Stonehenge and Bath

I'm finally home!

I'll talk more about that later, but first-my last day in London at Stonehenge and Bath! Also, I finally added pictures to my last post, so go check those out if you want!

I liked the granola that I'd had the day before so much that I decided to have the exact same breakfast again.

After breakfast, we headed to Stonehenge with our tour guide. Stonehenge is basically a circle of rocks in a big open field. How did they get there? The mystery of Stonehenge is still unknown. Our tour guide told us about this phenomenon called ley lines, which are lines of power that run through each country. The lines intersect at Stonehenge, so it's supposedly a place with a lot of force and power. After a bit of googling, I found that the United States ley lines intersect in Chaco Canyon, Seattle, DC, and all throughout the Northeast. I'll let you make your own assumptions about that. I actually did get kind of a creepy vibe there and thought it would be a perfect place for a horror film.

Did I mention it was really windy?

We stopped halfway to Bath at a pub our tour guide had recommended. It was attached to a hotel in a very small village called Rudge. I ordered the vegetable soup with freshly baked bread and a warm goat cheese tart with sun dried tomato and pesto. The soup was very average-I thought it was going to be a tomato based soup with lots of chunky vegetables, so I was a little disappointed when it was more or less vegetable puree. On the other hand, the goat cheese tart was fantastic. But then again, do I ever not like goat cheese?

I'm not really sure what I was expecting at Bath, but I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. It ended up being one of my favorite day trips we took! For starters, the town was much bigger than I thought it would be, and it was just absolutely beautiful! In addition, the Roman Bath was just incredible-those Romans were on top of their game!

The water at Bath was said to have healing properties, so you know, I stuck my hand in for good luck.

We first tried dinner at Mildred's, but it was an hour wait, so we went to Food For Thought instead. Mildred's is really good and has more of a cosmopolitan restaurant feel, but I like Food For Thought the best! I feel like I'm getting a healthy, home-cooked meal there. I ordered the Black Bean Mole, mixed peppers, sweet potato, and aubergine in a medium spiced tomato sauce flavored with olive oil, roasted red chiles, cumin, and toasted sesame seeds. It was topped off with guacamole, and I got mixed salad on the side. For dessert, I had the Summer Fruit Scrunch, which was one of the best desserts I've ever had in my life. It was basically just whipped cream filled with strawberries, bananas, blueberries with an oat and honey crust and almonds on top. Delish!!!

I didn't share a bite. 

As we were leaving, I was frantically snapping photos of menus and stuff, so I could remember every little detail of each dish I had. I guess the waitresses sensed my enthusiasm, because they gave me a free Jam and Vanilla Scone to take with me! I thought about saving it until the next day, but I split it up to share with my parents and dug right in.

It was the most perfect meal to end my trip to London! Each dish I've had there has been so creative, and I'm going to do my best to recreate some of these at home.

It was an amazing trip and such a nice break from everything, but now I've really got to buckle down and get back to studying!

Paddington Bear at Paddington Station

I just got back from a day trip to Stonehenge and Bath and dinner at my favorite restaurant in London (I'll let you decide where that was). I won't have time to blog about today before I get back home, so I'll leave you where I left off yesterday (And for some reason, I wasn't able to upload pictures, but I wanted to go ahead and post this before I get too far behind. I'll add pictures once I get home!):

Apparently, sleeping until 8:15 is sleeping really late for me. It is a little later than I have been waking up, so I did feel well rested. Breakfast was a bowl of granola with skim milk and with a bowl of mixed berries + banana. The granola was so fresh and so good (loved the dried fruit and nuts), and I was excited to have it with skim milk! It's the first time I've had it all trip-they don't believe in skim milk in France.

After breakfast, we headed to Paddington Station to catch a train to Windsor Castle. Paddington Bear, anyone?

Yes, I did have to take one of these adorable little guys home for a souvenir.

I'm happy to report that we made it to Windsor Castle without a hitch. It's amazing how much easier it is to navigate a train station when the signs are in your native language.

Windsor Castle has been a royal residency for 900 years, and Queen Elizabeth spends most of her weekends there. It's also the burial site of King Henry VIII. I have to say I'm pretty well versed in the history of Henry VIII after being in London for a week. I've now memorized the names of all six of his wives: Catherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, and Catherine Parr. And if you need a catchy way to remember the fates of each wife, here's how the saying goes: divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived.

After touring the castle, we ate a late lunch (I'm getting a little sick of these 3 PM lunches-I've learned to pack snacks or else I'll faint from hunger) at EAT. It's another natural sandwich shop much like Pret. We spotted it on our way to the castle, but by the time we finally got there, all of the sandwiches I would have wanted were sold out. I decided to be adventurous and go with the Bombay Bhaji sandwich, consisting of onion bhaji, cucumber, Greek yogurt, rocket leaves, mango chutney, coriander, and mint. It was the sandwich of the week after all! It sounded really good, but I ended up not really liking it that much, so I only ate half. I did love the parnsip, beetroot, and carrot crisps I got to go with it though!

Once we got back to London, we just had an hour to change and get ready before seeing Billy Elliot at The Victoria Palace Theatre. The musical takes place during the coal miner's strike in 1984-85 (when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister) and does a good job of depicting the social issues of this time. It was a little hard to understand the actors and actresses-they almost sounded like they had Scottish accents! I found out later that this was because the story takes place in Northern England, where they would naturally have more of a Scottish accent. I loved that all of the music was done by Elton John! I <3 Elton John.

