Day 5: Walking Tour of London and Rambling On.

Hello! Sorry for not posting yesterday, time got away from me and I was in a bit of a yucky mood to be honest. I will try to write a make up post tonight. 

Today was exactly how I pictured London. Cold, windy, and rainy. In the morning, I had orientation about basic things pertaining to the program and London. 

At 2 pm we ( as in me and the others in my program) departed from our dorm building for a walking tour. Now, keep in mind there is about 35 of us not including our two directors. So, we probably looked ridiculous walking around.

 We made our way through Russell Square towards The British Museum. Fun Fact: Russell Square was the meeting place of the Bloomsbury Group which was made up of very important writers (Such as Virginia Woolf).They would meet on Thursdays to discuss important matters and such. Being an English major I thought this was really cool. And I am pretty sure no one else knew who he was talking about. But, that's alright. 

In the Museum, we only went through three of the "bigger" exhibits super fast. The museum wasn't very busy. Take note Monday afternoons are a great time to go to this museum. By the time we were walking out, it was raining very steadily. It was only about 5 minutes to Covent Garden though. 

I opted for my packable down coat (which isn't good for walking in the rain for 2 hours, by the way). A little outfit of the day mirror selfie. Sadly, Maggie was at class so there was no proper picture. I have literally just inserted this in the middle of my post, I am sorry. 

I bought these boots from h&m. I feel like they are a cross between Doc Martens and a pair of Chelsea Boots. They were super comfortable and warm today considering I spent quite a while in the rain. 10/10 for you h&m. (I just went on their website to try and find a link for them but was unsuccessful. Soz)

I don't know if my sister reads my blog, but this is her shirt. She doesn't know I took it. (Mom said you don't wear it. Sorry) This is how she is finding out I took it. Awkward. My make up looked great today. But I didn't take a close up picture. I feel like I am talking to myself when I write these things. Anyways, I had to pull my hair up yet again because of the wind. This seems to be a trend. At least it looks okay (I hope). 

This is what I wear outside. I tend to hold my handbag as though someone is trying to steal it from me. One can never be too cautious. Don't worry Mom, I put a scarf on after I took the picture. 

Well, getting back to the walking tour. It was indeed all walking as one might assume. After the museum, we walked to Covent Garden. Which is probably a ten minute walk from where I live. This is somewhere that I know many Londoners recommend walking around. I would agree. It was very cute and there were tons of little cafes and such. I passed one cake shop that had their pastries displayed in the window. It looked very yummy. I think Maggie and I may go back tomorrow. 

Luckily I wore my coat with a hood so I didn't deal with my umbrella. Others ,however ,did not have hoods. This would be why there are umbrellas in many of my pictures. I apologize in advance. 

I would like to crop this picture but can't figure out how. Our tour guide said this is the best place to get fish and chips. Fun Fact: that's the front of his hat in the right hand side of the picture. He was super lovely and very knowledgeable. 

I took this picture for two reasons. The first being that the Christmas decorations are still up, but not lit. The second being that there was a Crocs store which reminded me of my Dad. He loves crocs. Hi Dad. 

This is the Covent Garden Market. It used to be a vegetable market. Fun Fact: It used to be called "Convent Garden" because there were nuns who grew the vegetables. 

I took this picture because I wanted to show everyone who is buried up to their necks in snow right now that everywhere in London is still green. It pretty much looks like spring, but feels like a fall/winter day. That man looked at me weirdly after I took the photo.

This is a street lamp that still runs on gas. Not too many of them left, so obviously I took a picture. These buildings were very cool too. 

He also said that this alleyway is featured in a few of the Harry Potter films. I have sort of watched a few of the Harry Potter films, so if you recognize this... that is very cool and I'm glad. These buildings are pretty much offices now for producers, directors, and casting agents. 

A lovely shot of some shops and umbrellas. Side note: it is very hard to see anything when you are surrounded by umbrellas. I wouldn't advise it. 

After Covent Garden, we headed towards Trafalgar Square. It also started to rain very hard just as we were walking there, so taking pictures was difficult. I plan on going back to all these places when it isn't raining. Or, is raining less. 

This is a statue of Henry Irving. He was the actor who made Shakespeare famous. He was also the basis for the physique of Dracula (by Bram Stoker). I thought this was very cool and exciting because I have actually read that novel. This statue is situated behind the National Gallery which is filled with artwork. The National Gallery is massive and beautiful (oh what a surprise, I know). 

If you look past all of those people with umbrellas, there is a giant blue cock (as the tour guide said). This statue changes every year (?). He said the statue that will be there next is a giant thumbs up. How very 2014 Iphone Emoji of them. I believe that statue is owned by the French. 

I am genuinely going off memory for all of this information so I apologize if it is wrong. But I usually remember things really well (fun fact: I am listening to Amnesia by 5 Seconds of Summer right now. I thought this was funny to add since I am talking about how I have a good memory...and amnesia is ...well never mind you know what I mean).

This is at the center of Trafalgar Square. If you look in the distance you can see Big Ben. 

These pictures look very depressing because it was so rainy and cloudy, I am sorry. 

A giant lion, always cool. 

The square was pretty much empty since it was 4 in the afternoon. I love how everything has some sort of significance whether it is related to history, authors, or government. We also walked past the place where the man who created James Bond...created James Bond. Very cool. We walked towards Buckingham Palace then, but we couldn't really see it. (Side note: I am sitting here laughing at how terrible this sounds because I don't remember everything) We also stopped at the place where they change the guards on horses. At this point, I was frozen to the bone and very wet. So, I don't really remember everything he said. Terrible, I know. 

We ended the tour at a pub somewhere near Westminster Abbey. I sat there frozen for about thirty minutes attempting to re hydrate myself with water. There was some confusion with the area our program director had reserved, so we had to leave. We ended up taking the tube home (successfully!). Luckily one of the girls with us has been to London before and knew exactly where she was going, so major thanks to her for leading the way. I even snapped a picture. I am not a big fan of going underground, at all. So, I pretended as though I wasn't underground the whole time I was on it to put off having a mini freak. The tube is completely silent. No one talks to each other, and everyone keeps to themselves. It is very strange but almost nice. There is no pressure to socialize or make awkward small talk. 

After we hopped off the tube, Maggie and I stopped into Costa for a much needed hot chocolate. She had a very, very crazy day so a hot chocolate was in order. I think we are going to head off to Covent Garden tomorrow for a wander. So, blog post tomorrow and maybe a vlog? We will see what the day brings. 

A.