So last weekend, Madeline flew from Lyon to London to visit!! Thanks to the GLORIOUS weather we got to spend a ton of time just enjoying the nature hidden in the city.
On Friday, we did some shopping around Oxford Circus where we both discovered the glories of Primark (think Forever 21 but cheaper and crazier - yes it’s possible). I found this awesome invention where tights have fleece inside to keep you warm - what a brilliant idea!
After, we went on a really long walk all around the city and hit up Hyde Park! Half of the park was still in summer mode with green leaves and sunbathers everywhere, while the other half was full of orange and red. I always find parks in cities amazing. It’s strange feeling the complete tranquility of a park and hearing the sound of nature only to remind yourself that you are actually in one of the largest cities in the world. Considering I love cities so much though, it’s almost a perfect balance of both! I get my hustle & bustle, but have a place to calm down when I want.
Notice: Evidence of Madeline’s awkward hover hand. This happened in EVERY picture hahah
In Hyde park, there is the Princess Diana Memorial which is one of the best designed memorials I’ve seen. You can’t see the full memorial just in one snap shot, but it’s a fountain where two streams at the highest point flow down in different directions only to meet at a calm pool in the bottom. Since it was a hot day, there were little kids playing in it and adults cooling their feet - I thought it created a really tangible connection between how much the people loved her when she was alive, and how much she is still alive in their memories today.
Saturday night, we got an extra ticket for Madeline to come see Much Ado about Nothing with us at the Globe theatre! We were the Underlings so we had to watch the entire 3 hour play while standing right in front of the stage just like “back in the day”! We were pretty tired by the end of it, but it was worth it.
Do you recognize the character on the right?
What about now?
Hahah ohh yeah, Leonidas was played by none other than Geoffrey the Butler by Fresh Prince! Does that make the play more or less legit?
Finally, come Sunday, it was time to bid Madeline adieu in the wee hours of the morning. She had a 6 oclock flight meaning we had to leave my apartment by 4:15. With full intentions of going to bed around 1 and getting at least a little bit of sleep, we ended up talking…until 4:15am. In our panic, we realized that the tube didn’t open until 6 which was fine for us getting there, but that I’d have to walk back alone at 5 in the morning. Thanks to Beccy’s many British Bits, I had already heard way too many horror stories of taxi drivers killing you when you go in a cab alone, so we called Matt about 800 times and begged him to go to the station with us. Thankfully and luckily, he was a great chum and we all ran as far as we could before we taxi’d the rest of the way to Victoria station. We finally got back to our dorm at 6am and I fell asleep until the afternoon.
Adventures with Madeline will soon be continued next month when we go to Paris together!!!
Also, shout out to Janet who is probably the only person in the world reading this right now.
Party Rings. Really thin sugar cookies covered in loads of frosting.
