London Day 3: Last Adventures and Goodbyes - Rachel Baker

      You are probably eager to hear about our adventures on the third and final morning of our stay in London. And let me tell you- it was absolutely indescribable. This is because I wasn't there. 

    Sabrina, Ms. Al Karkhi, and I all stayed back at the hotel because Sabrina was sick and I had a headache. The main group went to the Tower of London.  As for my small group, by lunchtime we were both feeling better and ready to meet back up with the group. Once we were done with our quick lunch stop at UK Subway, we went to Hyde Park to meet the rest of our group.

    After exiting the train station, we had a nice walk through Harrods shopping center, which I have been told is famous. We went in upon my request because I wanted to see how fancy the bathrooms were. The whole building smelled like perfume and money and all the employees somehow manage to stand passive-aggressively at you when you walk by. It was very entertaining. After asking for directions, we were led to a fancy sparkly escalator to get to the bathrooms. I have to say, the bathrooms exceeded my expectations. Everything was made of white marble and there was small staircase in the bathroom to a mini-balcony situation that had more stalls. There was even one of those people that hands you napkins and offers to spritz perfume on you and gestures politely towards the vacant stalls so you know where to go. On the way out I tried to check the prices of some stuff but there were literally no price tags on anything, which is apparently a thing for fancy stores. 8.4/10 experience.

 It was a short and pleasant walk to Hyde Park. As soon as we arrived at the pond, an old man rolled up and dumped a bunch of cereal on the ground. All the birds went nuts and swarmed. After a minute or two there must have been hundreds of pigeons, all stepping on each other and fighting to get to the cereal. A swan and a few ducks also came to get in on the action. Sabrina and I agreed that it was very fun and educational to watch.

    After we bid farewell to the bird swarm, we walked around to the other side of the pond, where there were tons of swans. I managed to pet four swans, one of which even sat next to me and chewed on my sleeve for a while, before Sabrina made us go sit on a bench to wait to meet up with Dr. Q's group. We relaxed and took in the ambiance of the park for a while, but then it started getting cold and windy and a tad miserable. We were also downwind from the pond so it began to smell heavily of bird poop. Thankfully, their group showed up after a few minutes and we decided to make our way over to Covent Garden. We were very sad to leave the park, but we all knew it was time to continue on to our next adventure.

    Covent Garden was a very lively place. There were multiple magic shows and other street performances at the entrance, and tons of food and souvenir stalls as soon as we entered. We walked as a group through the main stalls and shopped for a while. The shopping experience was described by members of the group as "good," "great," "delightful," "mysterious", and "crowded". Overall, everything was well in Covent Garden until some members of the group needed to find a bathroom. I bravely volunteered to join the bathroom group in their quest. After intensive searching, we managed to find the bathroom- but the trials were just beginning. The bathroom we found was actually a business in disguise, a cruel trap designed to scam innocent bathroom-goers by the name of "2theloo".* They required you to pay one quid to have access to the bathroom, and also only took cash. It was horrible. I asked Ms. Al Kharki if I could scout out the neighboring fancy wine bar restaurant to see if they had a bathroom, and she approved. After spotting the sign that confirmed my theory, I returned to the group and we decided to slip into the restaurant instead of paying of 2theloo. Unfortunately, they began shouting at us once we entered, which I fortunately managed to evade through pretending I couldn't hear them. While I managed to make it to the bathroom, the rest of the group was blocked by other staff. It was very sad. Eventually, the group was forced to relent and pay for 2theloo. It was a bitter but necessary loss.

    After we finished that adventure, we all met back up to eat dinner at Shake Shack. We all ate our fill and then finally boarded the train to head back to the hotel for the night. The walk back was bittersweet, as we realized this would be the last time we see London in daylight. We made sure to absorb the sights of the city to inspire us tomorrow during our early morning to catch the big flight. Goodbye UK! 

*Disclaimer: the statements made about "2theloo" are my own personal opinions and do not necessarily reflect the actual intentions of the company or the views of my fellow trip students.