Living the City Life

Saturday was Beth’s birthday and she was sure to wake me up before her football practice to open her presents. I got her a couple games, which I think she liked(I told her either way to act like she liked them) but she opened them right away so I think they were a success!

        

We went to the pottery place for her birthday party where she and 6 of her friends made some puppets and then headed home to have pizza and get ready for the best part of the day…Footloose! We went to the theater in Tring, which was pretty small, just two little sections so there wasn’t a bad seat in the house. The cast was mostly teenagers but they were all amazing, the music was great and the show overall was so so good! (brilliant as the brits say!)

On Sunday I finally made it into the city for some sightseeing, which turned into a long day of shopping. I got up early and Lisa dropped me off at the train station just up the street around 10:30am. There were some interesting people on the train…the girl across the aisle from me had a diamond on her tooth, while the old Indian man across from me was burping like nobody was around and the guy next to him just looking around to see if other people were hearing this too. The train into London was 35 minutes, not bad at all, and took me right into Euston station in the center of London.

Luckily I remembered how to read the tube map and took it over to Piccadilly Circus where there is always something going on. I walked around and did the tourist thing—taking pictures, going into the souvenir shops—and decided to hop back on the tube.

I got off at Oxford Circus, which is basically the center of the shopping district. First stop: Topshop! The store was massive and so unbelievably packed (I should have expected it, it was Sunday afternoon on Oxford St). It was so overwhelming I had to stop and have lunch at the little place downstairs. I ate at EAT. (say that 3 times fast) where I got a ham and cheese baguette(so good!) and felt like I actually belonged in London sitting in a small café while I took notes of my day so far in my little travel notebook(thanks to jaclyn) posted up in between an over-affectionate European couple and a small family with a child eating a meat pie. I finished eating but sat for a while longer just taking everything in and giving my feet a rest before hitting the streets for some more retail therapy.

I did a lot of browsing until I remembered exactly where I needed to head—PRIMARK. What is PRIMARK? Only the cheapest store ever created to benefit the poor young adult trying to survive in the big city. Luckily I remembered what tube station to go to and sure enough right outside the Marble Arch exit stood PRIMARK. The only way to describe it would be a man’s very worst shopping nightmare come to life—crowds of people shoving and throwing stuff everywhere, fluorescent lights beaming down while you start to work up a sweat just standing there let alone fight the crowds. Thirty pounds(money that is) later I had a big bag in my hand and made a b-line for the door…awful but worth it!

The day of shopping went on for a few more hours until my feet were about to give out and the stores were closing for the evening. I hopped back on the tube and got to the train station in time to grab dinner (another ham and cheese baguette) before getting on my 7:00pm train back to Tring. Lisa picked me up from the station, I was exhausted, went upstairs to try on all of my purchases and went straight to bed. 

Successful day of shopping!