We woke and started our journey by visiting the famous Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. Thankfully we had great weather that day or else the event would have been cancelled. In retrospect, we ended up having phenomenal weather the entire time we were traveling. Only once did we get rained on, and that was our last day in Dublin. To continue, the changing of the guards was a fantastic experience, we videotaped the marching and marveled at the gates and architecture of the entire building. It was interesting to be in the same place where I watched the royal wedding a year or so ago, peering up at the balcony where the entire family stood and where William and Kate's famous first kiss was shared. In front of Buckingham Palace lies St. James Park, arguably my favorite place in London. This park stretches from the street in front of the palace to the entrance or arch leading to Trafalgar Square. I could have spent hours there reading, taking pictures, and just admiring the atmosphere. I feel as if it was the equivalent to New York's Central Park, in the sense that London is a giant city and this park was a breath of fresh air in the middle of all the people and commotion. As we were walking by the park we stumbled upon a movie set for the next James Bond film, which had us stopped for a good ten minutes looking for celebrities. We arrived to Trafalgar Square after our brief detour and marveled at the scene. Two giant fountains with an obelisk in the middle were in sight as well as a great view of Big Ben straight ahead. Trafalgar Square is also home to the National Portrait Gallery and the famous Lion statues in the center of the square. Also, it was the site of the last Harry Potter movie premiere which I freaked out about. There were vast amounts of street performers as well, along with a giant countdown clock to the Olympic games this summer, which we took a photo next to. We then headed to Covent Garden Market. Here we watched a great interactive street performance with a man who brought a 7 year old British boy, a Chinese man, a German man, and a British woman to the front and made them dance and entertain the crowd. The market was full of great shops and vendors ranging from handmade jewelry to photographers showcasing their work. There was also a great cupcake shop we had to stop and take a look at....and sample. We went into a bookstore later that day and I bought Harry Potter, the British version! So happy. Then Leen and I went and got some guacamole because we had a craving, and everyone else had gone to rest. Every single shop and restaurant that we encountered after leaving Covent Garden Market looked amazing, we wanted to go inside each one. Leen and I finished our day by walking back through St. James Park to get to the tube, to wrap up one of the best days I had while abroad.
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| Fountain at Trafalgar Square |
In the morning the next day we woke up and I did my usual: make tea! I made it for everyone who wanted it and it was honestly the best way to start the day. I love tea so much and I had been missing it greatly in Spain. We woke up and gathered strength and headed to Camden Town Market, a great place filled with food stands of every type, and souvenir shops that never ended. I wanted to buy everything I saw in each stand. Leen and I ended up buying some hipster glasses with clear lenses. Best purchase of my trip, I think. Also, I ended up seeing Katie Gonino, a friend from high school who was studying in London, so it was good to see a familiar face all the way in Europe. I was in owl heaven there at the market, they had owls on everything. Shirts, necklaces, earrings, glasses, posters all with owls on them. I couldn't decide on any one thing, they were all so cute. The jewelry stands were fun to look through, they had everything you could imagine. After we walked up and down the streets of Camden Town we decided to leave and head toward Kings Cross Station. This truly fulfilled a Harry Potter dream of mine, and I don't care if I sound like a nerd here. Originally we got off at the tube stopped and had to ask that awkward question that probably so many people working there get every day, "Where is Platform 9 3/4?" "You know...from the movie?". The first people we asked seemed to be convinced that it was closed or it had moved for construction which REALLY put a damper on my day. Pretty fast. Despite that information, I was determined to just go look inside the station. So we all walked inside to look more and then asked again. The next response was more to my liking, a worker told us we were close, and that it was just down the way! Why on earth would those people tell me it was closed? I put that annoyance aside as I pretty much ran to the spot between platforms 8 and 9. Out of the way, behind some construction we found a wall that had been moved with a sign above that indicated the spot. There were a few people there taking pictures but no large line. We all quickly took our pictures (yay!) and then moved on to go look more at the brick architecture that made up the platforms. I also took a picture by platforms 3 and 4 because I think someone told me that's where they actually filmed the scenes...who knows if that's really true. But I took the picture anyway. Why not? I'm only there once.
