Sam, Taylor and I went to the Petticoat Street Market that’s right around the corner from the Ibis Hotel we’re staying at. There wasn’t a huge selection of things but many types of clothing and fabrics were available. Next we went to the Spittlefield market to walk around. It’s a big, covered market with lots of vendors that have all types of goods.

I bought mango-orange juice and we walked around a bit more. We came upon an old phone booth that had been made into a public art display with fabric flowers, specifically naming it an Instagram post worthy spot.

We then went to Nandos, a Portuguese style chain restaurant, where they mostly feature chicken. I was able to grab a vegan friendly sweet potato, squash and carrot party with some steamed long stem broccoli.

Our trio made our way back to the hotel to rest up before we ventured out for a small tour of tomorrow’s activities. We went to the Aldgate East station, took the district line to Westminster.

We went to the London Bridge to view the London Eye, Big Ben and the parliament buildings. Our group dinner was at 7 at the Red Lion, located across from 10 Downing Street where the Prime Minister of England lives.

We got to the restaurant 30 minutes early so a small portion of the group went to St Stephens Tavern and I tried a pale ale that the barista recommended, although I should have ordered a cider instead.

The group got fish and chips and I was able to eat a veggie burger that was seasoned with cayenne pepper and paprika, chips and some chocolate vegan ice cream.

We took the district line towards the Upminster and got off at the east Aldgate station. We walked the short way back to the hotel and had a quick meeting about our plans for tomorrow.

Overall, the first day has been a tiring, but fun adventure. The weather was perfect, roughly 19° Celsius and partly cloudy. The sun made an appearance for the majority of the day so I feel very content.