Packing, without a doubt, is stressful whether you’re packing to go there or come back. Because going there you have to decide what you’re going to take, what you can afford not to take, etc. Coming back, you have to make room for all the extra stuff you accumulated over the six week period of time. And I know it’s not just me who had this dilemma because my roommates and were in the same situation all day yesterday: trying to figure out the best way to pack what we brought with us along with the things we bought. In the end though, I managed. Besides all this, it was melancholy, too, because we were packing to leave. Sad.
Wednesday we had a last group lunch at Hyde Park. It happened to be a gorgeous day, so that helped.
The Serpentine.
Blue skies DO exist in London.
Seriously the best sandwich ever. Legit steak slices with lettuce and this sauce that wasn’t quite mayonnaise but wasn’t quite mustard. And fries.
Hyde Park is really pretty, and I wish I’d been able to go for a run or something there.
After Hyde Park, I went and walked around Leicester Square and Charring Cross Road because I’d heard they had several secondhand bookstores. That’s another problem. Me. And bookstores. We have a love/hate relationship due to the fact that I can spend hours in there just browsing, and whether I buy anything or not, I’m just sucked in there and time has no meaning.
Harvey Nichols.
Not sure what this building was, but it was cool and there were lots of flags. Bro.
Foyles Bookshop I would equate to our Barnes and Noble, but the one I really liked was Blackwell’s. That would be like our Boarder’s because it was cheaper and had better deals and was smaller. I did buy the first Harry Potter book, but only because the British version is different, as most people know. It’s not Sorcerer’s Stone. It’s Philosopher’s Stone. Nerd out.
Thursday I didn’t do anything special in particular. At night my group went out once more to a bar/club called Roadhouse. Probably one of my favorite places I went to while I was in London.
Friday was my last FULL day in London. I woke up early and kind of started packing a little. Then I went to Regent’s to print off my boarding pass and check into my flight. After that, I went up to St. John’s Wood (which is beautiful. I wish I’d had more time to walk around there) to see Abbey Road. I mean, I’m was in London. Why wouldn’t I go see Abbey Road?
There were swans in the little river by Regent’s as I was walking past. They were just playing around in the river and looked content, I guess you could say.
Sherlock Holmes Statue by the Baker Street Tube.
Abbey Road Studios!
Well, this road looks familiar…
There were people trying to recreate the cover (you know which cover I’m talking about), but the funny thing is, it’s an actual road with cars driving up and down so the cars would stop and wait or the people would just have to wait for an opening when there wasn’t a car coming. I mean, obviously people live around there, but it was just funny because all these tourists probably visit here every day and want to recreate this iconic image, and then there are the people who actually live there and don’t care because they see it all the time…
You could spray paint your name on here, I guess…or I’m not sure.
I just thought this looked cool. Theater on Tottenham Court Road where musical We Will Rock You performs.
After Abbey Road, I went to some secondhand book store in Russell Square to get rid of my books so I didn’t have an extra ten pounds of books I’ll never read again to bring back to the U.S. Then I came back to the flat, my roommates and I cooked up whatever remaining food we had, watched the Olympics, packed a little, and at 5:15 this morning, I road the tube to Heathrow Airport to catch my flight!
London Town 
