London Days 6, 7 & 8

After 5 days of touristy things and some sightseeing, my final days in London would be spent shopping. My friend left London in the middle of the night to catch a flight to Italy. That gave me plenty of time to scour the town for make up, clothes and of course, shoes.

I arrived at Oxford Street a bit early. The only thing open was HMV. I browsed around for a bit and when I left a girl approached me. She needed a model for a hairdressing course for Toni & Guy and if I would like to get a new haircut. I had plenty of time on my hands so I agreed to go with her. It took 3,5 hours, but I now have a new haircut which looks great and it didn’t cost me a thing. Hurrah!

After a quick Starbucks break I went on with my shopping spree. My initial plan was to do Oxford Street & Covent Garden on Friday and go to Westfield Shopping Mall on Saturday. I ended up spending so much time on Oxford Street though that I never even had the time to go to Covent Garden. I went to all the major department stores, Top Shop, Aldo and then some. I also hit up Primark, but that was mayhem so I got out as quickly as I got there. By the time I was done shopping, I was starving and stopped at this nice Italian place just off Oxford Street to grab a bite to eat. Then onwards to the Odeon Cinema on Tottingham Court Road to watch Water for Elephants. That was day 6.

The movie was alright. I now know why I wasn’t interested in reading the book. I don’t like the story, but the movie is pretty: the costumes, the colors, the atmosphere are all very tastefully done. If you don’t like romantic love stories however, you’d better stay away from it. Plus there are a few parts of the story that move so fast that as a viewer you don’t have time to feel the emotions of the characters (when Jacob’s parents die for instance). The plot sometimes feels a little rushed to get it done within 2,5 hours and I never even read the book. Rob looks pretty though so you’ll get enough of eye candy if you like him ;-).

Saturday ended up being a let’s-go-across-town-as-many-times-as-possible day. I started my day by taking the subway up to Camden Market. Unfortunately the place was sprawling with touristy shops selling hats and sunglasses. I did spot the occasional punkers but you’d hardly notice them amongst all those loud Italians. So I walked around for maybe 30 minuts and grabbed a train to King’s Cross to sort out my train for Monday morning.

After that I went to Covent Garden where I finally bought a pair of Dr. Marten’s (the 1460 in Cherry Red Smooth in case you’re wondering) and went to Urban Outfitters and Space.NK. I walked back to my hotel to drop off some stuff and left to pick up my phone. By this time it had been 5 days and 3 trips to the repair shop and by the time I went to pick it up it still wasn’t functioning. Frustrated the guys from the shop offered me to swap my old Blackberry for the one they had on display at no extra charge. So now, finally, after almost 5 days of agony and frustration I again have a functioning Blackberry.Double hurrah!

After the phone debacle I went back to Urban Outfitters because I had spotted a cardigan, didn’t buy it and then decided I really wanted it anyway. So I went back, got the cardigan and went to The Strand to go to the Twinings Shop which was about to close. I got my favorite tea and stocked up on some more to try out and went for pizza. Dropped off my stuff at the hotel again and went to the Embankment tube station to join a walking tour called Bloodcurdling London. I took a walking tour with the same company last year and loved it and this one was great as well though not as much fun as the other one. Thoroughly exhausted I arrived back at my hotel, reinstalled my Blackberry and went to sleep.

Sunday (which is today) was a quiet day: I sorted out my taxi/ train ride for tomorrow. I also went to Heathrow airport to ship some stuff I bought which I don’t want to drag around for another week. The post office at Heathrow is the only post office to be open on a Sunday and since I didn’t have any major plans I decided to take the 2 hour journey to and from the airport.

After writing this I will go to Leicester square to find a cool musical to watch tonight and if I can’t find anything I like, I will go to watch another movie. Then I will have to sort out my suitcase and repack so I can take a cab to the train station at 5 AM. Not looking forward to that, but hey, a girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do right? I will catch a flight to Amsterdam, then go to Breda to get on a bus to go to Edinburgh and go on the study trip with my students.

I will post a haul post (with pictures) once I get back next weekend. In the mean time, this blog will feature even less posts, as I don’t think the hostel has a WIFI connection. I will have a few Song Challenge posts coming up though!