Peter Pan, Chinese New Year, and Fish Pedicures

Last weekend my friend Anna came out to visit (she's studying at the University of East Anglia in Norwich this semester), which was loads of fun. It was great to hang out with someone that I've known forever and just sort of adventure around the city all day, then come back to the flat and chill out, eat guacamole, and watch movies. Here are some highlights from the weekend!

Some of my flatmates and I ventured out to the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens, there were a bunch of kids playing on the statue when we first got there but I managed to find one without a child hanging off it

We went out for a flat dinner to the Blackbird, a pub near where we stayed in Earl's Court when I was in London with my family before the program started - it was just as delicious as I'd remembered!

Anna and I in Chinatown Friday night

Fish pedicures!

It took some getting used to..

We went out for dinner in Chinatown Friday night, and it was all decked out in beautiful decorations for the New Year

Saturday morning we went to Portobello Road Market in Notting Hill, and there were a ton of street performers hanging out this time around. These guys were my favorite

We got breakfast at a cafe on Portobello Road - this was seriously the most delicious thing I've eaten in a while. I may or may not have to go back next weekend I'm in town to get another one..

Me, Anna, and my flatmate Kelly

We made guacamole with some fresh produce we'd picked up earlier that morning at Portobello Road, and my flatmate Megan made some sangria, then we watched Benny & Joon

On Sunday we ventured over to Trafalgar Square to check out the Chinese New Year festivities.. it was packed! They had these animals wandering around, with each one to represent a different year

We left after this because the crowds were a little too crazy, but it was really cool to soak up the atmosphere and a great way to finish up the weekend!

Bath and Stonehenge

Since last semester I was a failure and didn't sign up for any of the free/discounted events that my program posted, I hadn't made it out to Stonehenge yet. This time around though, I was determined not to make the same mistake and kind of went nuts on the list that FIE posted. Glad I did though! Stonehenge was a little underwhelming, but it was cool to drive through the English countryside for a bit and hypothesize how these mystical rocks were constructed (I think it was the sheep). I had been to Bath once before with my Aunt & Uncle when they came to visit, which was a lot of fun, so it was great to go back and explore there a little bit more. It was kind of a long day, but all in all pretty fun!

First views of Stonehenge

Just some rocks we found..

Driving through the English countryside

First view of the city of Bath

One of the houses Jane Austen lived in when she was living in Bath

Bath Abbey

Drinking the Bath water! It tasted like pennies, but I guess it's good for you?

It was really cold, so we got hot chocolate at this bakery - literally tasted like a cup of melted chocolate

We went to Sally Lunn's, which is famous for being the oldest house in the city of Bath - in the basement they had this cool exhibit that showed all the different layers of the ground and where they had found objects dating back to the Romans

Flat 21 does Stonehenge!