I arrived in London on Saturday morning and made my way to my hotel in Paddington. It was too early to check in so I dropped my bags and headed off to some of the quintessential sight-seeing spots. Although I have visited London many times, I figured that since it has been 5 years, I might as well check out the sights again.
I took the tube to Covent Garden...a cute area with lots of shops and street performers. I had a much needed Latte and went on my way, stopping for a delicious "berry burst"cupcake at a sweets shop. From there I headed to Chinatown which was still nicely decorated from the recent new year. Then I walked down Shaftesbury St which is where most of the theatres are located, sort of like the Broadway of London. It was quiet as it was a Saturday afternoon. That street led me to Piccadilly Circus which, for those who have never been, is like the Times Square of London...not quite as flashy but some big neon signs at night, but a bit prettier than NYC of course. Very busy with tourists taking photos. I then walked down Piccadilly St with stops along the way at Royal Academy of Arts, Fortnum & Mason, and a cute shopping lane, and the White Cube. I contemplated staying at the Academy of Arts but the exhibit was on Byzantine stuff and I can't say I felt like paying over $10 for that! So I moved
along...I really enjoyed Fortnum & Mason...surprisingly I never made it there on previous trips despite the fact that it is a famous shop. It is like a Dean & Deluca type store with luxurious foods...hundreds of fancy teas, cookies, biscuits, jams, varieties of honeys, interesting things like rose petal jelly, red onion jelly...and then they sell all kinds of produce, smoked garlic, pates...they even had a section of foods which contained insects...like scorpion vodka (which I saw in SE Asia), baked tarantula, lollipops with ants inside, fried worms...I tasted the most delicious olive oil ever...never knew olive oil could be so flavorful! i think I could devour an entire bottle with some dipping bread!!
I also enjoyed perusing this little covered lane of shops...mostly antique jewelry stores with really interesting pieces...if only I could afford them...they even had a store specializing in antique watches-they had Rolexes from the 1920s, Patek Phillipes from the early 1900s...very nice but costing around $15,000 and up!! Off of Piccadilly St, I stopped at this free modern art museum called the White Cube, which I read about in my travel guide...thank god I didn't pay for that thing cuz it was a total bust!! I think they had 2 installments....one was a metal frame of a house with a bucket of water, the other was a projected B&W movie of a bird flying around....it was pathetic!!
Piccadilly St leads down to GreenPark which abuts BuckinghamPalace. There were still some remnants of the recent large snowstorm that London received and which subsequently shut down the city! I took lots of pictures, just like all of the other tourists, outside BuckinghamPalace. I then walked through St James' Park which contains many exotic birds and picturesque views. From there, I arrived at Parliament (Big Ben) and Westminster Abbey. I thought I would take a tour of Westminster but it had already closed. Parliament is always beautiful...took a bunch of photos...watched the ever-present protesters across the street and then crossed over the River Thames to get a view from that side....also getting some shots of the biggest ferris wheel in the world, the London Eye. Then when my feet felt like they couldn't walk any more, I finished out my tour at Trafalgar Square and then hopped on the tube back to Paddington.
After less than 4 hrs of airplane sleep and walking 4+ miles, I needed a little R&R. So I watched some british TV....including a Paris Hilton show called something like "Who wants to be my british best friend?" It was the most horrible and ridiculous show ever! I forced myself to leave my cozy room for some dinner down in Kensington at an asian noodle placed called Wagamama. After that, I wandered into a Whole Foods market to get a water and ended up spending 30 minutes there...I love foreign grocery stores! Such interesting and different items...thank god I didn't have a fridge or else I would have spent tons of money on cheeses, yogurts and teas!
I had a nice sound sleep that night, woke up about 8am and just lounged around...watched some TV, went online, called the lady from whom I am renting a room...finally when I emerged from the room it was time to check out and i left my baggage and walked around. I enjoyed a full English breakfast (poached egg, baked beans, toast, sausage, english bacon) and made my way to Hyde Park which was just a few blocks away. It is like the Central Park of London...the weather turned out being quite nice too!! Some random man started talking to me as I was taking photos...he was british-pakistani-spanish...interesting mix. We were chatting about medicine, London, etc. He told me I looked germanic and had rosy cheeks...the conversation took a strange turn when he asked me what i would do while i was here, as i was a young gall....he said he wondered if i was an open-minded person...I didn't like where that was going...so I assured him i was very busy with visitors and local friends and then he quickly ended the convo there...thank god we didn't get to the part where he would invite me to his next orgy party....ew.
I enjoyed the remainder of my tour of Hyde Park in happy solidarity. I walked to Speaker's Corner which is an area designated for protesters and any crazy that wants to stand on his soap box on Sundays. There was a guy going on about "our saviour Jesus Christ," a black man talking about racism, and a woman passed me a flier on the Baha'i faith. I also checked out the Princess Diana memorial...then walked by KensingtonPalace before heading back to my hotel. Another 2+ miles of walking! All in all, I enjoyed my travels about London, but I have to say I was jealous of the other tourists I saw who were with friends, family or significant others...I think traveling alone is nice for some reasons, but really it is a much more enjoyable experience when you have a buddy to share it with!
Now it was time to head out to my new home in South London...I lugged my heavy bags through the subways to Victoria train station which would take me to my new place. My stop was called Streatham...I totally butchered it with my American accent when I asked for help on when the train left...the first part rhymes with "breath" so you say "Streath-am." It is only a 15 min ride to get there...much more residential area with row homes but still an urban feel. I took a cab probably the 2 or less miles to my flat. I didn't get to see much of the area yet...but I am told it is a very multi-cultural area also with a huge Pakistani population. The flat is on the 2nd floor of an apartment building, very basic accomodations...it is a 2 bedroom place, with me in one, and the owner, Charlotte, in the other. She is a middle aged woman...not sure what her story is yet as she was rushing out to meet friends. Unfortunately she did not give me a key yet so I am hostage til she returns...had a little pang of homesickness when I was alone...felt quite isolated out here as I don't know the area and it is much quieter than central London. I was also hoping that another student would be staying here too...originally I was assigned to a different woman's home much closer to the hospital where I would definitely have another student as a housemate....but a few months ago, I was notified that the woman who owns the place had suffered a psychotic episode and had to be hospitalized and so therefore would no longer be renting her place...so I suppose although it would have been nice to have a roommate, living with a psychopath could have been quite horrific...the last thing I need is to be sleeping with a butcher knife under my pillow. Anyway, Charlotte seems nice and very British...including her tea-stained bad teeth...and speaking of tea, one of the first things she did was introduce me to the kettle! Anyway, the area is a bit drab...and already I have had to listen to the neighbors R&B music and a child having a temper tantrum nearby. Hopefully not a normal occurrence...hopefully Charlotte will give me the lay of the land when she returns and tomorrow morning I will have to get up and travel to the hospital to get registered for my elective!!
More to come later...
I took the tube to 
