London Week 2

January 8–16

Jessica Harrison

5 min read

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Jan 27, 2017

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Hello again! London Week 2 brought artwork, the start of classes, and several decadent meals! I had so much fun photographing my adventures on my Sony α5000 and iPhone 6s.

On Sunday, my roommate and I visited the National Gallery to see its “Australian Impressionists” exhibit. The permanent collection boasts work by Monet, Van Gogh, Rembrant, da Vinci, and more.

We also viewed the “Australian Impressionists” exhibit. I absolutely love impressionism and it was very interesting to see examples of the movement from Australian artists.

After leaving the National Gallery, we walked through Trafalgar Square and into Covent Garden, where we visited shops, ate lunch, and got gelato!

On Monday January 9, classes began. My riveting day consisted of International Finance, Architecture of London, the grocery store, and laundry!

Tuesday was a bit more exciting. After a class in the morning, I got afternoon tea at the Orangery at Kensington Palace with three friends. For anyone looking to experience authentic English afternoon tea, I would highly recommend tea at the Orangery! The food was delicious and the tea was perfect. We finished our afternoon with a walk through Kensington Gardens.

On Wednesday, I had the morning off from classes so I used my time to visit several bookstores in search of a book I needed for a class (British Youth Culture). After my errands, I stopped at a cafe for a coffee and couldn’t resist a ham and cheese croissant for lunch!

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The next day, a group of us visited Buckingham Palace (in the rain!) to see the changing of the guard. I had never seen the formal changing of the guard at the palace so I enjoyed seeing the processions of calvary, soldiers, and the marching band.

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Afterwards, my roommate and I spent the afternoon at Harrod’s. We had so much fun wandering through racks of designer clothes, exploring the food halls, and looking at the toys on the children’s floor.

We got tea and lunch at Ladurée inside Harrod’s. Of course, that also meant we both got pastries there to save for our dinner :)

I spent the next day doing homework and running errands to Lillywhites and Waterstones in Piccadilly Circus (not a bad place to run errands!). The day ended with dinner at Granger & Co in King’s Cross and drinks at O’Neills Irish Pub.

While my roommates and my other friends visited Camden, I spent the day exploring Southwark on my own. I wandered through Borough Market, an incredible food market with vendors selling fresh produce, pastries, prepared foods, and more. I also had the chance to try a latte from Monmouth Coffee Company. It was quite possibly the best latte I’ve ever had.

From Borough Market I took the time to walk through Southwark Cathedral, where Shakespeare was a member of the parish. I next walked along the Thames, a view that never gets old!

I walked into the Tate Modern to escape the cold and to re-visit one of my favorite museums. One of my favorite things I saw was a painting by Rothko next to a Monet. Rothko was greatly inspired by Monet’s use of color in his paintings of waterlilies. I loved seeing the conection between Monet — one of my lifelong favorite painters — and ROthko — a new favorite. I also enjoyed seeing how the museum has changed since I was last there in 2014.

Sunday brought another day of solo exploration for me. I headed towards Fitzrovia with the goal of visiting Kaffeine, another well-known London coffee shop.

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After getting a latte and a feta and pumpkin seed pastry, I walked around the area, visiting several old standards of my London trips including Sergio’s and the Langham.

Stay tuned for a post from my trip to Prague! I am headed to Norway and Ireland in the coming weeks so look out for posts from those trips as well!