Day Trip to London

Happy Monday everyone! I had a great weekend, though it flew by far too fast as always.

Saturday morning I got up stupidly early and did my usual long run. I didn’t even mind getting up early, it was such a crisp clear morning and I felt energised.

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Then after getting ready and quickly eating some oatmeal, Ben dropped me off at the station and I headed off to London to see my lovely friends from university to celebrate one of their birthdays.

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I was worried the weather would be rubbish but thankfully the rain stayed away and, though it was chilly, the sun was out and it was a clear day. I enjoyed the journey by just chilling out and reading my Kindle.

We were all meeting in Camden. London and I tend to struggle at times as I am so bad with navigating my way around and catching the tube. Luckily it was just one journey on the Northern Line from Waterloo. Whew.

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Then I met up with the girlies in Nero coffee shop where we caught up. And then one of my friends announced she’s engaged!! This is so exciting, I’m so pleased for her Smile

Then after fuelling ourselves with caffeine we headed off into the crazy world of Camden.

Camden

I’ve only been to Camden once before so I was somewhat prepared. The shops are just full of crazy outfits and gothic paraphernalia… Really unique stuff. And there are lots of, erm, interesting looking individuals. One guy was walking around topless with just a kilt on.

We walked around Camden Lock Market, which was full of really strange and wonderful market stalls. Including a little café which sold liquid nitrogen ice cream!

Ice cream

We didn’t try any as it was quite expensive, but I was fully impressed!

And then went into the Stables Market. The Stables Market apparently used to be an old stables and it really felt that way.

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Again there were loads of little individual market stall-type shops selling everything you could imagine. Antique trinkets, vintage suitcase, old comics, crazy hand-made outfits.

Horse Tunnel

And I managed to haggle two dresses! I had taken £30 out of the cash machine before getting the train so buying lunch would be easy. But walking through the market I found a dress shop which was just full of pretty dresses all £20. I couldn’t decide between two dresses so I asked the man if he accepted card and he didn’t and I said “well I only have £30” and he let me have them! He tried to get me to pay £35 by I literally only have £30. I felt like I got a good bargain.

Dresses

OK they do look slightly similar but I couldn’t choose between them. Perfect for summer or with a cardigan and woolly tights or leggings for winter!

Then we started getting hungry so headed to a quaint little Italian restaurant aptly called Little Italy. We could see the chef making the pizzas and doing the crazy throwing-them-around thing which I desperately tried to get a photo of.

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Sort of worked…

I ordered a roasted vegetable and goat’s cheese pizza with added chicken.

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This was sublime. Absolutely delicious. The base was very thin and the toppings generous which is the perfect ratio I think! I hate overly doughy thick pizzas. Very authentic. They were all Italian in the restaurant as well which added to the experience.

Unfortunately though my friend Charlotte (who reads the blog, Hi Charlotte!) ordered a veggie version of a sausage calzone but it came choker full of sausage, but they were very apologetic and changed it straight away.

After finishing the entire pizza I was stuffed. And we all needed a good walk. So we headed to a park (Highgate Park) close to where the birthday girl lives for a nice bit of walking.

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Check out how beautiful that park is! And the view of London in the background is fantastic.

Highgate park

So lovely, I couldn’t believe we were still in London.

The houses round there were HUGE.

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They must cost an absolute fortune. Most of them weren’t broken into flats…

And then it was eventually time for home.

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I could just see the Shard in the distance as I was sat on the train going home

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing my friends; it’s always so great to see them and catch up. It only seems like yesterday we all graduated from Cardiff University but it was like four years ago now! I wish I could see them more but we all live in different places in the UK now. But we try to see each other every few months.

Sunday I just chilled and did some boring housework, including cleaning the dreaded oven. But a great weekend regardless!

What did you get up to this weekend?

Do you have friends who live far away? I have friends from before and after uni who live nearby and friends from uni who live a fair distance away.

What’s your favourite place in London? I don’t think I really know! I like the tourist bits and the shops hehe.

26 Replies to “Day Trip to London”

  1. Sounds like a great weekend of catching up. I need to do that soon too. Haven’t seen some of my friends since last year.

    Awesome job with your splits. I’m always impressed at how consistent you are!

    I definitely think you got a good deal on those two dresses. Bargain shopper right here! 🙂

    1. It is hard to keep in touch with everyone with life whizzing by so quickly. It’s amazing how quickly time flies. But it’s always lovely to see my uni friends – we just slot into place as sooon as we see each other.

  2. I always used to go to Camden when I was a teenager- I was in to the Doc martin boots and things (we even tried to dress up as goths once, but it didn’t really work!). I think my favourite part of London would be Covent Garden, or one of the many parks, or just walking along the Thames near the eye and Buckingham palace….Lots to choose from!
    I am impressed you managed to do such a long run before such a busy day!

    1. Hehe love that you dressed up as goths!! I went through a grunge phase unfortunately… Pink big cord flares and crazy bracelets. Oh dear.
      I was shattered by the end of the day. Had a little snooze on the train back! But it was a good tiredness.

  3. Sounds like a perfect day. I love Camden but haven’t been for far too long – and I never saw liquid nitrogen ice cream! Great haggling and that pizza looks fab.
    The park looks beautiful – and talking of Highgate and how posh it it, look for a page on Facebook called Highgate Mums, it’s hilarious 🙂

  4. That’s the only thing about heading off to Uni…afterwards everybody ends up all over the country and it makes it really difficult to keep up to speed with everyone! When you’re at uni you see these people all day every day!
    Despite living in the UK I’ve only been to London once but whilst we were there we saw The Lion King and that was absolutely amazing. I would recommend it to everybody London-bound!

    1. Ahhh I saw The Lion King when I was at school and we went for a school trip. I agree, it was amazing! I do like London but it’s such an effort to get to and then quite stressful when you’re there.

  5. Ahh, reliving your weekend escapades in London make me miss the city SO much! I really hope I’m able to get there this summer–and that I’ll have a chance to meet you!

    The Tube frightened me when I was living there, too…My flat was in Kensington, but I’d venture to the other side of town at least once/week (there was more eclectic excitement happening over there!), and somehow always managed to find myself in a tizzy.

    Your day sounds like it was perfect in every way, though—girl chats over coffee; explorations in Camden (that ice cream shop sounds amazing–and crazy!); dress shopping (you snagged a SERIOUS deal–love them both!); and an amazing dinner (I’m craving pizza for dinner now). Oh, and Highgate Park is one of my favorite places in London; the views are absolutely incredible! I also love Oxford St. for shopping, Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park for relaxing, and Whole Foods Kensington for food. I bet you didn’t see that one coming! 😉

    Hope you’re having a wonderful week, Anna! <3

    1. It’d be lovely to meet up in London!
      Ahh I have yet to go to the Wholefoods. I am desperately trying to persuade Ben to go for a daytrip but I’m thinking he’ll see through this as a way for me to just end up in Wholefoods again haha, dejavu from our honeymoon when we went there like 6 times when we were in the States haha.

  6. What an absolute wonderful weekend. Camden looks like such a fun and neat place! Would love to visit the market one of these days. Love the dresses you snagged for 30 euros. they are super cute, especially the one on the left. Congratulations to your friend on her engagement. Such exciting news, and the perfect way to celebrate!

    Do I have any friends who live far away?: Yes, all of them are in the states!

    Have a wonderful day,
    xoxo

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