Day 7 was the day of the bank holiday, which meant in clear UK fashion, most things were closed and people got the day off. General jetlag and tiredness were overcoming us slowly, and so we split into various groups and trickled out of the flat in small groups once again. My group left a little later than some others and had only one target: Camden Town and its markets.

I took no pictures today, being a little photo-whored out, but I did make most of my gift purchases that day and had an interesting sandwich at a very normal-seeming bar that served the very goth-based clientle that seemed to permeate Camden Town. Ladies, if you’re ever looking for old-style platform leather boots or corsets, this is your destination. Trinkets, and the usual market mish-mash are also relevant, but the former because it makes this place unique.

Things I got? A purse, posters, crystal soil, a wine-glass made out of a recycled beer bottle, cloth-wrapped bead bracelets, and a pocket watch that I will probably wear as a necklace in the future.

We were up a little earlier on Day 8. We decided to take a look at London’s infamous Soho, which is not an acronym, first thing in the morning. The girls and I almost decided to take a peak at one of their curious adult-themed shops, but turned back as soon as three heavy, gruff looking men exited their chain-draped door. Whoops.

This picture expresses Soho, London in a manner a little bit cleaner than some other picture might.

Instead, we found ourselves in a vintage magazine-meet ex-redlight district: lots of old Playboy magazines, some Vogue ones, tons of vinyl, and some crude postcards.

From there, however, we stepped up our class and headed for Kensington Palace, home of many princesses.

Queen Victoria statue on the far side of the palace, depicted in the background.

Waiting in line to be seated.

The day was cloudy as usual, and the line wasn’t too bad. We split into 2 groups of 6 to be seated, which all happened quickly, though the manner in which the host addressed us could have been a shade or so more friendly.

You don't need to purchase tickets for Kensington Palace to eat at The Orangery, a restaurant in the palace itself touting tons of deserts and teas perfect for high tea!

A sneak look at some of the other guests at the Orangery.

In a fitting manner, the centerpieces are little orange trees. Their specialty is Roobois tea, made out of oranges. Frankly, a bit strong and overpowering in the orange for me.

Next we continued our slow ascent into the flamboyant by looking up (and speed touring) Harrods, which has just changed management. Are the new owners as flamboyant as the old? The decor doesn’t seem to have changed, though I had trouble locating their touted 400,000 Pound [Sterling] rock (and I don’t mean diamond or weight) in the huge maze.

Since we couldn’t afford anything from the actual store, we went down to Harrod’s own gift shop and purchased a musical bear for our director’s new son, who was also the reason of his absence from being our chaperone.

Everyone loved the bar so much that they all decided to get one as gifts for family or friends with new babies!

Tuesday also happened to be student night at one of the clubs we looked up, Tiger Tiger. We made a mad rush to make it by 11pm to get the student discount price of 5 Pounds. If you ever visit the place, head downstairs immediately. I have a silly picture of me dancing in the awesome groovy-themed 70s discotheque that I will not be showing.

It rained a lot again on Day 9, but we were prepared because our company visit with Winterflood Securities, provided us with these awesome umbrellas. Unfortunately, though sturdy, these umbrellas were also bulky and heavy, and a great many did not make it out of the flat on the last day. Many towels didn’t either.

Let’s just keep moving on through the days as I make a power-post of the final few days in London. Day 10 was uneventful so far as the touristy goes, though we did visit KPMG, one of the Big 4 Accounting firms. As our final full day in London, we did some R&R before we headed off for, rather perfectly symmetrically, for Picadilly Circus once more, this time to catch our 7pm Les Mis showing, our 30 Pound rush tickets in hand.

We headed out at staggered times, and most of us ended at the Tower eventually. The deciding factor? Sleeping in a couple extra hours!

Saturday was our first day completely free of company visits, so we decided to fill it up to the brim to make the most of the trip. We began with the Tower of London, and a sky to match the mood: overcast and pending rain.

Here is a rather side-swiped view of the Tower of London. There were no lines, strangely, probably because the weather got so horrid.

We made a beeline for the Crown Jewels before we headed back to the entrance to join a Beefeater tour. I heard that they’d instated their first female Beefeater recently, and the men were giving her a bad time. We did not see her though.

This nice Beefeater guide put up with us through our dancing umbrellas and ushered us into the chapel when the rain came down too hard.

The Tower Bridge

After we left, we saw this parade heading into the tower.

A couple hours of that and we were all ready to get inside and eat something warm. Naturally, we chose the Wagamama’s right outside the Tower complex.

One restaurant that was perfectly okay with accommodating 15 of us. A couple boys went to get Subway, heh.

