First, re-capping last night’s society ball (held at a hotel in Trafalgar Square), I must give a shout out to my flatmate Lindsay and all of the other lovely ladies involved in co-hosting the event: it was such a fun time and such a fun idea! For £10, our tickets got us 3 drinks plus a full (deliciously amazing) buffet and a sweet DJ! Plus, we got gifts, courtesy of the accounting society (the hosts of the night): purse-sized calculators! So fitting. Plus, pretty practical.
Now, as for today’s excursion: Staying on top of my New Year’s goal (to branch out and experience or explore a new part of London every week), I joined a fellow LSEer, A., for a mid-day getaway to Hampton Court Palace. The Palace is 35ish minutes from London by train and today’s sunshine made it a perfect break from London.
Despite having lived here for five months, this was one of my first times taking the train and venturing outside of central London. I must admit, I’m going to have to push myself to explore a little more often; it was such a beautiful area and it was nice to step outside of the overpopulated city centre. For anyone counting costs, it was £9.50 for a return ticket from Waterloo to Hampton Court!
Palace Entrance
Hampton Court Palace
Music in front of the palace
After running into the palace and snapping some pictures, we decided to forgo the actual palace tour this time around (£15.80 for tickets… eek!); instead we headed down to the Thames to people-watch and soak up the oh-so-rare sunshine.
The Thames
Everything looked pretty amazing with the sun shining on it (I feel like I’d seen London in a new light!), and seeing the families, kiddos and dog walkers running around the area was such a nice change of pace. Getting out into these types of areas occassionally definitely serves as a reminder of how nice it is to enjoy a change of scenery once in a while. With this being a short train ride from London, it was definitely worth the investment!
My goal for this week is to finally head over to St. Paul’s and get a proper look at it from the inside and outside! My friend, Steve (aka HoboDrifter) had some great photos (and a video, for that matter) from his trip over to St. Paul’s and it definitely piqued my interest! Also on the agenda for some time in the near future: Oxford!
Lots of love,
In this world many beautiful places to be visited for tourism purposes, some of which have become a favorite :)