Back in London!! Days 3 & 4

I'm really sad that it's my last day in London. This trip was much needed and I never want to leave. I knew I wanted to go to Borough Market and check out Tate Modern for the first time. My AirBnb was in a perfect location that allowed me to walk there! It was raining quite a bit, so I got a nice, warm coffee to keep me going through the rain. I walked past the Tower of London, went onto Tower Bridge, and eventually found myself at Borough Market just next to the Shard.

Borough Market is such a different vibe in the cold weather. It was still extremely crowded since people wanted to stay warm and dry. I was happy to see many of the same stalls were there. I passed the familiar paella stand where they give out free samples and also looked for Pieminster, the small meat pie stand that my 2019 study abroad friend had nostalgia for. As it was hot and well-priced, I got a steak and ale pie for lunch. I also got these lovely warm coconut cakes that I tried with my parents back in 2019. They weren't as good as I remembered, but still had nice flavour.

As I made my way to Tate Modern, I saw lots of fun street art murals. I stopped outside of the Globe Theatre on Southwalk (pronounced suth-uk for some reason) and checked out the current show.

I will never get over that the Tate is free! It's so huge and there was a lot to see. There was a great exhibition by Yayoi Kusama, but I didn't want to spend the money, nor did I have much more time. I spent much more time in the gift shop than I intended because there was a fun interactive drawing wall!

Once I had seen every corner of the Tate, I made my way across the Harry Potter bridge, which was closed when I was last here, and walked along Southbank during sunset. Sadly, no Flake99 trucks to be seen, but it was alright.

Before I knew it, I found myself in Trafalgar Square, where a marvelous Diwali celebration was taking place. I knew I had to check it out, plus, I could really go for some Indian food. There was a huge stage and lots of stands. I briefly checked out the Bollywood dance tent and had a lot of fun. For dinner, I lined up at one of the food trucks and got a delicious platter. When I became confident I had seen everything, I made my way home to change for a fun haunted theatre tour with Jordan. I dressed up as Wednesday Adams and put on a glittery crochet piece I made. I was so excited to wear it for the first time! It looked like a spider web and I had been working hard to get it done by today.

The tour came with a free cocktail, which was amazing. Our tour guide was quite funny, and I definitely didn't get jump-scared a couple of times...Being in a theatre after hours is nothing like you could ever imagine.

At the end of the tour, we walked around the area a bit because it was right by Covent Garden, so it was quite nice. I had a flight the next day in the early afternoon, so we didn't stay out too late. It was so fun to see a Chicago friend all the way in London!

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I got up early and checked out of my room to catch the bus just down the street. I had a couple of minutes, so I went across the street to Costa to get my favourite: a flat whte and a spinach and egg English muffin. With my luck, the bus came early and left me!! When I came back to the bus stop, I asked if people had seen it, and apparently the driver came out and asked, and the people answered they didn't know. A really kind lady said I could get on the bus with her to catch it at Liverpool station. Looking at Apple Maps, I wasn't sure I could get there in time, but I stuck with it. She could see I was extremely nervous and kept reassuring me. My goodness, Liverpool Station is so confusing. When I got there, I ran inside and assumed I could figure out where the bus was because I'm quite good at understanding public transportation, however, when I couldn't find it and asked a staff member for help, he was confused too. Defeated, I went outside again and found the bus almost immediately. Thank goodness! From that point on, it was smooth sailing. I got a cold pesto pasta at the airport, which didn't break the bank. In fact, Boots has a fantastic meal deal that allows you to get a main dish, snack, and drink, for under 10 quid!

I was back in Luxembourg by 4:18 PM and couldn't wait to sleep in my own bed. The "Moien" sign was decorated with Halloween things and I had to get a picture with it! From here, I took the usual bus to the Gare Centrale, took the train back to my dorm, made a terrible, but fast dinner, and prepared myself for another day of not really teaching.