Getting into the Holiday Spirit!

Yesterday my friend Alexandra and I decided to take a complete break of our stressful, homework-filled lives, and do fun things in London instead. Plus, the holidays are coming up and Christmas lights are going up everywhere, and there's no better time to be in a huge bustling city. We began our day at Hyde Park's Winter Wonderland carnival which was SO much fun!! We were truly walking through a winter wonderland, just like in the Christmas song! Little huts with Christmas lights were set up and filled with all sorts of carnival sweets. And there were lots of fun rides (we went on the carousel - the cheapest, most traditional option and the one that most reminded us of our childhoods!). We went ice skating, and I've got to say, there's nothing like ice skating in Hyde Park to Christmas carols while being surrounded by a blissful holiday carnival. They wouldn't let us bring cameras on the ice rink so we missed a lot of cute photo opportunities, but believe me, it was awesome!

Welcome to heaven!

The closest I'll ever get to Christmas... :]

On the carousel!

Alice in Wonderland themed candy shop

Cotton candy...yum

Afterwards we spent some time getting lost in Harrods...and, repeating what I said in my blog post from when we went for the first time, it's very much like a really fabulous fashion museum. This may sound silly but it's a really fun place to aimlessly wander in.

Pretty street near Harrods 

Then we walked through Green Park and made our way to Buckingham Palace! Remember in September I blogged about how we came during the changing of the guards and it was so crowded we couldn't even see the castle? Well, now we finally got to see what it looked like without using the zoom on our cameras! And the weather was perfect for strolling through the park. I can't believe I came so close to the Queen of England! :)

Me and Alexandra in Green Park 

So close to the Queen!

Sitting on the fountain near the palace

Next - Afternoon tea of course! My favorite British thing! The whole world should do afternoon tea, it's such a nice way to relax. And we went to our favorite place on Oxford Street, which was cool because never in my life did I think that someday I would have a favorite place for afternoon tea in the heart of London which a friend and I could go to whenever we pleased. What will I do in Sharon without the center of London being 20 minutes away from me? After tea we did some shopping, this time partly for souvenirs for friends which was fun. I love walking down Oxford Street, and then turning on to Regent Street (which is apparently where the Queen does her shopping!), and going straight until you end up at Piccadilly Circus. The walk is so beautiful, especially with all the Christmas lights up! On Regent Street we went into Hamely's, London's really famous toy store - like F.A.O Schwartz or that huge Toys'r'Us in Times Square, but with much cooler Harry Potter toys. Also, we found barbie/ken dolls made to look like Princess Kate and Prince William...believe it or not that costs 100 pounds.

Afternoon tea :) 

Oxford Street!

Prince William and Princess Kate!

Regent Street!

From Piccadilly we started heading home but on our way stopped at Covent Garden (like Boston's Faneuil Hall) and walked around some more. Then we finally got home, exhausted, and went to bed. Sure, it was kind of a childish/girly day, but it was fun, relaxing, and definitely made us appreciate London despite not being home for Thanksgiving break!

Christmas tree at Covent Garden!

Today I started working on my final essays - almost done with Art History, then British History, Media, and Creative Writing left to go! So much work. And there's still so much to see in London!! I don't understand how people can ever come here for just a weeklong vacation.
xoxo,
Sarah