London, Squirrels & Beautiful Architecture 27.01.2013

There I was again, in my favourite town, and sadly, all on my own, as my friend Kim had already left that morning. But after the entire morning was full of rain that didn’t seem to stop, it finally cleared, and though, out of the sun, it was quite chilly, the day became one of the most beautiful I could hope for. From Hyde Park, I slowly walked down all the way over Oxford Street with “Don’t Stop Believin'” from the “Rock Of Ages” Soundtrack in my ear all the time, blaring through my head like there was no tomorrow. And I’m not gonna lie, I was smiling from one ear to another, and I think I actually hopped over Oxford Street every now and then – the people must’ve thought I was totally insane 😀

When I got to Piccadilly Circus, I thought that it was too nice outside to spent the time inside my hostel room until I had to go to the Cinema in the afternoon, so I decided to walk all the way to St. James Park, over to Buckingham Palace and back to Big Ben and the London Eye. The wind was quite strong, but the thought of the hazelnuts in my handbag made me smile like an idiot, as my plan was to go and feed the squirrels – best idea ever! They were the cutest things, and as soon as I stepped onto the grass and slowly walked up to them, they hopped all the way to me, and as I put a hazelnut on my hand, thye shortly sniffed, then took it and hopped away, crunching at the nut for a moment, then ran off and buried it somewhere in the earth. I also teased one of them, as I showed him/her the hazelnut, and when it came to me, held it high up, so the squirrel would stay longer and I’d get a better shot with my camera. What I didn’t consider was 1. that it had rained the entire morning, and the ground was sticky with mud and 2. that the squirrels don’t let you fool them. That specific one suddenly crawled up onto my right leg, clinged itself to my jeans and reached for the nut, and I finally gave in and gave it to him/her – only then I realized the mess it had done, because my jeans were a total mess, there were tiny mudprints all over my right leg. Still, I loved watching these little things running and hopping and crunching and climbing and could barely tell myself that I couldn’t stay here the entire day.

After I pulled myself away from these cuties, I shortly walked over to Buckingham Palace, taking in all the beautiful plants and everything in St. James Park.

I walked over to Big Ben – which I didn’t know was THAT close from where I stood. I suppose I stood there for about 15 minutes without moving, taking pictures with my IPhone, my Nikon Camera, and posted them to facebook and instagram. It was such an amazing feeling to just stand there, the wind blowing, the sun shining, all these people all around me, and just looking at one of the most beautiful architectural thingy there was, and at that moment I really wished I wasn’t alone but with one of my friends to appreciate it even more. Although it was my 2nd time in London, I still couldn’t believe it was real. Is it always like this as a tourist? I hope so, because it’s a beautiful feeling that always brings tears to my eyes. From Big Ben, it were just a few meters to the Bridge and the London Eye, and again, I bet I stood there about 15 minutes just staring at the wonderful and breathtaking scene. This might all seem pretty random to most people, but for someone who desperately wants out of her normal life in Germany, it means the world.

This day had passed so fast, it was unbelievable, and before I noticed, it was time for me to get to the cinema – not before I paid Tesco’s a visit again, to buy chocolate for the last time, and also, some Yorkshire Tea for a friend of mine. After the cinema, I was pretty determined to find out where the Garrick Theatre was – home of my beloved “Rock Of Ages” Show. I knew it was somewhere behind Leicester Square, and I knew it couldn’t be that far away, and though it was already getting dark, and my last night in London had started, I didn’t want to go back to my hostel without having found it. Luckily, suddenly, I stood right infront of it, placed in a small side street a bit after Leicester Square, but easily reachable by foot, and after I saw what they had made of the Theatre, I knew I would be coming back for another RoA show 🙂

I love you, London ♥

London 19.-24.09.2012

London…what a city.

I have to say: when it comes to planes and flying, I am the biggest fraidy-cat on this planet, which I probably will never get over with. So I never thought there was a chance I’d ever come to London in my entire life. But lucky for me, my friend Kim told me that there was a train connection from my hometown over Brussels to St. Pancras, London, which was quite cheap if I booked early enough. Well, said and done, and last September it was finally there, the day I’d get out of Germany for the first time on my own (with 26 years, you have to know!). When I stepped foot on the St. Pancras Platform, it was like a dream coming true. I’ve never been one to say she loved London that much, as I never really like the british accent as much as I do the american one, but that moment changed everything. At that moment I knew that London and I – that was a huge love for a lifetime!

