The In-Between

So, I know I've already been home for a week. (Ahhh what???) I tried to finish the blog before I came home, but I just ran out of time. I barely slept the last week in London, never mind finding time to blog. But, I do really want to finish writing it so I always have it to look back on. And I did write my "last" blog post before I left so that it was an "in the moment" kind of thing, so I want to finish updating everything before I post that one. So, if anyone out there is still following along, here is what I did during what I call the "In-Between" week which was after Barcelona and before my last trip to Switzerland. It's short but here it goes.

On the Tuesday night after I returned from Barcelona, Maddie, Alex, me, and a group of our friends went to Winter Wonderland, the huge winter/Christmas market and fair held in Hyde Park from November to January. It's seriously impressive how enormous this whole event is, with all these huge theme-park rides, dozens of cafes and bars (including a carousel bar) and food stands, and row upon row of market stalls. It took us over an hour just to walk through half of it--that's how big it is. Unfortunately, the rides were a bit expensive to go on (it was like 8 pounds per ride) so we mainly just walked around, and I got a really yummy crepe. It was also freezing that night and I wasn't exactly prepared for it as I had come directly from class, but it was a really neat place to walk around. For a Tuesday night, it was also very crowded! I can't imagine how busy it is on the weekends!

The next day, Wednesday, Lisa and I actually did have an "Adventure Wednesday" (yeah, we kind of dropped the ball on that one, but better late than never, right?). We decided to go see Wicked at the theater since the tickets were actually pretty cheap. I had seen Wicked years ago with Courtney and Aunt Re on Broadway and absolutely loved it, so I was really excited to see it again. And somehow, we ended up with second row tickets, so we had a fantastic view of the stage!! (Still not sure how that happened.) And, though I remembered a lot from when I had last seen the show, there were plenty of things I didn't remember so it was kind of like seeing it for the first time all over again. But, of course, the show was awesome. It's not only an amazing play, but it also has one of my favorite soundtracks, which I wouldn't stop listening to for the next 3 days.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! Obviously, Thanksgiving is not celebrated in the UK and apparently turkey isn't really a thing here either. There are some restaurants in London that serve a traditional Thanksgiving meal, but you have to book them in advance which we realized too late. So a group of us ended up in Covent Garden looking for a place to eat and wound up at Bella Italia. Yup, we had Italian food for Thanksgiving, but at least it was yummy! And afterwards, I got to Skype everyone who was at Grammy's house for the holiday which I was really excited about! :)

Over the weekend, Lisa and I and some of her friends went to check out Primrose Hill again since they had yet to see it. It wasn't as nice as the day that I had gone, but it was still a pretty view. Afterwards, we went to check out some of the markets in the area we had yet to visit: The Stables Market and Camden Lock Market. Though they both are very similar to all the other markets in London, I really enjoy walking through markets in general and I'm definitely going to miss them. They always have the best food and some of the most interesting stalls. (See cupcake stall below) And these ones were also decorated for the holidays with strings of lights hung everywhere! I also found the closest thing to hot apple cider at Camden Lock Market that I could find in London, although it was just glorified hot apple juice.

On Sunday, Lisa, me, and her friend Katie also went to Brick Lane Market which is right near the area where we live, to get lunch. We all got delicious bratwursts and spent some time wandering through the area since even after 3 months I had never been there before.

All in all, it was a very good week.