London, England

Getting to London was almost like coming home early. I was staying with family, I knew a few other friends in the city, and I’d been to London twice before. It was so nice to re-visit and explore this gorgeous place again.

I didn’t feel like being a tourist anymore, so I didn’t use my camera as much as I did in other cities. I went for walks with my cousin’s lovely wife all around the city, we looked for apartments for them (it was like being on House Hunters! my dream..), and I ate at Pret a Manger almost every day – their sandwiches are out of bounds. We walked through Hyde Park many times, and up and down the Thames on a sunny day. I explored Portobello Road for the first time with my new friend Chris (we had an overpriced smoothie at a café Gwyneth Paltrow is known to frequent, because we’re fancy), watched street performers in Covent Garden with my new friend Elle, and got late-night milkshakes near Carnaby Street with my very old childhood friend Emily.

My cousin and his wife are such fun and funny people, and we spent our evenings having nice dinners, going for walks (enjoying London’s Indian Summer!), and watching bad movies (not kidding – in 4 days, we managed to watch both Conan the Barbarian [don’t do it, just don’t] and Aladdin). We tried for lottery tickets to the Book of Mormon twice, to no success. It was still fun to go down to the theatre, enter the draw, and cross our fingers while the actors announced the lucky names.

My time in London was just the most lovely, relaxed few days. I couldn’t have asked for anything more.