MONDAY:
I had classes all day at the Institute and afterward met up for dinner with a friend at a restaurant on King’s Road in Chelsea. We’d seen that My Old Dutch Pancake House had a £5 special on Mondays and had been meaning to go forever but hadn’t gotten around to it until that night. I ordered the Apple & Cinnamon Pancake with ice cream and my friend ordered the Compote of Berries Pancake with cream. The pancakes ended up being very similar to crepes and they were absolutely gigantic; we laughed at the thought that we would be able to finish everything until it became obvious that they were too good to allow to go to waste.
After dinner we raced over to Oxford Circus in the hopes that we wouldn’t be late for our session at the London Ice Bar on Heddon Street. Luckily we made it there with five minutes to spare and met up with a few more friends before heading in. While you wait in line to enter the bar (which is made entirely of ice, even the benches and cups!), you’re given a fur-lined cape and gloves to ensure that despite the fact that the room is kept at -7°F that you don’t get frostbite or anything. You also get a free voucher for one free drink included in the admission price; so going to the ice bar is a bit pricey but it’s all about the experience! We took photos throughout the bar before grabbing a booth in the back and enjoying our 45 minutes pretending to be penguins. Being a Floridian I got pretty cold after 15 minutes but I stuck it out like a champ even when I started losing feeling in my toes.
“Brrrrrr it’s cold in here #welooklikeeskimos #100happydays 60/100 at London Ice Bar“
TUESDAY:
On Tuesday night I met up with friends for dinner at a restaurant in Soho called Hummus Bros, which was about a 10 minute walk from Sotheby’s. The concept of the restaurant is fairly simple—each bowl comes with a base of hummus and then you decide what you would to have as your toppings and then you can add sides to your meal as well. I ordered the chicken & falafel hummus bowl as well as sides of sun-dried tomatoes, feta cheese and carrot sticks. Hummus is one of my favorite snacks of all time so it makes sense that it would make for an amazing dinner as well. Another perk about Hummus Bros was that it wasn’t super expensive, which is always an exciting find in the priciest city in the world.
We were running late by this point and had to run over to the Leicester Square area in order to pick up tickets for a show I’ve been wanting to see since I saw an advertisement for it in the tube—Shakespeare in Love. Despite our best attempts we didn’t make it to the theatre before the show started so we had to wait about 10 minutes before being shown to our seats. But this was totally made up for when, during the intermission, we were given tickets for free in the Stalls which were WAY closer and much better than our original seats. The play was different in several ways from the movie (which I’ve watched countless times) but the actors were brilliant and I thought the script was very funny. I would definitely recommend the show to a friend!
“Night out at the theatre! The only thing that could have made it better was if Colin Firth had played Lord Wessex #100happydays 61/100 at Noel Coward Theatre“
My new boyfriend, Shakespeare <3
WEDNESDAY:
Monday started out with a bang when I managed to pull a muscle in my neck within 30 seconds of being awake! After a few frantic texts to my parents, I got ready for classes and bought Icy-Hot patches to put on my neck. These must have looked somewhat like bandages because I had a random stranger come up to me on my walk home from the Institute and ask if “someone had taken a bite out of me.”
The selfie I sent to my parents in the hopes of conveying of how silly I looked with my heating patch…
Even with my sore neck I decided that I couldn’t just laze around my room for the entire afternoon so I walked over to Holland Park, which a few friends of mine had visited a few weeks back. The major attraction of the park is that it is the home to several peacocks who roam the grounds as they like. Holland Park actually reminded me of Hampstead Heath a bit with its overgrown pathways but the Kyoto Garden was definitely my favorite part of the park with the peacocks, koi and waterfalls.
“Peacocks and waterfalls in central London #100happydays 62/100 at Holland Park-Kyoto Garden“
THURSDAY:
On Thursday night I met up with a friend at a restaurant that I’ve been wanting to try since last fall—Patty & Bun, which is right off of Oxford Circus. The restaurant space is pretty small so we put our names down and waited to be called in. We didn’t have to wait long, the food gets served quickly (always a plus!), and we got a table for two near the front of the restaurant. We both ordered the ‘Hot Chic’ Chicken burger, which was a buttermilk fried chicken burger, and sides of chips. My burger was absolutely incredible and even though the entire meal was super greasy, I loved every bite.
