This was our last morning in Salisbury. We had to catch an earlier train back to London as we had plans to see our friend that night and the following day we were headed to York. But here's what the day looked like...
We had packed our bags the night before, so there was only a short amount of rummage and bed checking before checking out of the b&B. BUT FIRST BREAKFAST! We signed up for an earlier time to eat since my sister desperately wanted to visit the Saturday morning market. We devoured our breakfast, chatted with the other guests at the table, and then checked out of the b&b. They kindly allowed us to leave our bags as we meandered through the town. It was bit colder that morning and so our walk around the market was quick. We didn't end up buying anything but we did enjoy people watching. We headed back to the b&b after an hour, said our goodbyes to the hosts who then told us, "You were such kind girls, your mother would be so proud." I love b&b hosts so much! We thanked them, and off we went to the train station, this time a bit more confident in the direction we needed to head and much more aware of traffic patterns...always look right then left.
Once we arrived at the station we weaseled our way to our platform where there was a very large crowd of people waiting, we had no where to sit and had about 45 minutes to wait. A lovely couple moved their stuff over and offered us a seat (I feel like this is a rarity in England, like people are wonderful and much more manner oriented but still I appreciate the gestures greatly). Our train arrived sooner than we expected and on we went. We found a table seat (WOO WOO) and put our luggage on the rack. YAY! Let's go to LONDON BAYBAY!
After 2 stops, the train was jam-packed. I forgot it was Saturday, and that well we were headed into London with the rest of the Southern folks. It was unreal how crowded it was. Two elderly women got aboard and my sister very kindly offered them our seats. This was after about 10 minutes of her whispering to me "Should we give them our seats? I think we should. Should I go ask them?" I retorted with, "Yes we should, but wait until they've moved down a bit as you cannot get their attention. It'll be fine we still have another hour to London." Eventually we caught their attention and they were ever so grateful. I was ever so grateful not to sit across from teenagers who looked annoyed the whole train ride. So there my sister and I stood for the next hour. Our bodies wobbling back and forth, being squished into men and women. Grabbing seats or anything to help hold me steady. One stop before the London stop nearly 1/2 the passengers disembarked. Which was such a relief. We snagged two seats and felt less wobbly. 10 minutes later we arrived at Waterloo.
The traffic and chaos at the station on a Saturday was very undesirable. We lost each other for a second and then regrouped at the underground. Unfortunately, the line we thought we would be taking was closed, hence the mass crowds and annoyed faces. We found a different route, a much longer, a transfer loaded route, but it would have to be the option since we had a long journey anyways. We survived it, and luckily made it back to our friend's flat in one piece, sweaty and tired piece albeit but a piece nonetheless.
We were absolutely exhausted from traveling and so we made ourselves a cup of tea and toast and settled down to watch The Crown. We also cleaned up a bit, removed items from our suitcases but didn't entirely unpack as we were heading to York in the morning. We just had some down time. It's very likely we did something else, but I think we decided to lay low since we hadn't really done that at all. We made plans with our friend David, to meet in Shoreditch after his acting class. Since we didn't have service outside of wifi we had to make sure we had all the plans set before setting out for the evening. We got dressed (as shoreditchy/londony as we could), put some face on and looked much more human. And off we went!
I hadn't seen David since my study abroad days 3 years prior, and my sister hadn't seen him since 2012 when we went to England and stayed with him in Cambridge. Here's the thing about David, he's an absolute gem. Like hilarious, but also like a little brother who just likes to be the trouble maker/annoying one. He's basically my sister in male form. So obviously once we met 5 years ago, we were like uh yeah this'll do. We adore him and could not wait to see him.
We waited outside the studio for what seemed like ages. It's all good, except a man came up and hit on us and we couldn't not look at him I mean he was in our face, but we tried our best to brush him off. We also realized we would NEVER be cool enough for Shoreditch. Like people are ridiculously cool, hipster, homeless, 90's grunge mixed with 60's vibes up in there. Nevertheless, we were there. David eventually came outside, we nearly leaped across the road, hugged and then immediately started in on the sarcastic remarks and laughter.
We headed to Wagamamas for dinz. We all ordered the exact same thing because we are identical. Chicken Katsu Curry obv. We chatted for ages, finished our meal and then it was on to a night out. Annie and I had not gone out in London yet this trip, so we were thrilled to be back in it again. David wanted to take us to a cool rooftop bar. We knew it would be pricey, but we were also like "When in Rome." Plus the view was stellar. And then it rained. So after about 45 minutes of sitting in the small drizzle and freezing, we decided to head inside. And then we decided to leave. Because 28 pounds for two drinks is not worth the view.
We found a random bar for the evening where there was loads of young folks like us and a jam packed bar. It was a blast and a half. We played foosball, had some drinks, laughed and laughed and laughed and laughed. Until about 1 AM, to which we decided we should catch an uber and head home. And so we did. It was a hilarious evening and such a great catch up with our friend!
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