LONDONBABY: Part III

From Kings' Cross, we went northwest to 20 Maresfield Gardens, where the psychoanalyst great, Sigmund Freud, spent the last year of his life after being driven out of Vienna by the Nazis in WWII. His library was just as he left it and the couch where his patients lay was the same one from his office in Vienna. It was very cool that his daughter had all the rooms preserved and turned into a museum. We even saw the couch on which he died.
The sun was just beginning to set as we walked back to the tube and I had one more thing I needed to do. Trafalgar Square. We came up out of the tube station into exactly what I always knew London would look like. For most of the weekend, I never really believed I was in London. I saw the monuments and tell-tale signs, but I never felt like I was truly THERE until I was in Trafalgar Square with a view of Big Ben in front of me and the National Gallery behind me. We walked around the square, listening to live music and watching other people take selfies with London in the background. This was London, baby.
On our way back to the hostel we stopped to see the Tower Bridge lit up in order to say one last goodnight to our gracious host for the last few days.
We ate at the same fish&chips place we dined on our first night and I got the same thing. The staff recognized us and begged us to come back again someday. I have no doubt I will return to London, but I hope to God I won't be staying at Woolwich Arsenal again.
Our flight out of London left early on Monday morning, so we started our journey back to Gatwick airport at 5:30 AM. We were sitting on the airplane by 8 AM and started the take off process. Right in the middle of the usual speeding down the runway before rising into the air bit, the aircraft shuddered to a violent stop. I exchanged looks with Kiera and knew something was up as the plane slowly turned around. A voice came on the intercom: "The captain has rejected take off." Oh? Is that a thing? What will make him accept take off? Flowers? Chocolates?

The ending to our weekend wasn't so great, but I don't regret the time I spent in London! To go somewhere I've only dreamed of...It's an accomplishment I will always treasure. And I plan to go back. Maybe even this semester! But next time, I'm skipping the airports. Give A Very Lucky Girl an overnight bus.
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