Mostly, my few days there were for sightseeing, as I wanted to see just everything that was to see there (I also saw 3 Musicals, but I’ll make a separate post for that). And apart from St. Paul’s Cathedral, which we couldn’t manage to see, I really saw everything I had put on the agenda in my mind – London Eye, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St. James Park, Buckingham Palace…and I just HAVE to say it: Big Ben and the Tower Bridge are honestly the two most beautiful things I’ve ever seen in my entire life, I can’t even beging to describe these 2 beauties. I feel like I spent an entire SD Card on pictures of both of them, and an entire day just staring at them. I only hope the people living in London know how lucky they are with having something like that in their town.

For these few days, me and my friend stayed at a hostel, the “Piccadilly Backpackers”, which is directly at Piccadilly Circus; you can’t seriously get any other hostel or hotel closer to the action. It’s…well, let’s just say, standard is something different. Of course, if you can’t afford much and you know you can’t expect a lot with less money, you can’t complain. Though I have to admit, after everything I read about it on the internet, after being quite scared about the hygiene there and everything, I was positively surprised. It was nicer and cleaner than I expected, and I’m not really one for needing any luxury. Moreover, instead of the booked 8-bed room, we got a 6-bed room…of course, we didn’t complain 🙂 The showers could need some softening agents because the pressure is almost not existing, but I would always choose the Piccadilly Backpackers again, if I can’t afford anything more expensive and want to stay as close at all the action in London as possible.
London in general is just breathtaking, especially the people…okay, mostly the guys. I’ve never seen so many good-looking, and especially good-smelling guys in my entire life! It makes you want to run after each and every one, without even feeling guilty or like a stalker 😀 Also, London has to offer just the best Chocolate I’ve ever tasted in my entire life, “Cadbury Caramel”. Who does not like this, seriously has a problem. It’s quite expensive (I wouldn’t normally pay almost 3 pounds for 230g of chocolate!), but I would always choose it before every other chocolate. Also, almost the entire money I took with me for the few day landed in the cashiers of “Cool Britannia”. And no, I don’t regret any penny 🙂

I was so stunned with everything I saw…it was actually pretty nice and funny as I stepped onto the street, and when I looked down, there was this tiny information that said “Look Left” or “Look Right”, which honestly can be pretty helpful when you’re from Germany and confused as into which direction to look in order to not get run over by a car 🙂 (though my friend and me soon took over the british way of behaving: just a quick look in any direction, and straightly cross the street, though the redlight is still on…my sentence for the few days was always “We’re british!”) Then there was Oxford Street, which I only heard of, but never seen anything of it in my life, and I was sheer overwhelmed how long and huge it was; my friend and me drove into it in one of these popular red buses, and I loved sitting at the top, front, watching the street pass by, and the bus drivers driving as there was no tomorrow (the kind of driving they did would seriously get you killed here in Germany!)
Oh, and of course…! The SQUIRRELS IN ST. JAMES PARK!!!! Oh my god, how positively shocked I was when I realized they were like little house pets, straightly coming to you, sniffing at you to see if you got anything edible to offer! I was literally squeaking when I saw these cute little things running and hopping all around me, and I think I needed about one and a half hour for the short walk between the start of the park and Buckingham Palace, because I just had to stop every two meters to reach down to get one of the squirrels to come to me. And then there was the weirdest thing of the entire park: an old man, sitting on a simple bench, with his shopping bags right beside him. And right next to him, standing ON the bench, looking at him: A PELICAN! A real life, huge pelican, with his enormous, long beak pointing right into the old man’s face! And the man actually had the nerves to smile and wink at us! You don’t believe it? Here’s the proof:

It actually feels like I walked through entire London, shopped so much chocolate like I’ve never done before, spent way too much money on merchandise and souvenirs…and I loved every little bit of it!!!
So, after my first stay in London, it was quite hard to drive back to my hometown in Germany, and I suffered from a real Post-London-Depression for about 2 months, hating everything and everyone here, and wanting just out. But it was clear to me that I needed to come back as soon as possible.