Today we again got up early, ate breakfast at the hostel which always consisted of the same thing but still good to have warm food in the morning. I always get two slices of cheese, a pastry, bacon (not American), cooked tomatoes, cooked mushrooms, a glass of apple juice, the necessary cup of coffee, and of course, water.

This morning we went to Hyde Park, unfortunately the weather was not cooperating with my plans and it was raining and very cold (not the pictures with scarves wrapped around our heads). We didn’t have a map for the park so we kind of wandered. We saw Serpentine Lake, The Lido, crossed the Serpentine Bridge, saw the Isis, and ended at the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, dedicated in 2004.

 

 Next, we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Though I wasn’t particularly planning to visit this museum, the pocket guide to London book that I was carrying around greatly recommended it. It was a very fascinating museum that was huge and free! It contained jewelry from history to present, whole hallways of ironwork, tons of architecture, jeweled snuffboxes of royalty, gold religious symbols (from catholic, Anglican, orthodox, and a few protestant things as well as jewish ceremonies). The main thing I wanted to see were the notebooks of Leonardo da Vinci, though they have five only one was on display.

From the museum, we walked to large seven-storied Herrod’s department store. It was rather like another museum wandering about clothes by foreign designers and the variety of toys offered in the “Toy Kingdom”. We did each buy a scoop of ice cream, I got caramel and Lara got Nutella which was truly delicious. We came back to the hostel for a nap. This evening we were hoping to explore Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus but when we woke up, it was pouring down rain outside and didn’t seem like the best weather to be wandering down the streets and checking out shops.

 

So after consulting the lady at the receptions counter, we decided to try the Camden Town Pub Crawl. The Pub Crawl was £10 each that included entry into five pubs/clubs, five shots, and discount prices on drinks. Lara was very adamant that we had no proper clothing to be evening wear, so we went down the street to TopShop where Lara got a black/white striped dress, black cover, and maroon stockings. After much cajoling, Lara talked me into getting a dress as well, though I insisted it be black and not some crazy other color, a while cover, and cutout flower stockings. After getting dressed, we took the underground to Camden Town where we met at the first pub, Beluski’s.Overall, the experience was really fun and made for a very entertaining evening.