We took the tube straight to Oxford Circus, where we got out and walked around and looked at the fancy stores. We wanted to spend the whole morning in Harrod's, but they don't open until 11:30 on Sundays.
Cute little street in the Oxford Circus area
We still wanted to go to Trafalgar Square, and on the way went back to Whittard to sit down and have tea there. Well, I had tea (baked apple infusion), and Umme had white hot chocolate. Both were amazing, obviously. However, at that point, it was already time to Harrod's, so in the end, I never saw Trafalgar Square. I'm not too beat up about it, though, especially since I wholeheartedly intend to return to London someday.
Umme's hot chocolate
Me with my tea featuring my Ted Baker hat
So we got to Harrod's via the underground, and let me tell you--it was CRAZY. Even though Thanksgiving isn't celebrated in Europe, Black Friday definitely is...and it's celebrated ALL. WEEKEND. LONG. Seriously! They call it "Black Friday Weekend." That doesn't make any sense! That's not how this works!
But whatever. Harrod's was still super fabulous, despite all the people. And honestly, I'm pretty sure it's crowded all the time.
We looked at designer handbags, and shoes, and all that good stuff. I started to feel pretty hungry, and we noticed on the directory that the fourth floor had a "Disney Christmas Cafe," so we made our way up there. After struggling a little bit to find said restaurant, we finally came upon it. It looked adorable, but it was quite possibly the most overpriced menu I've ever seen. Well, the only option was a buffet, but this buffet cost £37. That's roughly $55. For a buffet. Seriously. The food probably isn't even good because it's a kid's place (the kid's buffet cost £25 or so).
Obviously we did not eat there, and instead found a burger place on the other side of the fourth floor where we had some fries. That place was overpriced as well, but not nearly as badly as the Disney cafe.
Our last stop at Harrod's was, of course, the gift shop section. It was incredibly packed, and we were already running a little behind schedule, so we just quickly walked through and tried to take in all the cool goodies and things. I would've bought a rubber ducky for my collection, but the line was way too long.
Despite our fun and successful morning, we were already feeling very sad heading back to Northolt to grab our bags. It's especially sad since Umme can't come home for winter break. I tried to keep our spirits high the best I could.
Once we got to the house, we quickly grabbed our bags, went to the bathroom, and said goodbye and thanks to Raj. Even though we almost got trapped in our room the first night, I really am so thankful that we were able to stay at Umme's cousin's house instead of an obnoxious, expensive hostel or something. The location wasn't exactly ideal, but it was easy enough to get to and allowed me to see parts of the city I never would've seen otherwise.
The next stop for us, which I guess was the last stop for me, was St. Pancras Station. We were about to miss a bus back to the Northolt underground station, so I did like I do in Queens and took off running to catch it. Poor Umme tried her best to keep up with me with her huge backpack on! Luckily, the bus waited, and we remained right on schedule.
It was an even sadder trip to St. Pancras. Once we got there, Umme walked out with me to where I was going to exit the underground, and we said our teary-eyed goodbyes. She had to come with me because the card I had been using for public transport all weekend was actually her sister-in-law's Oyster Card (don't ask me why they call it that). I put my own money on it, but it wasn't mine to keep. The London underground differs from most subways in that the price isn't fixed; you get charged upon exiting based on how long you were riding it for, what time of day, what day of the week, and that sort of thing. Therefore, I couldn't leave the underground without the card, and Umme couldn't leave me without getting the card back, even though that meant she first had to go the wrong direction before going back to her bus station.
So then I was back on my own. I headed straight to check-in for my train, which closed about two minutes after I entered it (good timing, I guess). I had no problems with security, and wasn't asked any questions by the passport control guys.
On this train, I was in the caboose again, but I was in a seat that didn't face anyone. At first, there was no one next to me either. This time, though, unlike last time, we made a quick stop at another station in the UK where some guy got on and sat next to me. The train was completely freezing the entire time, so I was totally bundled up. Luckily, I fell asleep for about an hour or so, so it felt like the shortest trip ever.
Back in Paris, I didn't even have to think about where I needed to go or what metros I needed to take to get back to campus. I'm such a local! It was nice, though, because for Sunday and Monday, all public transportation in Paris was completely free due to the climate change conference going on here right now. Definitely didn't have any problems with that!
I made it back to campus and had a fun night with Katie filling each other in on our weekends. Pretty much everywhere was closed because it was Sunday night, so I couldn't really get dinner, but luckily Katie had half of a baguette with cheese left over from her dinner that she let me have. We also Skyped with Anarita, which was necessary as we didn't get to do so the week before. I think she's very ready to have us back in New York with her!
Although I loved London, and didn't want to leave Umme, I was also definitely happy to go back to Paris. I'm definitely looking forward to making the most of my last days here!
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