327. London | Oxford Circus, Piccadilly, Harrods

I can't believe it's almost been a year since my Europe trip in 2012..and I still haven't finished posting all the pics!! So here is a post on London (the first city I flew into).

I've always wanted to Fly Emirates (thanks to Arsenal & a little crush I had on Van Persie) Unfortunately that was not my plane. It was just there beside my gate. I flew Air Canada, had my flight delayed, had my luggage lost, returned the evening after I arrived, etc. Anyways. Bad start to an amazing trip.


Finally got on the plane..at least I had lots of leg room!

Since I didn't have any luggage with me when I got off the plane, I decided to try the Tube instead of the cab. Got to South Kensington, the station nearest my hotel. I didn't plan it like this but I was in pretty much the perfect location that night. It was the night of the Champions League final, Chelsea vs. Bayern Munich. Chelsea ended up winning. All the pubs were packed and people spilled onto the streets...but I ended up falling asleep quite early that night thanks to jet lag.

I had so much fun taking the Tube. If you're from Toronto/ever used our subway system you'll know how embarassing ours is compared to London's! Before I went I thought I'd get lost for sure since the map looked crazy complicated..& I'm used to the simple Toronto one. But the tube is actually so easy to use and fun to figure out how to get everywhere. I think it was a weekend when I was there..so almost everyone taking it were tourists.


The street of my hotel. I stayed at Blakes, the black one at the end of the street. (My review here)


Ah I love/miss Harrods!

Black Tier card..came with so many perks! Probably the reason why I spent more hours here than I did at my hotel room? Harrods was also my shelter from all the London rain & the hoards of people from the Queens Jubilee.

Besides Harrods I did manage to squeeze in some sightseeing during my short stay in London:










Victoria Station to take the train to Gatwick airport where I flew to my next destination..Copenhagen!

I think this was at Heathrow Airport before flying back to Toronto. All the breakfasts I had in London were better than any breakfast I've ever had in my life. I also started an obsession with "pain perdu" when I was there. If I lived in London I'd definitely wake up in time for breakfast every morning..


Hello Toronto :( (you can see CN Tower on the very right of the pic. My building is somewhere in there too)


I take tons of photos when I go on vacation but sometimes the most memorable moments were times when I did not take a single photo. One of the worst moments in London was at one of the restaurants I went to, and all I have from that experience is the receipt above. Didn't even take any pics of the food (which I usually always do as you know!) because the restaurant owner kept talking to me the entire time. At first I thought he was just being nice. But I was wrong. He kept giving me more tea, dessert, etc while they were closing up for the day. All the other customers were already gone and suddenly the staff members all left together. I realized I was the last one in there with the owner. Won't go into detail of what happened next but I quickly paid and practically ran out of there as fast as I could.
Lesson learned: don't let the staff leave before you do if the owner is a very creepy old man.

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