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I had quite a busy and eventful weekend. On Friday I headed into London (again) with my flatmate Yiota and one of her classmates, Ameliana, who is also from Cyprus. We began our day in Trafalgar Square, London’s best-known square. Nelson’s Column is located here in honor of one of England’s great military heroes, Horatio Viscount Nelson. The column stands 144 feet high including the 16-foot tall figure of Nelson (in real life he was only 5’4’’). Along one side of the square sits the National Gallery which we will probably spend some time in when the weather gets cold. From there we made our way to Piccadilly Circus. This square is centered around a statue of Eros from 1893 that symbolizes love. Piccadilly Circus is often considered the Times Square of London. It was then on to Regent Street and Oxford Street, two of London’s most famous streets for shopping! You will either be very proud or disappointed in me because I did not make one single purchase. There will, however, be at least one return to trip to do some hardcore shopping! Oxford Street was very crowded, and since it was past noon, we decided to stop at Pizza Hut for the lunch buffet. After filling up on pizza and resting our tired feet, we got back on the tube and made our way to the Marble Arch station which brought us right to. . .the Marble Arch! We then simply crossed the road and entered beautiful Hyde Park. The weather on Friday was wonderful: warm and sunny. Hyde Park was very peaceful and green and would have been a great place for a picnic lunch. Yiota enjoyed watching the squirrels scurry around since there are no squirrels in Cyprus. We wandered through the park just enjoying the day and heading towards the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. The fountain, opened by Queen Elizabeth in 2004, is ring-shaped and has water flowing down both sides from the highest point into a basin called the Tranquil Pool. It sits along the lake (called The Serpentine) in the center of Hyde Park. The three of us then headed through the park in the direction of another of London’s shopping landmarks: Harrods. Harrods began as a grocer in 1849 and the store now has 300 departments along with 18 restaurants and bars. As poor students, we didn’t buy anything but enjoyed just wandering around and taking it all in. By the time we left Harrods, we were exhausted (and had finished our itinerary) so we headed back to Uxbridge on the tube.
Saturday was another exciting day as Julie and Tim traveled from Oxford to visit me! It had been almost a year and a half since I had visited them, so it was wonderful see them again. We met at the Uxbridge tube station and walked through the town a little bit. The weather was nice also on Saturday so we enjoyed a cup of tea outside one of the cafes. We then walked back to campus so I could show them around Brunel University. That was a pretty quick tour as there is not much exciting to actually see here! The tour ended in lovely Flat 36 (which of course will never compare to Flat 98!) where they got to see my very own bedroom and bathroom—ooh, aah. We chatted for a while longer, and Julie shared some photos of her trip to the States to visit her family and her two little nephews. Yiota and Lindy then joined us in the kitchen for some American apple pie (we ignored the fact that I had made it with British apples) and ice cream to celebrate Tim’s birthday on Wednesday. Our day ended with a walk back into Uxbridge, a delicious dinner at Pizza Express, and me putting them back on the bus. It was a really nice day, and I am looking forward to visiting them in Oxford and seeing their new place.
Sunday was not nearly as exciting. My day consisted of some grocery shopping, some reading, some studying with two of my German classmates, some more reading. . . But I guess not much could top a visit from Julie and Tim so I might as well have just returned to my regular, boring life!
I hope you enjoy the new photos from London. There are also a few new photos in the album named “My New Home” so check those out, too.- comments