Day 6: Edinburgh to London
I got up early, at 7am, to pack and it was done very quickly. I left at about 8am and then walked to Boots to get Panadol for my period cramps which were going to kill me, I just knew it.
Then I walked to Dean Village, because there’s a camera marked on the map and it seemed like a great place to go. And it was really picturesque! I took so many pictures and wanted to go into this garden which would have a fantastic view of the flow of the water into the deeper part of the canal, but disappointingly it was private.
I’d planned to go to Museum Culture in town, which is this fantastic chain of shops that sell Harry Potter merchandise, to pick up a Harry Potter heat change mug. I thought I’d have time cos I’d initially thought that my train would depart only at 11am. But as I was walking I realised that it would depart at 10.15am, and so that dashed my hopes of getting it. I went to the co-op and got stroopwafels, one for me and one for Alex and Sarah, and then raced off to catch the train, hurtling along the cobbled pavement with my luggage rattling noisily behind me. I got there with about five minutes to spare, thank goodness.
I realised after a few stops that I was sitting on the wrong side of the train - when going towards London from Edinburgh, you should sit on the left side of the train because you’ll get better views, with coastal towns and cliffs and the like. Luckily there were empty seats and I managed to wrangle one. The views were LOVELY. In my limited Korean, 경치가 너무 아름다웠어요! (I know that I am not Korean, and I am not travelling in Korea, but I have limited opportunities to practise my very bad Korean so please just humour me.) I took so many pictures.
I reached King’s Cross at about 2.50pm but I left it only at 4.10pm, having spent WAY too much time at Platform 9 ¾ Harry Potter shop. Too much time, AND too much money. I was hankering after a time turner necklace which was rather affordable, about £16. I asked the same staff about it three times: firstly, to ask for her where to find it, upon which she told me to try and get it from the shelves; secondly, to ask her if I could get the display article, to which she said no; and thirdly, when the new stocks would come in, whereupon she managed to rustle up one necklace for me! So persistence really does pay off, folks.
After picking up several other merchandise, I went to Steph’s place and laid down my luggage. Then I went out to walk around central London. I picked up a tall cup of Caffè mocha and then wandered around in the rain, taking many many wrong turns (I am evidently a worse navigator than I tell everyone I am). I saw St Paul’s, Leadenhall market, where I finally picked up my HP mug for almost the same price I would have gotten it in Edinburgh, and then trotted off to Duck & Waffle, where they unceremoniously made me wait for 45 minutes for a table (“Your table is not ready. But anyway your friends are not here yet right?”) and then told me when they offered me a table that I only had an hour to dine (“because you were 45 minutes late”). Um, excuse me, I believe you made me wait for that same amount of time? And we could only order from staff in the red shirts, and let me just say that there was a surplus of staff who were NOT in red shirts.
I met Steph’s friend, Adeline, who was a really nice girl. And it was great to see Stephers again!
After dinner, we went grocery shopping first at the huge sainsbury’s at Holborn, and then at the smaller one near her office, then walked back to her place.
And there concludes the first day of my return to London, my favourite city in the world!
