London for the weekend

Friday afternoon, Lauren and I rushed out of physics lab to catch our bus from Cardiff to London to visit a bunch of our Colgate friends!  What was supposed to be an easy 3.5 hour bus trip turned out to be a bit more complicated after our bus arrived to Cardiff 45 minutes late and took a lot longer than expected in the rain and Friday evening traffic.  We finally arrived at Victoria station and made it to Megan's flat in Russell Square around 10:30 pm.  Even though it was getting late at this point, we were still able to see Sarah, who was visiting from Madrid, and were happy to reunite with our other Colgate friends!

Megan, Lauren, me, Sarah, and Suzanne in Megan's flat.

Megan, Suzanne, Lauren, and I started Saturday with a run through nearby Regent's Park.  Lauren and I then enjoyed some coffee at a cafe and headed over to Suzanne's flat, where we also met up with her friend from home, Julie, who is visiting her for the week.  We all took the tube to Borough market, a historic gourmet food market, where we sampled a lot of delicious foods and bought some lunch.

Borough Market.

We made our way down the Thames and crossed the picturesque Tower Bridge, ending up at the Tower of London.

Me with the Tower Bridge in the background.

Although it was quite rainy the whole time, we had a great afternoon of exploring.

So happy I packed my umbrella!

We took the tube to Covent Garden, a popular area of cute shops, food, and street performers.  Suzanne has been talking up cookies from Ben's Cookies for a long time, so we finally tried some while we were at Covent Garden.  I had a white chocolate macadamia nut cookie and it definitely lived up to Suzanne's hype!  Also while in this area, we explored Seven Dials, a street junction at the edge of Covent Garden that is famous for its cute restaurants and thrift shops.

Suz and I posing as Julie uses the phone.

Covent Garden madness.

Enjoying the Seven Dials shops.

We made our way back to Megan's flat and then headed out for dinner with a big group of our townhouse-mates who are also on Colgate London programs for the semester!  We wanted to go to a pub but decided on Nando's, a UK chain, because of the size of our group.  We got some dessert at McDonald's (love those McFlurries!), went back to get ready, and then went out to a local student bar, "The Rocket".  So many kids from Colgate are in London for the semester and it seemed like every one of them were at "The Rocket" that night--so fun!

On Sunday, Lauren, Suzanne, Megan, Julie, and I walked down Oxford street to get to London's famous Hyde Park.  We saw the marble arch, the Peter Pan statue, and a few other classic Hyde Park sights I can't remember.  Unfortunately, the temperature dropped and it started to rain pretty hard, leaving us stranded on a residential side of Hyde Park where we actually couldn't find a cafe for shelter.  Well over 4 miles of walking into the day, we made it to Suzanne's friend, Allie's, flat where she treated us to some much needed hot tea and food.

Lauren and I outside Megan's flat.

A beautiful morning, making February look like spring!

Lauren and I took the tube back to Megan's, said our goodbyes, and made our way back to Victoria station to catch our 5 pm bus home.  Unfortunately, we also hit some troubles on our trip back when I realized I bought my return ticket for March 27 instead of February 27...but 10 pounds and a lot of stress later, I got on the bus and made it back to my flat in Cardiff before 9.  The weekend went by way too fast but it was so much fun!!!