Karen Watkinson: Day 7 - London Field School

The first activity on our itinerary today was a visit to Primark, one of the UK’s major retail businesses.  We left the Travel Lodge at 9:30 in the morning - it was absolutely freezing (today being the first really wintery weather we’ve experienced since arriving in England) - but after we had all refilled our oyster cards, we managed to catch the next train out to Oxford Street.

Just wanted to add little side note… It is so easy to get around London using the tube stations and railway lines.  There are signs at every station with very clear instructions on which train goes where, and if you decide to go above ground to explore, you can easily find your way to the next tube station by following the signs and the printed maps.  Why can’t we have this sort of thing here???

~*~End side note~*~

We arrived at Primark at around 10:45 am, and were promptly gathered and taken in the back entrance to be signed into the building.  The presentation and the tour of Primark’s flag ship store, gave us a great behind the scenes look at the company, and how it was run. 

I still can’t get over how confusing the layouts of some of the older buildings are though; when we were in the “Employee Only” areas of the store, it felt a bit like we were in a maze, as we were led around corners, up and down different, and oddly placed sets of stairs, and down long twisting corridors, until we finally made it onto the main sales floor where all the merchandise was kept.  The store was huge! It was at least three large floors, and seemed to sell everything needed to make a complete wardrobe (even if some of the fashions were a little odd).

After Primark, we set out to find the Fryers Delight; a restaurant that had gotten rave reviews on the sites we had visited beforehand.  It took a while but we managed to find it.  The Fryers Delight turned out to be a traditional little fish and chip shop; one of those hole-in-the-wall kind of places that all the locals know and love, but you would probably never give a second look when passing it on the street.  Our group practically took over the entire seating area – the place was that small – but the food was great, and the portions sizes for the fish were huge! 

After lunch we were supposed to go on a walking tour of London, but it was just too cold, so we decided to visit the British Museum instead.  The place was beautiful, and just so big.  We were given two hours to explore and that was barely enough time to traverse the entire building and briefly view the different displays.  My poor, poor feet…

Then we were off to see the London Eye - definitely a must see if you’re ever in London - the view from the top is absolutely fantastic.  It’s essentially a giant ferris wheel and you ride around inside a long glass tube, with 360 view of London.  Inside, there are several different stations with pictures and descriptions of the sites you can see as you look out over the city.  If you ever go on the London Eye, try going on it at night.  The city is absolutely beautiful when it’s all lit up with lights.