영국여행 | England (Day 10)

I can't wink, how do you people do it?

This day was a great moment of serendipitous fortune, because we happened to be available and in London at the same time as our good friends Erin and Morgan. They were some of the first people we met in Korea, and recently finished their contracts and went back to live in the US. But they were coming up towards the end of what I will call a "world trip" because they genuinely went to so many amazing countries and cities over the course of quite an impressive amount of time, immaculately planned (in my opinion, anyway). So it was really exciting to have a final glimpse of them before dipping back into "when will I see you again?" territory. Sobs.

We'd booked in to see another Shakespeare play at The Globe, this time Much Ado About Nothing. But prior to that, we had a mosey around the Southbank area, including lunch at Pieminister (repping the West Country), which I ate too quickly to even think about documenting. That's how much I love those pies.

We still had some time to spare, so we went to the Tate Modern, which was just as confusing and incomprehensible to me as it was during a secondary school trip, which was the last time I'd visited. Maybe it's all too deep for me. I got more enjoyment looking at people looking at the art. Or is that also part of the modern art? Deep.

We were in standing for this performance, so I got to see all of the gorgeous painting above the stage in better detail. I like that I got to have an experience of both seated and standing.

We went in with a game plan and it delivered, bagging us a spot right by the stage. I was hoping for this, because of how weak my back is, I was a little worried about making it through the whole show, but it went perfectly!

happy faces <3

We caught an earlier performance than last time, so we were able to take a walk and see some really touristy sights, which is nice for me because I've never really had much chance. We walked down towards Big Ben (sorry, "Elizabeth Tower"...), ate fresh doughnuts, watched the skateboarders and marvelled at just how slowly the London Eye moves.

As we crossed this bridge heading towards the parliament buildings, there were suddenly WAY more people than we were expecting. Turns out there were several mats laid out in the middle of the pavement, with people running some probably-not-legal gambling. One of those "guess which cup the ball is under" kind of things. I saw people putting down £50 notes, and in the time it took me to get across that one bridge I think I must have seen well over £2000 go down on those mats to inevitably be lost to the dealer. So ridiculous.

We ended up heading to Soho for something to eat and went to The Breakfast Club because it's great. Unfortunately I'd already ordered before realising I was yet again about to have a burger... Why did I not go for When Halloumi Met Salad?!

HALLOUMI!

We walked off all the food with a trip around some parts of Oxford Street and a quick glimpse at the shiny blue BBC building before calling it a day. The closing times and last trains/buses in the UK took some getting used to after being spoilt by the convenience of South Korea.

[Thanks again for hanging out with us guys, I really appreciated it. We miss you! See you someday xo]