Afterward I made my way over to Covent Garden to meet up with some other friends, some of whom just arrived in London the other day, at Freud which was an awesome hipster bar that’s in the basement of a random store.
FRIDAY:
I spent Friday morning at Besso before heading back to Earl’s Court to change into a more casual outfit and taking the Jubilee Line up to Swiss Cottage. Although I’ve been to The Washington twice for trivia night, I realized that I’ve been putting off going to northern London by myself. I’ll admit that I tend to be overly nostalgic and emotional when I think about the four months living in the Worrell House and even though I wouldn’t admit it aloud before now, I was almost nervous about visiting my old neck of the woods. I did get a little teary on my walk from Swiss Cottage but I sobered up enough to order a panini from a little café called The Black Truffle where I enjoyed eating and doing homework from time to time. I then made the long march up Haverstock Hill towards Hampstead Heath. Looking back, I see that I took the presence of the heath for granted and didn’t spend as much time up there as I should have in the fall. I hiked through the trails and made my way up Parliament Hill, where one can find stunning views of faraway central and southern London. The rain even stopped once I made it to Hampstead Heath which made the experience even more delightful.
I met up with a friend for dinner at Tibits on Heddon Street (actually it was right next to the ice bar), which is one of the most highly rated vegetarian restaurants in the city. Although there was a set menu, we decided to hit up with buffet and filled our plates to the brink with all kinds of vegetables, carbs and, of course, dessert.
A few of my friends were leaving the next day, so we spent our last night out at a club I visited a few times last fall called Verve which is in Leicester Square.
SATURDAY:
The four of us met up the next morning for our last meal together at My Old Dutch for pancakes. I ordered butterscotch pancakes (otherwise known as American pancakes) with strawberries, coconut and maple syrup rather than their signature crèpe-like pancake which really hit the spot. We then helped one of my friends carry her bags to the South Kensington station and waved goodbye as she continued on to Heathrow (come back, Robin!!!).
“It’s no Midtown but it did the trick #100happydays 65/100 at My Old Dutch Pancake House, King’s Road“
I had a bit of a break before I met up again with my friends to get lunch/dinner on Brick Lane. Although it was Saturday, I guess that the food stalls only line the streets on Sunday which was a bit of a disappointment until we found this building that had multiple stands dedicated to cuisines from all around the world. My friend got Ethiopian food while I decided to go with the comforting taste of Chinese. After we finished eating we walked over to Spitalfields market where we walked around looking at the vendor stalls (there was even a beer garden set up!) while we waited for one of our other friends to join. We also ate the most delicious banana foster cupcakes and I feel like a total idiot for not catching the name of the bakery.
Later, the three of us walked back to the Liverpool Street station where we said goodbye to yet another friend (have fun in Italy, Emily!).
SUNDAY:
On Sunday I met up with a friend to take a tour of Stamford Bridge Stadium, which is where the Chelsea football club plays. We grabbed a quick lunch at Byron Burgers (I got their chicken burger with avocado slices) before trying to find our way to the stadium and then dazedly wandering around the premises trying to figure out where we were supposed to pick up our tickets.
The tour guide took us to the pitch, the press room, the visitors’ changing room, the Chelsea changing room (which is 100x nicer than the visitors’ changing room), and finally the press box. My favorite view was from the press box and made me kind of wish that I was into sports journalism. The rain let up during our tour which was a nice surprise.
“Pregamed the Germany-Argentina game with a tour of the Chelsea Football Club stadium #100happydays 66/100 at Stamford Bridge Chelsea FC“
Visitors’ locker room
Home locker room
Press box
After our tour, I went on a run through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens before we met up again at a local pub to watch the Germany-Argentina football match. I loved the ambience of the pub and I was so excited when Germany finally scored!
Celebrations after Germany won the World Cup!
It’s hard to believe that this was my last full weekend in London!! In less than a week I’ll be back on a plane to Charleston, SC and then spending the following week in a jet lag-induced coma, so I am planning to make the most of my last few days in my much-loved city.
