London Round 2

After not seeing Kirsty and Tom for over a year, I think it was incredibly amazing to be able to see them TWICE within 4 months! Thank you Easyjet for cheap flights to and from London! I was able to get a round trip ticket for about 80 euros, and with Kirsty offering her place (her dad's really - he was very generous to let me stay!) how could I say no? Since I got that Friday off to make up for the extra day I worked for Halloween, I got a 4 day weekend with my amazing friends!

Kirsty was the BEST host I could have ever asked for! She made a whole itinerary for our weekend together, kept in mind I was on a budget so planned packed lunches for us, and catered what we did to things she thought I'd like and things I'd never been to before (I'd been to London two years ago to see my college friends Nick and Josh). She also picked me up from the airport and drove me hours back to her dad's home (we got stuck in traffic and then got rerouted and then got lost so that affected the time home). Her dad was very kind too. He had picked up dinner for both of us to eat when we got home - we just had to warm it up! Her dad reminded me of my dad, but South African (so, with an accent).

Despite a late night catching up and the COLD that greeted us bitterly in the morning, we got out of the house and Kirsty drove me around to see so many new things! First we went to Hyde Park, specifically to the Winter Wonderland set up! Kirsty described it as "trying to be a German Christmas market". It was full of wooden stalls, food, rides, and most importantly, an ice skating rink! I didn't get any pictures of us ice skating because we weren't allowed to take pictures...that didn't stop Kirsty from trying! But then a worker told her we weren't allowed to have cameras on the ice...like I said, we tried! We had a great time skating around.

After, Kirsty showed me where she went to college (our version of high school). She also showed me this burger joint that apparently used to be a great, run down bar that she visited frequently back in the day. We also stopped at the Natural History Museum - which Kirsty loves! And I can see why. Upon entering you're greeted with this amazing dinosaur - earth tunnel set up (see below). There are so many amazing exhibits! Further into the museum, the layout reminded me of "Night at the Museum" ,with lots of skeletons and other historic items displayed. My favorite exhibit, like Kirsty, ended up being the dinosaur exhibit. It was just so well done! There was even a life size T-Rex!

After checking out the souvenir store and restraining ourselves, especially Kirsty, from buying anything, we made our way to Harrods, a luxury department store that apparently is just overwhelmingly full of expensive items. According to Kirsty and Tom, no one from the UK actually shops there, only tourists. But Kirsty and I had a good time getting some fancy tea while we waited for Tom to get done with work. We also had time to take some fun pictures in the toy section:

We were going to meet up with Tom to see some Christmas lights, but then we heard about a shooting where we were going! Thankfully, it ended up being false and we got to see some beautiful lights.

Tom treated us to dinner that night - drinks and delicious fish n' chips! It was so good and so nice of Tom to do so! We were pretty tired after that and headed home afterwards.

The next day we met up with Tom again at the Camden Market. I got to see a boat go through this water canal and they lowered the watergate and let it through. It probably seemed boring and every day to most passing by, but I found it so entertaining! Albeit the process was a bit slow.

We ended up staying at an Airbnb that night so that we could go out and not have to commute all the way back to Kirsty or Tom's place. It was a really nice little Airbnb! We rested for a bit before venturing out again for Kirsty's Bar Crawl! On the way we stopped at the Tate Modern Art Museum. We looked at some really powerful artwork and swung on a swing-art installation! It was fun, until we dared Tom to see if he could jump high enough to touch this pole and he hurt his ankle...again...We also stopped at a small winter market, Tom's favorite on the South Bank, and looked at the little stalls and food.

No matter the injury, the Bar Crawl continued! She took us to a bunch of amazing places! First we started at a fancy rooftop bar. We got there too early though and had to wait for entrance. I have never been so cold I swear. Even Kirsty was ready to bail. But we had stuck it out so long in line at that point that we just couldn't give up. While freezing our butt's off was terrible, we did find a really amazing rooftop bar at the top of this hotel called Sky Garden! Even though it was so fancy, it was really freaking cold inside. Amazing view, beautiful inside, great drinks...but way too cold to stay for long so we had some warm drink and than left to the next bar!

We went to The Breakfast Club next. From the outside it looks like a cute diner. But there's a secret entrance to a really cool bar downstairs! When we got there though, apparently they were too full to accommodate us. The guy at the front was nice though, and upon request, showed us the secret entrance to the club -- a refrigerator (you can see Tom entering below)!

Kirsty is amazing and took us to an outdoor food market/food truck type place! The food was delicious and the place so cool! She knows me too well :) I got jerk chicken at a place called "White Men Can't Jerk", which was too spicy for me but so good I kept eating it anyways -- it was painful, but so good!

We ended up at a ping pong bar next! It was really cool, but also sadly there were no tables available for us to play. We still really enjoyed it and the music, however they didn't stay open late so we had to move on. After some searching and refusing to pay 20 pounds for entrance, we ended up at a free and "dodgy" club! I'm so glad we ended up there - the crowd was fun and I even heard Migos being played. Plus, there was a fight and drama which was slightly nerve wracking but also definitely exciting to witness the drama unfold (we really only saw the people after the fight, but still).

The next day we bid farewell to Tom after stumbling upon a random vintage market (that I LOVED). Kirsty ended up getting a sweater and I almost got a romper...but just couldn't follow through for the price.

Kirsty ended up taking me to Windsor Castle my last. Funny, enough, I had actually been there before with Josh and Nick and had FORGOTTEN. It was fortunate I had been before, because when we got there the ticket office was closed! Apparently they close and don't sell tickets over an hour before their official closing time. Good thing I'd been before! Instead, we did a very British thing: we got tea and biscuits. Which were DELICIOUS! Then we walked around and looked at stores. We ended up at Wetherspoons, fondly called Spoons by Kirsty. Apparently it's like the English version of McDonalds. This Spoons, however, was very nice since it was right next to Windsor Castle. We had a basket of fries to hold us over for our ride back to Kirsty's place.

That night, Kirsty's dad treated us to an Indian buffet dinner and wine! It was so nice of him to do that. And quite a lovely way to end my last day in London. Despite my dislike for the cold, I wish I could've stayed longer in London with Kirsty! Next time right?

In sum, I enjoyed London much more this time around. That is not saying that I didn't have a good time when I came before - I had a great time! What I am trying to say is that I enjoyed the actual city more. When I left London before, I didn't have any interest in coming back. I felt like I had seen the main tourist destinations and that was all I needed. Kirsty and Tom were the reason I went back. And after visiting this time and seeing more little secrets and markets, I am so glad that I got to discover this city more and see why so many people love it so much.

10/10 recommend Kirsty Jones as a personal tour guide.