dessert. we literally just googled the best Indian restaurant in Notting Hill and went there. it was delicious, but hilarious because there was no one there besides two tables in the front of the restaurant and yet we were sat RIGHT beside one of full tables (the host had to physically move the entire table so that we could sit down) out of the entire restaurant. but really it was so good and Indian cuisine is so popular in London, i was so excited to try it out! after dinner we walked around Notting Hill some more, got some bubble tea and took pictures. Notting Hill was one of my favorite areas of London - it was so homey, clean, and colorful. we headed back to the airbnb to rest up before our next day adventuring in London! -britney |
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