Day Two in London

After crashing hard the night before, we enjoyed sleeping in and getting ready at a leisurely pace. Once we were ready to go, we walked to the tube station and headed to Somerset House. I had never even heard of Somerset House, but Ben remembered it from being there six years ago and said it was beautiful. It did not disappoint. Of course, we got out our camera and were so excited to start snapping pictures, but it kept telling us that we had no memory card. There was clearly a camera card in the camera and we checked everything to make sure it wasn't locked, etc. We were super frustrated, but hoped to stop by a camera store or something later, so the day's pictures are taken with my phone camera.

Today was one of my favorite days in London, because we just walked and walked and walked. When we walked out of Somerset House, we went through Victoria Gardens. There were so many people enjoying the beautiful day. They were eating their lunches on the grass and just laying down soaking up the sun. I was super jealous of their lunch breaks! We then walked along the Thames River for a little bit taking in the sites before we started heading to Borough Market. 

It was a bit of a walk to the market...I think Ben wanted to hurt me! I love love love walking and taking in the city, where Ben enjoys walking around when we get to a site, but would prefer to get there by bike or train. I would say it was about a mile and a half to the market. It was actually pretty neat because we walked through areas that were not touristy. We got to see lots of flats/houses (how do you know which is which?), work places and even little shops and cafes that were tucked away. 

By the time we got there, we were famished, so we immediately started looking at all of the carts and shops set-up with food. This was on a Tuesday, so all of them weren't set-up like they would be on a Saturday, but there was still a very impressive selection of food. I was super excited to be adventurous and just try something new! We ended up at the individual carts and Ben settled on Ethiopian food while I got a Falafel wrap. We both enjoyed trying something new while we sat in the middle of the market and listened to a musician play. 

While we were walking around earlier, we saw some incredible dessert carts. One had ginormous chocolate chip cookies...like out of control HUGE! If you know Ben at all, you know this was a must try. We had plans to meet one of my friends from college around 2, so we grabbed a cookie and relaxed on the Borough Market benches in the sun. 

An amazing dessert cart. Their baklava was out of this world! 

After our glorious cookie, we walked to the London Bridge just around the corner to meet my friend, Jena. Ok, can we talk about the London Bridge? Apparently most people think that the London Bridge is really the Tower Bridge, but we were on the for real London Bridge and I was totally unimpressed. There is a great view of the Tower Bridge, but it is literally just like a highway bridge here in the states. Ben thought it was pretty funny that I didn't believe him that we were on the London Bridge at all! 

Once we met up with Jena, we went on a fun walking tour of London. She works for a company as a tour guide and just so happened to be starting a tour the same day we started our tour, but she came over early to enjoy the city for a bit. It was so great to see her and get some suggestions on what to see and where to go! We walked across the Millennium Bridge which is apparently a big part of Harry Potter, and went by the the Globe Theater and St. Paul's Cathedral.  I absolutely love the history here! 

After walking by a ton of fun, beautiful sites, we hopped on the tube (in rush hour) to Picadilly Circus. I was for real sandwiched in between so many people. Ben thought it was hilarious, but unfortunately he was too squished to take a picture. We continued a walking tour of Picadilly Circus to Covent Garden. I adored Covent Garden! It was such a cute little part of the city with lots of restaurants, shopping stores, little shops, an outdoor market and outdoor entertainment. I made a mental note to make it back there before we left. We felt like we had walked at least 6 miles for the day, so we were getting a bit hungry and decided to head to a pub for some fish and chips. 

On our way, we passed by a cute little cookie shop called "Ben's Cookies" and had to stop! Apparently it was the day of the cookie! Ben got a chocolate chip (surprise surprise) and I got a peanut butter for an after dinner treat. 

Jena took us to a pub called Marquess and it was delicious! I got the renne pasta because I wasn't sure about fish and chips yet, but I tried Ben's dinner and it was incredible! The fish was so fresh! I am also a fan of the mashed peas...should I admit that?!?! We felt like total partiers because we didn't start heading back to our hotel until almost ten o'clock! 

Day 2 was such a good day in the city, and we went to bed exhausted again!