Day 9! 3 days until I head off to be fully on my own! Warmth, adventure, and new connections are in sight!

I’ve been enjoying eating breakfast with my dad! It’s a great way to start the day. However, on the days where he has to get up early for class it’s a lot more difficult.

But nonetheless, I still joined him, had the same breakfast as yesterday, and then went right back to sleep!

After getting ready for the day, I set out for a walk to a nearby park.

It was a chilly morning, probably just above freezing on my walk. But the sun was out and shining with another morning of blue skies!

I can’t get over how lucky I’ve been so far with how little rain I’ve encountered! Apparently this cold is pretty abnormal though.

As I made my way to Lincoln’s Inn Fields, there were a number of people out walking their dogs or on their way to work! It made for some great people watching and who doesn’t love seeing a bunch of dogs running around.

Lincoln’s Inn Fields was about a 14 minute walk from my hotel, it had a walking path that circled the entire park and a bunch of park benches surrounding it as well!

After walking around the loop I decided to sit on a bench in the sun and listen to an audiobook! I ended up sitting in the park for around an hour enjoying the sun, the dogs, and a few birds who were brave enough to come say hello

After my dad was done teaching, I met him back at the hotel where we got ready to head out for our little adventure of the day!

We set out for Holborn station where we needed to catch two lines for our first destination!

After getting off the Tube, we headed down the street for a 6 minute walk to… Abbey Road!

We of COURSE had to recreate the album cover!

I was expecting this area to be a bit more crowded, but there were still plenty of people just as excited as us to be there and take the same picture!

So we ended up hanging around for a bit and helped another group take their picture as well!

Directly next to the crosswalk is another Beatles landmark, Abbey Road Studios! We didn’t go inside (I’m not sure if you can) but this was all very cool to see still!

After having some fun being goofy tourists, we went on a 40 minute walk to the next place!

While on our walk we found a public restroom which was impressively clean (and free)! Now this may seem silly to add to a post, but I thought it’s important to bring up and good to know if you’re ever visiting!

In the city of London I haven’t seen too many public restrooms. But walking around the nearby towns, I’ve seen a number of them! It’s not something you see very often in the US either!

After a nice long walk we arrived at Portobello Road (and yes, the song will now be as stuck in your head as much as it was in mine all day)!

We wandered up and down the long street full of shops, restaurants, and a few food vendors.

My mom told us about an amazing gözleme stand, but we couldn’t find it! Unfortunately we found out that Saturday is the best day for Portobello road… not Thursday. So if you’re ever planning on going, Saturday is when all the food vendors are out and about!

As disappointing as it was that we couldn’t find what we were looking for, it lead us to finding some very filling falafel wraps!

By this point we were very hungry so we scarfed down our lunch!

Overall, Portobello Road was a fun stop! I look forward to coming back on a Saturday and seeing it in full swing. But just as the Borough Market did, it got me very excited for the night markets in SE Asia!

By this point of our day our legs were tired and the temperature was quickly dropping. So we meandered our way to the nearest Tube station and made our way back to the hotel!

We hung out in our room until dinner and then headed down to see if any other professors wanted to join us… but what actually happened we couldn’t have expected!

While waiting in the lobby we saw a lady we had run into a few times in the hotel! Her name is Ellen and she’s a very lovely lady.

She was walking out the door when we saw her and we were calling after her to say hello… but she didn’t hear us. Her group however did and they were very confused how we knew Ellen. We explained it to them and they loved the story and then asked us what we were up to. Their “leader” of the group, Gina, told us they were heading to see a show, My Neighbor Totoro, and had extra tickets and were wondering if we wanted to join them (the show was in an hour)!

We asked them how much they’d want for them and they said totally free! My dad and I looked at each other and immediately decided dinner could wait! So we ended up heading out with them to the show! They even had some extra tickets for a few Bradley students who also happened to be in the lobby!

Our new group headed to the show during peak rush hour in the Tube, but we made it to the theater on time!

The show was being put on in the Barbican and it was absolutely phenomenal! I really enjoyed the Totoro movie, but this play blew it out of the water!

The puppets were amazing, the acting was spot on to the characters in the movie, and the musicians and singer were incredible! The set design was breathtaking as well.

My dad and I laughed and cried. We really enjoyed the show and what a wonderful way to have experienced it!

And of course… who did we happen to sit right next to? ELLEN! We chatted before, at intermission, and after the show! It continues to blow me away just how easy it can be to connect with someone you have never met before.

This is just a testament to you never know who you’re going to meet. There are so many wonderful and kind people in the world and it doesn’t cost you anything to be nice to them!

So to Gina, Ellen, and the wonderful group from Notre Dame of Maryland University, thank you so much for asking us to join you and for such an amazing experience!

We were VERY hungry after the show was over. So my dad and I scoured Google to figure out what restaurants would still be open at 10pm.

Not much, in terms of food, in London is really open late. But a restaurant we had gone to earlier in the week, Hiba, was still open!

So we headed to the Tube and made our way to Holborn for our late night dinner!

Even with it being so close to closing time, the staff was very happy to have us and were very sociable. We even ended up chatting with the chef for a bit before we left.

Since I hadn’t had enough of wraps today, I got a lamb shawarma wrap which was very good. My dad got a mixed meat platter, which was huge, so I helped him finish it off too.

If you had told me at the beginning of today I’d be sitting in a theater with a group of strangers seeing My Neighbor Totoro for free, I would’ve said no way (well… it does sound like something I’d stumble into).

This situation gets me so excited for my travels. There is so much good in the world and so many fantastic people waiting to be met!

We’ll see what tomorrow has in store for us!

– Elie