The other week I went to London. There wasn’t much of a plan
apart from meeting some friends at some time after lunch for something to
eat. London isn’t far from me, but I
know that some people are not as fortunate as I am. Whether they live in the UK but a few
hours away or in a different country I thought I would try something different
and photograph some of my journey as I walked around London. There are some
landmarks, and there are aspects of London that are not so accessible to the
average viewing of London.
I started off on the Strand, and walked up through Covent Garden
and onto Leicester Square. This is the first picture, which is relatively calm
as it was about half 11 in the morning at the time. Tip: if you want to explore
London without the hassle and queues, get up early on a weekday morning
sometime
after rush hour. It’s like a completely different city.
I walked through past Chinatown which was on my right, a
place I’ve only been through a few times. The first was on Chinese New Year,
now that was hectic. And then on to Piccadilly
Circus.
Up ahead you can see Regent Street, but instead of walking
along there where I would inevitably be distracted by the multiple sales taking
place I decided to walk through the ‘back lanes’, basically just the road
directly behind Regent Street.
I walked past Whole Foods, and managed to wiggle my way
along the roads until I came across Carnaby Street. That’s the thing with
London. A lot of the time I’m not entirely sure where I’m going but every so
often I’ll see sites that I recognize. You have to learn to trust your
instincts and after a while you will begin to connect places until you know
the place like it’s the back of your hand.
There are lots of unique shops along Carnaby Street, one of
my favourites is Monki! However this time I was on a mission to find a newly
opened shop, Brandy Melville. I spent about 10 minutes walking back and forth
until I stumbled upon it, told you it’s all about luck.
They had some nice stock, I didn’t buy anything but I was
glad that I finally had the chance to visit!
I also walked past the heavenly chocolate shop ‘Choccywoccydoodah’.
I didn’t go in but I took a peek through the window and there was lots of
chocolate goodness in there.
Next stop was Liberty’s. I could walk around this store for hours and
never get bored. I was about to pop into Topshop but looked at my watch and
realised that I was definitely going to be late for meeting my friends.
So I hopped on the tube, caught the Bakerloo line southbound
to Waterloo. And in under 10 minutes I was away from the bustle of the shoppers
on Oxford Street and ventured south of the river.
I walked from Waterloo to Southwark Street which was near to
where I was meeting my friends for a late lunch.
We ended up meeting at Albion Café Neo Bankside which my
friend had walked past a few times. It was a really sweet place. As you entered
there was a little shop where you could buy fruit, veg and a great selection of
organice and homemade produce. And behind all this there were tables which were
on the whole full which served as the café. Me being me I had eaten at midday,
so decided to go for the Afternoon Tea, why not? And it was delicious! A cup of
tea with a selection of cakes including a scone, fruit cake, Victoria sponge
and a chocolate brownie! Yum!
We spent a while there catching up and enjoying our food. We
then went our separate ways and I made my way back to Waterloo to get the train
home. It was a great day in the end. Sometimes the days that have little plans
turn out to be the best.
