London Calling

After a quick 2 1/2 hour train ride through the chunnel, we arrived in London! My immediate reaction to the place was to almost start crying of joy because all the signs were in English! And everyone spoke English! It was a beautiful thing after over 5 weeks of stumbling through the language barrier. Another first impression, which was proven to be true, was that English people are much nicer than pretty much any other nationality. They are very polite and actually stop to make sure you're ok after you and your friend fall down the escalator...Should I explain? Michelle and I were beyond exhausted by the time we arrived at London St. Pancras Station and walked over to the Tube station. Michelle's suitcase was broken and heavy and as we were descending on the escalator into the tube station, it knocked Michelle over, which also made me fall as I was behind her. I think it probably would have been embarrassing if I was actually awake enough to register what happened.

Our hotel was in Westminster, a quick tube ride away. I noticed immediately how lovely London is. It is a city, but unlike Paris or any of the Italian cities, it was very nice, not too overcrowded, not too industrial and not too many tall, intense buildings--at least in Westminster. Originally, our plan was to stay with our friend Emily who is studying in London, but her dorm doesn't allow overnight visitors so my mom had to book a hotel for us last minute, and man, she did well. It was super nice, especially considering where we had been staying before, and it was really hard not to just stay in our nice big, two double beds instead of venturing outside.

After resting up a bit, we headed to a nearby pub for dinner. I have to say I felt really, really, really cool sitting in an English pub eating fish and chips. Later, we met up with Emily and went to another pub where we drank really bad beer...but it was still cool, because it was in an English pub.

Now, disclaimer, before I go on: I absolutely LOVED London. So this blog might be excessive just because my love for it is undying. I know I was only there for two days, but I have wanted to go to London for as long as I can remember and it definitely did not disappoint. So bear with me here.

The next morning, after a beautiful night's sleep in my first comfortable bed of Europe, Michelle and I went and had an authentic English breakfast complete with baked beans, which I thought was weird at first, but actually made sense. Then we walked to Hyde Park, which is beyond gorgeous, and just sat there for a little while.

Our hotel was about two blocks from Buckingham Palace so we had to walk past it on our way to meet Emily at Westminster Abbey. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous place but a lot smaller in person. It was surreal to be standing in front of such a monumental building and think about all the things that have happened there, and all the public appearances that happened on that balcony. It was also the day of the Queen's first Garden Party, so I saw a lot of women in those iconic British hats walking around. I was trying to brainstorm how I could get in, but then remembered that I wasn't dressed for the occasion.

As you can tell by the picture, we had much better weather in London than Paris. It was cool and cloudy both days.

After marveling at the Palace, we walked to Westminster Abbey and met up with Emily who is a Royal Wedding/Royal Family nut just like me so we were way too excited to go inside. As an Episcopalian, it was nice to finally go inside an important church that wasn't Catholic. The church itself was stunning and very architecturally amazing.

Once we got inside, we couldn't take pictures but it was so surreal to be standing in literally the exact same spot as so many royals especially William and Kate had been standing just two months before. We had hoped to reenact the wedding, or at least walk down the aisle to see how long it took (Emily and I watched it together and commented that it seemed like Kate had to walk a mile before she got to the alter), but unfortunately parts of it were blocked off so we did the best we could. In all the Royal Wedding excitement, I forgot about the historical importance of the Abbey and that it was full of tombs. I didn't recognize many of the names, but Queen Elizabeth I and her sister, Queen Mary are both buried there. It was cool and extremely creepy to be standing in front of the tomb knowing that Queen Elizabeth I's body was inside. Another cool part about the Abbey was that we saw the coronation chair where all the monarchs have been crowned since Edward II in 1308! It looked old, understandably. Walking outside the front doors of Westminster was also exciting because we got to see the same view the Royal couple saw as they exited the church. However, they were led to a horse-drawn royal carriage and we were directed to the gift shop.

Once we were done marveling at the abbey, we walked down to the Trafalgar Square area where we had another pub lunch and then walked along the Thames embankment a bit and saw the Houses of Parliament and the Clock Tower where Big Ben is (fun fact: the bell is named Big Ben, not the tower, thanks Emily!).

Then we wanted to go to Top Shop, a British store like Forever 21 (but on crack), but it was a ways away in Oxford Circle so we decided to take a double decker bus! (well, I decided. Michelle wanted to walk and Emily wanted to take the tube, but I insisted because they are just so cool).

Emily and I on the Double Decker

Top Shop was very cool, but it was also crowded and I was exhausted, and out of money so I was happy to leave. We walked back to Hyde Park (by the way, I was totally pro at navigating London) and had some ice cream and then walked to yet another pub where Emily and I tried Pimms, which is a classic London pub drink.

It was around 10 pm and were exhausted when we finally, sadly said goodbye to Emily and took a cab to our hotel at Heathrow Airport. On the way we saw the neighborhoods of Kensington and Chelsea which are super posh areas of London that I will definitely visit or live in when I am extraordinarily wealthy. Actually, I need to go back to London someday anyway because there are still many things I would like to see. Plus, it's just a fantastic city and probably the only place I visited that I would return to long-term.

The last little blip in our travels occurred when the cab driver dropped us of at the Holiday Inn. Upon trying to check in, I learned that there are THREE Holiday Inns around Heathrow, so we had to take another cab to the correct hotel. After a too short night's sleep, we headed to the airport via the Hotel Hoppa (a shuttle system with an overly enthusiastic driver) and the rest of the trip proceeded flawlessly.

After being awake for 24 hours, I finally made it home!