The Big Trip: London, Part 2

One of the beautiful things about going on this kind of trip is walking. Lots and lots of walking. I enjoy exploring a city on foot because I feel it is one of the best ways you can quickly learn about your surroundings and get a feel for the energy of a place. I also love walking because you burn calories. Lots and lots of calories. For someone who loves food like I do, this was a sweet opportunity to eat whatever I wanted and neither gain weight nor feel gross from over indulgence. It was awesome.

I know England is not known for its culinary prowess. But there really is some great food in London. The first night I was there I knew I had to buy me some chocolate bars. Specifically, Dairy Milk with Caramel. I don’t really eat chocolate bars in my normal life but I can’t get enough of these when I am in England. I guess better chocolate really does make a more delicious chocolate bar. Imagine that. The other snack treat I like in England are all those McVitie’s cookies. I am sure a lot of you have heard of Hob Nobs. I like those and pretty much every other kind of McVitie’s cookie. I can’t help it, like me some British treats.

A new to me British treat I became slightly obsessed with on this trip was the 99 flake. This is a soft serve ice cream cone with a flake chocolate stick stuck inside. You can buy one in various ice cream carts throughout the city–I LOVE buying food from carts. Anyway, I became a little obsessed with having one of these delectable treats. Plus, they only cost 99p…or so I thought. I believed (like any rational person would) that the reason the ice cream is called 99 flake is because that is how much it costs. Not so, it costs around 1.50 pounds. Granted, not a ton of money or anything, just left me very confused for the inexplicable name of the ice cream cone. Anyhow, confusing name aside, I loved my 99 flake.

Another yummy experience we had was afternoon tea at the The Orangery restaurant at Kensington Palace.

Love. Little. Mini. Orange. Plants.

Spot of tea?

Mmmmm. Orangery cake.

And the gardens around Kensington Palace?

This picture looks garden of eden-ish to me.

There was more to celebrate than just food on this trip. May 14th was Kara’s birthday. We had a full day planned for the “perfect” birthday celebration. Of course, what is a birthday without a little bit of drama? We were soon to leave for Scandinavia when Kara realized that she was out of passport pages. First, can you imagine having a passport where you are out of pages? My sister is cool. Anyway, on her birthday morning we found ourselves at the US Embassy hoping they would be able to give Kara extra pages for her passport at the last minute. Thing is, they close for lunch and we got there just a tad too late. Only problem, we had tickets to a matinee for Wicked. We were freaking out a little that Kara either wouldn’t get her pages or would completely miss her birthday show but if I am being honest, I wasn’t really too worried. I’ve seen The Saint–I know how awesome US Embassies are. So I went ahead to the show and birthday miracle that it was, Kara arrived only a little late AND she got her pages.

My happy birthday girl.

That night we went out with Kara’s flatmates to a great Thai restaurant and then after went for the largest ice cream sundaes ever with met my best friend from high school who now lives in London. I was reminded on this trip why Megan is a lifelong friend. You know the friend who you might not see or talk to for years but with whom you are still completely connected to and immediately at ease with when you do see each other? That is Megan.

Megan is as funny and kind and smart and beautiful as she was in high school.

Miss you already Meaghaan!

Up next: “But I want to go to Brighton!”