Day NINE. Sweets of London. After my lovely awakening at 10am I decided to take it easy in the morning and plan out my day. I mapped it all out & was off. Tube closed for maintenance. Free bus to nearest tube station on another line and I was really off. I decided to be a tourist today. First stop, St James Park. It was a lovely walk. Flowers, lakes, swans, people watching people, good times. I headed over to dun da duh duhn da dah da doo do doo... Buckingham Palace to take picks and be with the tourists. I got stopped twice by people asking me for directions....uh yah my i dont care what i look like apparently translates to must be a local. After wondering a bit around there, I headed off for a treat. Last night I texted my now older and wiser sister Lisa asking her where she'd like me to go for her birthday. "Just eat something yummy for me." The school has a booklet they give with recommended vendors/deals for students and in it was a chocolate shop 1/2 mile from the palace. I decided to give it a try. I got off the main streets and walked the little side roads, these are my favorite roads. The light colors of the houses, the flowers hanging from light posts, the quiet in the middle of the hustling city. When I got to the address of the chocolate shop, it was a hair salon. Nice. Luckilly there was a screamingly cute bakery on the corner, Peggy Porschen Cakes, of which I gave a go. I had a Banoffee Cupcake, a spin off of the pie it was amazing. (Arizonan's the pie is at Cornish Pasty). Today's cupcake was a toffee/molasses cake with a caramel filling, toffee buttercream, and a banana on top. I love the pie, and now the cupcake too. A delicious treat to celebrate my sister Lisa. Happy Birthday! Next years cake from me will be great! After that, I daringly proceeded to another recommended place from the book, a cake decorating supply store, to buy disposable piping/decorating bags. [The school gives us two bags, but the chefs say they are a pain to clean & reuse, so they recommended us buying disposible ones for ourselves....um hello school that made me pay lots of money please give us free piping bags please...and thank you.] This place was actually there :) it was a cute shop with everything for just cake decoration, so it was dreamy so walk through. Took a walk trying to find my next bus, got on one to see the outside of .... Royal Albert Hall. Never heard of it before last week when I turned on the TV to see "The Proms from Royal Albert Hall" [apparently it is a fest, and the last night it is televised, classics, orchestral, I am amazed at how culture is loved here]. The inside of the hall itself were closed, but they do do tours so perhaps I will be back. Walked through Hyde Park. Seriously I am loving seeing all the green and trees and people out enjoying it all. Peeked through the trees at Kensington Palace, as my friend William is out of town, and Kate is a bit under the weather, I didnt stop in for a visit. The park was lovely, and I am glad I will get to see a change in weather with the leaves changing. Not so glad for a change in temperature. Took the metro back home, got groceries on an empty stomach. Bought too much stuff. Hopefully I can eat it all before I move to Fulham next week. Got home, met the roommate who has been gone all week travelling who goes to the same school as I, but was her break, and she is full of information, and loves to talk. Super friendly people in this flat. And with that. Goodnight.