All Around London-town

On Friday I managed to get in touch with a friend from teacher's college. Caitlin is teaching over here too and so much like me, she has left Canada for the first time. We decided that this would be the weekend to explore Covent Garden, and so on Friday afternoon I set off to meet her at London Charing Cross Station and then we headed out into the streets of London. Charing Cross is conveniently located near Trafalgar square, and so you are almost instantly in central London after stepping foot onto the street. In order to get around, most Londoners take the Tube, however I am still refusing to venture down into the realm of the underground because there is SO much to explore above ground. As such, we headed off in the direction of Covent Garden passing by MANY billboards announcing the productions being put on at the theatres which are literally everywhere... being a lover of musicals this is VERY exciting! Now, the streets of London are small and many often don't allow cars to pass along them so the vibe is not like anything I have experienced before. 

Upon reaching Covent Garden, I quickly learned that it is nothing like a garden at all. At the core, there is a market square where you can find many restaurants and cafes, as well as several high end shops to fulfill all your shopping needs. If you head down any street you can find entertainers who are putting on magic shows, painting pictures, and of course we cannot forget about the mime. The picture below is from the show we stopped to watch. He often pulled people from the crowd so if you were not in good spirits to participate you had to hide or avoid eye contact! I'm not sure if he ever made a mistake to be honest because his entire show seemed very well choreographed. The boy in the picture was just someone from the audience!

As we carried on through the markets we found a lot of London, and more specifically British merchandise. I didn't buy these glasses, but I thought a selfie in them would be more than sufficient!

We also experienced the night life on both Friday and Saturday nights. I've discovered that London is a very special place at night because everything lights up and the normal buzz of the daytime tourists fades away into the darkness. The city sounds very different at night, and the best part is that it is very safe. The streets are well patrolled and everyone is just out to have a good time and not cause trouble. We discovered our favourite place this weekend: SoHo. The best way to describe SoHo is that it is a community in which there are many pubs, bars, and clubs that are frequented by all the cool kids. It was here that we met some crazy, but amazing people! We even exchanged some numbers to keep in touch to get together for another weekend. I still maintain that the people here are so friendly!

Moving into Saturday night we decided to seek out a bar called the Maple Leaf. It was everything that a Canadian could ever want! They even served poutine!

At the end of the night, we sat for a little while in Trafalgar Square. I cannot say it enough how humbling it was to look down the street and see Big Ben illuminated in the horizon. I couldn't help but wonder how I, a small town Canadian boy, had found myself there. My attitude has since then progressed and I am now looking towards the future of my classroom and what talents my students will have for me. We start tomorrow with an all morning staff meeting, and then are released to finalize the details of our classes.... This also means that the pay check starts tomorrow!!! Of course, this now means more responsibility and a steep learning curve, but that's why I came here and I'm certainly ready for it!