On another note, my eating schedule was way messed up yesterday. Since we had such late lunch and didn't have time to go anywhere before the show, we didn't eat dinner until after it was over. I had to eat a granola bar during the intermission to stay alive. After the show was over, we walked across the street to the train station, where I bought a Chicken Pesto Panini from Camden Food Co. I ate this walking down the street to catch a cab back to the hotel. It was classy.

I've got to get to packing. It's always my least favorite part of traveling, but I guess it has to be done. My personal packing style is throwing everything back into my suitcase and hoping it fits. We have an early morning flight out tomorrow (we're leaving for the airport at 5:15) and should get back to Birmingham by mid-afternoon. It's been the trip of a lifetime, but I think it's finally time to get back to a routine schedule and my everyday life. Besides, I miss everyone, and I feel really disconnected from everything that's going on back home.

Goodbye fantasy world, hello real world!

Fickle Weather

If I've learned anything about London since I've been here, it's that you can never really be sure what to expect with the weather. If it starts to look sunny, don't get too excited yet-the clouds will come back out, oh, about five minutes later. It also makes choosing the appropriate outfit difficult-I started out in shorts and a tank top, but quickly changed back into jeans. But then as soon as I changed into my jeans, the sun came back out. It's basically a lose lose situation, and you must be prepared for all weather situations.

Breakfast was a bowl of mixed berries + sliced banana and an egg white omelette with mushrooms and tomatoes. Later, I doused my omelette with ketchup. My parents cringed, but it's like...so good. Ketchup=comfort.

After breakfast, we went to the 10 AM service at Westminster Abbey. My favorite part of the service was all the pretty music. I found it interesting that the choir consisted of only males ranging in ages all across the spectrum, even little children-I guess to hit all the soprano notes.

Scenic walk through St. James Park.

When we walked out of Westminster Abbey, the road back to our hotel was blocked due to the British 10k London Run 2011. My adrenaline started racing as I heard the fun music and saw all the runners, and I wanted so badly to be running with them. I thought about buying a pair of tennis shoes and joining in on the fun!

After reading about Pret A Manger on all my favorite NYC blogs and seeing how there's a Pret on literally every corner in London (it's like in the same league as Starbucks and McDonald's), I saw this as an opportune time to try it out.

I opted for a light lunch, choosing the Superfood Salad paired with a nectarine for dessert. The Superfood Salad was filled with hummus, tabbouleh, beetroot, roasted red peppers, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and omega sprinkles. It came with a tortilla and dijon dressing on the side and provided me with 3 of my 5 veggie servings for the day-I felt so supercharged after I finished my salad! I really like the concept of Pret and wish we had one in Birmingham. It's natural and freshly made food that you can either take to go and eat on the run or eat inside for a quick meal. It beats Panera for sure!

After lunch, we headed to Harrod's and the Topshop for a day of shopping. It was fun to look around in Harrod's, but I ultimately walked away empty handed. I had a little more success in Topshop-I got a few pairs of earrings and a headband.

After shopping, I was in desperate need of an afternoon pick me up, so I went back to Pret for a coffee. I also picked up a bag of yogurt covered Brazil nuts, almonds, and hazelnuts to snack on. While I was there, I saw they had sold out of my Superfood Salad-looks like I made a good choice!

Our evening activities included The London Eye and a cruise down the Thames River.

The London Eye is so cool. You're inside your own little glass capsule-best ferris wheel ever.

While I was in line for The Eye, I started to get really dizzy and sweaty and felt like I was going to get sick. That is never a good feeling. I think it was a combination of several factors, but I mainly attribute it to the claustrophobic quarters I encountered standing in line and possibly dehydration. It was about to get bad, but I guzzled two bottles of water and started to feel better. Once I got to the beginning of the line, I felt well enough to board The Eye. I really was planning on getting out of line and just waiting on my parents, so I'm glad that I didn't have to miss out. I also ate a granola bar that my mom had in her purse, which also helped. I'm feeling much better now but am still not 100%.

We also got tickets for the last cruise of the day on the Thames River. I think boats are the most enjoyable way to see the city!

Globe Theatre.

Tower Bridge.

By the time we got off the cruise, it was time for dinner, so we decided to walk to Trafalgar Square and look for a restaurant there. We couldn't find a restaurant we could all agree on, and we didn't even see anything that looked all that appealing. Fail.

So, we decided to take a cab back to Mildred's, since we know we like it. They're closed on Sundays. Fail.

It was starting to get really late and most restaurants were closing, so we just decided to eat at the hotel. It was a bit fancier than I was really in the mood for tonight (I had my heart set on grilled cheese and tomato soup). And by the time we got our food at 9:30 PM, I was about ready to fall asleep in my plate. I ordered the red onion tarte tatin, which came with curried potatoes and carrot puree. It doesn't look like much, but it was actually delicious! The curried potatoes were my favorite part. 

My parents both just ordered a tomato tart, and the waiter seemed very concerned that we were going to starve. He asked, "Have you had enough to eat? You must have already eaten somewhere for dinner?" My dad enthusiastically replied, "No, we're ok though. We had some snacks!" I don't really know why this was so funny, but my mom and I both died out laughing. We didn't really think a granola bar constituted as a very substantial snack to make up for a meal.

We did end the night with some complimentary hot chocolate and shortbread cookies that we were supposed to receive when we checked in but didn't want them then. The hot chocolate arrived after I'd already uploaded pictures for the night, and I'm lazy, so sorry for the lack of a photo. It was yummy though-prepared just the way hot chocolate should be!

I plan on sleeping really late tomorrow. I think the exhaustion has finally caught up to me. We're taking the Tube to Windsor Castle tomorrow, but it's on our own time, so no strict schedules.