Sunday, June 8- Our Final Free Day

Today was a free day, so we all could choose what we wanted to see around the city. Many of us chose to sleep in, which was very much needed after the late night from yesterday.

A few of us took the tube to Notting Hill, and navigating the metro stations was harder than we anticipated. When we got there we ate lunch at a Mexican diner, which was delicious. We then walked along Portobello Road looking at the different market stalls. We then went to the iconic Notting Hill Bookshop and the blue door from the movie “Notting Hill” (which is my favorite movie so I highly recommend watching). We got some gelato and walked back to the train station to pack and have a quick nap before our final group dinner.

While we were in Notting Hill, some people slept in and caught up on their projects and other assignments for our classes. Dr. V and Dr. Kropp went to Greenwich to meet up with Dr. Schoenstedt who was there for a stop on her cruise. They had lunch, and saw one of the best views of London at the prime meridian, the reference point for measuring east-west distances around the world and the basis for standard time zones. They also saw the Cutty Sark, a British clipper ship that was one of the fastest ships of its time, which was beneficial to transport tea from China to London.

The Cutty Sark

A couple of others went to mass at the beautiful Saint Charles Borromeo Church, and then headed to the Jelly Cat experience. They had to wait over an hour, but they say that it was worth it. Another group also headed to the Jelly Cat experience, and then went to Chinatown. They then went to Covent Garden and looked at record stores before heading back towards the hotel for dinner.

After everyone’s free day, we all met up at an Italian restaurant right across from our hotel for our last group dinner. It was such a good time looking back at the past three weeks on the trip and looking at how much we’ve grown and gotten closer with one another.

Rose Florea