Wait...THIS is London too??

No class on Fridays + day trips = awesome. Last week someone mentioned Hampstead to Jordan as a really cool place that she should check out. She mentioned it to me and the two of us decided to head out there yesterday. Hampstead is a little area on the outskirts of London where all the rich people live and a lot of famous writers/artists used to live. It also has a GIGANTIC natural park called Hampstead Heath where you can climb this massive hill, Parliament Hill, and get amazing views of the London skyline. What makes this place even more exciting is how easy it is to get there. We didn’t have to buy bus or train tickets because, even though it is on the fringes of London, it’s still in our zone on the tube.

Our plan was to get there, find a place to grab lunch before heading up the big hill to eat a picnic lunch overlooking the city. We got off the tube and walked around a bit before finding a bagel sandwich place for lunch. Then, using our general idea of where we wanted to go and our sense of direction we started walking up a hill. Have I mentioned that I have a horrible sense of direction? Jordan and I ended up hiking through some woods before realizing we were wrong and heading toward a road. We then re-oriented ourselves and started walking down a path by a main road that bordered the park. The thing about this park is that it is massive so we could have walked along it for an hour before realizing exactly where we needed to be; which is exactly what we did. Eventually we found some little lakes to stop and eat our lunch by and the new kept venturing forward in our now epic search for Parliament Hill. We finally found a map that pointed us in the right direction and climbed the hill.

All the mess ups and long walks were worth it when we finally got to the top, it was gorgeous. It was so weird to be looking at this mass of buildings that we live in and still be technically in the city of London. We spent some time sitting on the hill, smelling the clean air and grass (a smell I didn’t realize I missed) feeling the sun and admiring the view. We then slowly wandered back down and into the town where we poked around in a few little shops before eating dinner at this really nice local pub.

It was a long day that probably could have been shorter if Jordan and I had known better what we were doing and where we were going, but then we probably would have missed out on finding the small ponds and getting to watch some dogs jump in and go swimming. We wouldn’t have passed by as many cool houses or found that amazing climbing tree in the middle of a field. We found our fabulous view eventually and, I think, were able to appreciate it that much more because of all the work we put into it.