Brighton, St. George's Day, the London Marathon, and Madeline is Here!!

Here is a recap of my last weekend here in London!! =)

Friday Meg, Kelsey, and I took on Brighton, England!! We caught a train to this coastal town and explored the pier and shopped around for the day!  While it was quite chilly out, it was still very fun to be at the beach!  (And it reminded me a little of Rehoboth!)

On Saturday I met up with Mr. Ward, who graciously took my big suitcase and carry on back to the US for me!! It was crazy to pack up my whole room and everything I had collected over my time here this semester... also very difficult as I have accumulated a bunch of stuff that I needed to fit in to get back home!  After meeting up with him, I went to Sloane Square Market with Kelsey and Allyson!

It was St. George's Day this week, so this weekend there were a bunch of festivities around London!  St. George's day is a celebration of English culture and heritage, so there is lots of food and drinking and parties, etc.!!  I went to the Vauxhall Spring Gardens for a festival where there were people performing English skits, traditional fighting, and even a bird show (where I saw a barn owl and vulture!)

After that I went to Trafalgar Square for the St. George's Day Feast put on by the Mayor of London! This was really fantastic... there were games, performers, live music, and lots of fun food vendors!  Everyone was decked out in England attire and really happy to be celebrating together!

In the evening, I picked up Madeline from the bus station!!! I was so excited for her arrival!!  After dropping her off at her hostel, we had a little birthday celebration for her back in my room to finish off the night!

Yesterday, Madeline and I started off the day taking in all of the classic London sites like Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, Trafalgar Square, and Buckingham Palace!  An added bonus was that the London Marathon was taking place all throughout the city!! We enjoyed getting into the spirit and cheering people on while following the route for a bit up to the palace!!

After that, we also went to the National Gallery and Covent Garden Market, as well as the Munch Food Festival by Tower Bridge!!

We finished off our Sunday night with a delicious meal at Da Mario's... my favorite Kensington pizza place!  =)

Planning to enjoy every moment of my last few days here in London before heading out on Thursday!