Day two

Milla and I sleep in a room with nine other girls, included a Swede and a Norwegian, so I can get my mother tongue going before returning home for Christmas. All the girls have a sleeping pattern typical for the young adults of our generation, so I quietly snuck out of our room at eight, before anyone else had even let out a morning fart. Every hostel breakfast is the same; it’s toast (preferably white), jam (preferably cheap), juice (preferably orange) and perhaps cornflakes (preferably with milk). The greatest surprise this morning was the whole grain bread and normal müsli. Other than that, the existence of a fridge and free access to a kitchen was nice, so if anyone really can’t handle the toast life, they can at least make their own food after breakfast. Milla, who is gluten allergic, chose to sleep and get her breakfast at Costa on our way out to town. 

 We set course for Covent Garden and its Christmas markets and Moomin store. I bought this season’s Moomin mug and a Christmas present for Rex, my sister’s dog, at the market. Then we headed down to the river, past Piccadilly, and through St. James’ Park. I got to see several new birds I’ve never seen before:

Bar-headed goose- Anser indicus- Stripegås
Egyptian goose – Alopochen aegyptiaca- Niland
Black swan- Cygnus atratus- Svartsvane
Snow goose- Chen caerulescens)- Snøgås

After a reunion with Big Ben and London Eye (for me, not for Milla), we went back up to the shopping streets for lunch, or an early dinner, at Bella Italia. Then Milla went back to the hostel to meet her friend from Finland who had just arrived, while I spent two hours at a bookstore by the National Gallery, before ending my day.