On Sunday, May 15 we got to have a free day in London. We could do whatever we wanted as long as we had a buddy. Some students took a day trip to Blenheim Palace, others went on an adventure to find Abbey Road Studios, some decided to explore the London Dungons, and then a few of us had a shopping and park day. For my free day myself and two students did some shopping in the morning at the Jubliee Market and Tea House. The Jubilee Market is just a big open building with stalls upon stalls of vendors.

After the Jubile Market, which by the way is perfect for my price range, we decided to adventure to Oxford Street where you can find Selfridge’s department store. Now really this is no department store. This is basically a huge department store that is broken down into a bunch of little designer stores. To name a few of the designers that are located within Selfride’s would be Chanel, Burberry, Dior, Prada, Oakley, Ray-Ban, Kate Spade, and Michael Kors. Those are just a few of the designers that you can find there. Let me tell you it was sure an experience to be in that store, but I was afraid to touch anything! This would be the store to go to if you are every looking for anything that a designer makes!

After we decided we were done shopping we went and spent some time in Hyde Park. We got bikes and rode around The Serpentine, which is a pond in the park. The bike ride was a total adventure because it has been almost 10 years since I last rode a bike and everyone knows the saying “it’s just like riding a bike”, but what they don’t tell you is that remembering how to ride a bike again can have a rough start! Luckily we made it through the ride without any accidents. Along the way we got to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain along with the Holocaust Memorial Garden.

We ended up walking a little bit of the inner paths that bikes could not go on after we got done riding. There were some beautiful gardens and water features.

We ended up finding a nice spot in the park and spent the remainder of the afternoon people watching, reading, and journaling. It was really amazing to see how the park played such a big role in the life of Londoners. Everywhere you looked you saw people learning something new. Kids learning how to ride bikes or scooters, people of all ages learning to roller blade or ride a horse. There were also many groups of people that were salsa dancing or roller blading to music. It was a place for families to spend time together, friends to catch up with each other, or couples to enjoy a picnic. It was the place everyone wanted to be at on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. It was a perfect day to relax and enjoy London.

Until Next Time,
Lacey