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Reading is my first "trip" after I moved to Newbury last Saturday. It is the biggest city around, besides London of course, and I thought I would go and get accustomed to it. I have quite naturally googled it before leaving France and now that I should be content from a capitalist point of view: it has some of my favourite shops, namely Lush and Whittard of Chelsea. Hurray hurray.
So this morning, Emma gave me a lift to the train station before her 9:15 course at Newbury College. I hadn't taken the train in England in a long time and found it all very confusing again. I'm positive I'll get used to it again soon enough, though. You always find "your" system makes more sense because you're used to it really. The journey is rather short: 20 to 30 minutes depending on where it calls at. It took me about that long on the underground from my flat to the city centre of Lille.
Once there, I walked along the first street I saw, not sure where I was heading to. Whether it is a quality or a fault, I don't know (I sometimes curse myself for not being more organised however), but I had only had a quick look at Google Maps and did not know where to go or what to see. I do love to get lost in cities though: when I was in Coventry, it's how I learnt how to find my way around town. I would get off at a random bus stop, walk from there and see where it would take me. Eventually I was the first to know where I was going.
Reading turned out to be a very nice city: I particularly loved that street (Queen Victoria street) which looked like Victorian architecture on Mars. The main shopping street, Broad Street, is - as its name indicates - long and broad and a money-spending heaven. From there you can also walk into The Oracle shopping centre which has many more shops, including Waterstone's where I spent over an hour browsing through the books. (I did not buy any despite the temptation though - not until my bank account is sorted)
At noon I went to sit by the canal to eat my sandwich from Marks & Spencer (I had forgotten how much I loved M&S food despite its price) and read some of The Other Boleyn Girl. I really need to finish this book at some point! It was really nice and relaxing, and I was sorry the weather was not any better. I imagine the stairs there must be packed in the summer when it's properly summery.
After then I walked around some more, past the town hall and a (the?) church. I took a train back to Newbury around 15:00.
While I did enjoy Reading, I found it rather "small" and lacking personality. Perhaps I need to walk away from the city centre? I don't know how big or small it is compared to Lille. I would need to look it up. But anyway, I imagine I'll be there often when major shopping is needed.
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