Sunday Roast, Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, and more Covent Garden

For our first Sunday in London we had an orientation for the study abroad program we went through. Our program's job is to communicate between our school in the US and our school in the UK. Although it is based in the US, they have workers in London who are here to help us with everything. The program also sets up events and excursions and this semester we have trips to Stonehenge, Bath, York, Oxford, and Scotland planned. After hearing about these trips at orientation along with information about how to travel, get food, sightsee, and go shopping, we went on a walking tour of central London. This was the first time we got to see Trafalgar Square which has the National Gallery, fountains, sculptures, entertainers/performers in the streets, and a great view of Big Ben.

After taking a few pictures, we walked through Piccadilly Circus which is like the Times Square of London. It's definitely not as flashy as Times Square, but it is similar in that it has several glowing light-up advertisements plastered across buildings, whereas most of London is very different in appearance. The area was just as entertaining as Times Square is though, with crowds of people, numerous stores, restaurants, theaters, and even a man walking around dressed up as Alan from "The Hangover" (and he looked scarily identical to him).

After our walking tour we went to a restaurant in Covent Garden for a traditional British Sunday Roast. The roast included slices of roast beef, potatoes, vegetables, and yorkshire pudding. We all scarfed it down since we didn't know when we would be eating this well again, because going out to eat and groceries are so expensive. 

Then it was time for dessert. Our program liaison came over to our table and told us that she thought we were having mince pie. I knew at its origin it had some type of meat in it, but our friends quickly whipped out their iPhones to see what the ingredients were. They found that there was meat in it, minced meat as the name jests at, which is like ground beef. However, a lot of modern recipes take out the meat and just add vegetable oil instead. In today's version of mince pie, there is usually only dried fruit and spices such as cinnamon in it. We were all a little weary that we would be eating meat for dessert, but were still willing to try it. However, when dessert came around it was a mini apple pie in custard! We were a little relieved. The apple pie and custard were really delicious. Cailin and I never really ate too much custard before, but it is a common dessert here.

Later, we walked around central London to find a cafe to sit in and relax. Also, we needed free WiFi since our dorms don't have it. Central London is just buzzing with things to do...we haven't even stepped into ONE store yet since there is so much going on! I guess shopping will have to wait a little! ;)

Since we were already in Covent Garden we mostly walked around that area... and then I saw Ladurée.  My macaron obsession forced me to go in to the store to buy one. If you've never had a Parisian macaron before, please try one ASAP. Not to be confused with a coconut 'macaroon' that is common in America, Parisian macarons are completely different. They're crunchy like a cookie but also have a chewy and soft center filled with cream that can be a variety of flavors. Since there is a great place to get macarons in my hometown, I've tried many flavors and every single one has been amazing. 

However I've never gotten macarons from Ladurée before, so I wanted to try a unique flavor that my hometown bakery doesn't have. I love all things chocolate so I decided to get the pure origin Venezuelan chocolate macaron. It was by far the best macaron I've ever had. 

We also introduced our friend to macarons and she loved her first one! She tried vanilla while Tara had salted caramel, her favorite. I could go on and on about how great macarons are, but I'll end this post by saying: Find the closest bakery to you that makes macarons and try one!