The secret to not getting fat on vacation? Lots and lots of walking. Also, skimping on less necessary meals by getting Tesco pastries for breakfast so as to conserve my sterling for more touristy adventures.

London Bridge is most certainly not falling down, and if we hadn't already known it to be a disappointment, we would have been disappointed.

We had better formation in the first shot, though I was instructed not to show that one because of strange facial expressions and unposed and therefore awkward hand positioning.

This walk was directed towards the Tate Modern, but a few of us took a short detour and headed through the Borough Markets. So delicious with so much food, but alas, we could not tarry.

Squid on a stick?

Hmm, cider. A-hem.

The Millennium Bridge in front of the Tate Modern, however, did meet its demise in the sixth Harry Potter film. Look at that spindly thing!

The Tate Modern boasted free entry and massive architecture. Tate 2 - MoMA - 0.

Space! Lots and lots of it inside the museum.

My favorite tate installation. The weird lumps on the ground are primordial beings, and the big thing is a lightning representation of some sort. Also, I appreciated the context the Tate provided for most of their exhibits, something the MoMA refuses to do. Again, Tate - 3, MoMA - 0. I like art with some intent, because it focuses emotion.

We headed to the Globe Theatre to pick up the tickets our director reserved for us to watch Macbeth. Excitement!

The actual replica, and not the ticket office.

So we had what is technically considered the “cheap seats” – at 5 pounds per person with standing room only. However, I considered it to be the best seats, because they provided this mysterious head canopy for the audience to poke their head through and watch [and experience] the show up close and personal. Meaning when there was fake blood, that got splattered on us. When the witches moved? Our legs got brushed against. When a bucket of water was thrown at the audience? Oh, that landed on me. My fault really, I shouldn’t have made us a target by ducking.

These canopies were definitely not waterproof, however, since the weather, continuing with its pathetic fallacies, decided to match the play. It was pouring throughout the last few acts. But since I'd been soaked early on and had ducked under the overhang to dry after my spot was stolen during intermission, I remained relatively ok.

First company requiring business formal rather than business casual.

So the next few days are less full of pictures and a little more full of moving from place to place. Our next company visit, on the third day of our stay in London, was to UBS, in the old Square Mile of London (also so called are the financial services based primarily here). The architecture is industrial meets modern here, and especially around the businesses.

The first half of the UBS was one of my favorite company visits, since we had an amazing guest speaker, Paul Donovan, who was the director of Global Economics for the company. He gave us a great overview of the current economical outlook from their view in Europe, including notes on the current slow-paced recovery. Crossing fingers that Greece doesn't default an cause domino-like ripples.

We split into smaller groups again after leaving UBS, since one of the interns there had recommended nearby Brick Lane as a great place for international food. In our search, we stumbled across Spitalfields Market in the east end of London, so named for being the Hospital field at one time in history [a tidbit we learned later on a Jack-the-Ripper tour].

Spitalfields market waning at the end of the day. They have tons of clothes here, and I snagged a dress for 5 pounds!

Of course, when we finally arrived in Brick Lane we realized that our intern guide had been somewhat misrepresentational in her “international” designation. Brick Lane is of course home to a plethora of Indian restaurants, not necessarily multicultural ones. You do get to bargain with such a huge selection, and after much debate, we were finally drawn into one that offered us a 25% discount and a free round of drinks.

Day 4 found us back at the university’s London Centre in Heythrope College with an animated history professor giving us a overview of the enormous length of British history and culture. It was a great introduction to our next stop, the British Museum, free but controversial for tightly holding on to its plundered treasures.

The gorgeous covered inside of the museum.

The Rosetta Stone, behind glass.

Acropolis replica.

We walked over to Chelsea in the late afternoon. We had been invited over for a small house party at the home of one of our University’s trustees.

We passed a couple daycare centers on our walk over. Imagine living here!

Obviously staged posh laughter.

Here we are all dressed up.

Day 5 was an early rising: we headed to the U.S. Embassy much too early in the morning. There, we were introduced a bit more to the expat view of London, and privy to a short bomb threat warning, whence were were instructed not to leave the room we had been placed in.

You can also tell that the American Embassy, out of all the places we’d gone to, had the smallest budget, by their lack of coffee and teas. I do believe that a good chunk of their money is going to building a new embassy, set to open in a few years.

The U.S. Embassy

A couple of the girls and I head over to TopShop at Oxford Circus (biggest and busiest) and did a bit of shopping before heading over to our next visit at Virgin Media.

Group photo, actually from a later date, but since I'm having trouble pegging the exact date, here's us in all our formal glory. Such a business outing group photo, yes? You can see our exchange office plastered with these, though we probably are prettier.