Kings Cross for a Night

I think that London will be one of the aspects of my study abroad experience that I miss most when I am back in America. There is so much to do all of the time, the public transportation is so reliable and good and fun, and I just always felt safe and free while I was exploring there. So despite all of the amazing places that I visited during my post-study abroad travel week, our one-night layover in London stands out as one of my favorite parts. We revisited our old station in Kings Cross (where we lived for the first month of our trip), explored Camden (highly recommend this, there are tons of cool shops and there is a huge market with some really cool little stands. It’s a pretty cool and eclectic collection of people and things), and generally spent the night hopping bars in search of live music, which we successfully found despite the fact that it was late on a random Tuesday night. One of the coolest parts for me was the first bar that we went to, when, after having been there for a while, I realized that it was the old stomping grounds of Amy Winehouse, who I’ve always been fascinated with. There was a huge painting of her with a message written on it that read “In Loving Memory of Our Dear Friend Amy. We Miss You!”. That really killed me and the coolest part was that I could so picture her sitting there in that bar. It just made sense that that was her go-to bar. And to top it off, later in the night when we finally found live music it was at a jazz bar where a band was doing a cover of an Amy Winehouse song.

All this, plus good company, taking a night bus for the first time, staying in a hostel that felt a little cleaner than the one we had in Dublin, eating an omelette for breakfast (I had been craving one), and generally getting a little London-closure, made for a great last day in the UK…

The UK which, as a whole, I will also miss so much. I will miss the people and Primark and Pret a Manger. Public transportation, pubs, and all the other good things which start with “p” and which you can’t find in the states (I honestly wasn’t even trying with the “p” thing). If I am lucky enough to have the means to make it make to Europe in the future, I will most definitely come back and hopefully this time I’ll be able to see Scotland and Wales as well. And just to continue with the “p” theme, this morning we leave for Paris (from St. Pancras!).