The next day we shopped at Oxford Street at a store called Top Shop, in which I wanted every single thing. The catch was that it was super expensive, so therefore I bought nothing. It was torturous walking through that shop, they had every single shoe you could ever want, and every single item of clothing to match. Also, they had a built in nail salon, hair salon, cupcake shop, fro yo shop, and sandwich shop inside. Plus it was 3 levels. It was by far the most elaborate store I'd ever been in. After shopping for awhile some of us really wanted to have a "fish and chips" experience so we asked some people on the street where the best place would be to get some quality fish and ships. We were directed to a restaurant called "The Golden Union" and we weren't disappointed. I ordered the fish and chips and a chocolate milkshake and had a lunch that almost reminded me of home. The "chips" were equivalent to large french fries and the milkshake was one of the best I've ever had. That could have been because I hadn't had a milkshake in 2 months but whatever. It was great. I remember today I wished that I had more time in London cause I realized that our time was winding down. There is literally so much to do there I could spend 2 weeks or more! By the end of our trip we all started to fall in love with it. Hannah and I were brainstorming how to become nannies for British families so we could stay and work in London indefinitely. Today was also Cristina's 21st birthday so we got ready and went to a great Indian Restaurant called "Brick Lane". We were probably the only people in the place, but it didn't matter. The food was excellent, and I knew just what to order after our Food and Society class went to an Indian restaurant one night (it was actually on my birthday!). Chicken Tikka Masala is what I ordered, along with some Cheese Naan (aka cheesy bread). After that we walked around London at night and made our way back to our neighborhood, Canary Wharf. We decided to rest because tomorrow was our traveling day and last day in London.
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| Westminster bridge and Big Ben |
Today on February 28th, we woke up and we had to pack. We had to be out of our apartment by 2 but our flight to Dublin wasn't until later that night. I packed up with mixed emotions. This apartment in London was so incredibly nice, I had a kettle to make tea, television, washing machine, and nice bathroom. Plus London in general was just amazing to me. Similar to the big city life of New York City but with old, antique stone buildings as opposed to high rises everywhere. Also there was a good mix of nature in between the city life. The parks and gardens around London were so relaxing and beautiful, I wish I could have visited them all. After the landlord of the apartment nicely allowed us to store our bags in her apartment for the day, we made our way to Big Ben, Parliament, the London Eye, and Westminster Abbey. The London Eye sits directly opposite of Big Ben and Parliament, across the River Thames. It basically resembles the biggest ferris wheel you've ever seen in your entire life, but instead of sitting in an outdoor cart, you are put into a enclosed pod with 10-15 other people that has clear windows on all sides. You are slowly circled around to the highest point and then you sit there for a few minutes to take in the view. There are interactive speakers that tell you what surrounding area you are looking at. From atop the Eye we could see literally every London landmark, and it put everything into perspective for us. After that Hannah and I were intrigued by an advertisement for a haunted house, so naturally we had to do it! To paint a picture, we walked in, paid for the experience and immediately they strapped me down in an electric chair looking contraption and gave Hannah a chainsaw. They took a picture which made it look like Hannah was chopping off my arms while I was stuck in the chair. I remember cracking up at the hilarity of the situation because the people working there were so dead serious about it. They even put a fake nub on one of my hands which was all bloody. We waited in line with some guys from France and made small talk with them, and then were shuffled in the room to start our haunted house experience. All I really remember is how funny it was when something grabbed Hannah's leg from underneath a fence and she fell to the ground in horror. I died laughing. After the 10 minute experience which probably wasn't worth all those pounds...we got the rest of the group and headed across the bridge to see Big Ben and Parliament up close. I made sure to document the scene in National Lampoon's European Vacation that my Dad likes so much, when Chevy Chase continues to say "Look kids, Big Ben...Parliament," when they go around in circles multiple times in the car. Then we walked to Westminster Abbey and looked in the gift shop there, which was filled with Royal Wedding souvenirs, clearly. Some of us split up at that point to go shopping or to walk around more, so Leen and I decided to go find the London Bridge. The famous bridge you see in postcards with the two towers is conveniently called "Tower Bridge" and in my mind, I had been imagining that it was London Bridge. The two bridges actually lie parallel from one another. We eventually found London Bridge and stepped onto it. It's honestly a little anticlimactic in regards to architecture and style. The Tower Bridge is photographed more and is really intricate and detailed. For the sake of the song and for historic purposes, we decided to take a tour of the London Bridge. The catch was that it was also a haunted house. I don't know why London was filled with haunted houses or scare attractions but we had multiple choices on "haunted" places to go, people were handing out flyers on the street corners everywhere you turned. The cool part about the one we went on was that it was actually underneath the London Bridge. The "haunted tour" or the "London Bridge Experience" as they called it, was informative as it taught you about the history behind the London Bridge, and was scary at the same time. Leen was freaking out while I was laughing hysterically. We learned that Olaf, the viking, tore down the foundation of London bridge originally, and in 1666 The Great Fire of London destroyed it. It was constantly rebuilt. There used to be houses and shops lining the bridge, and it was bustling with traffic. After this informative tour we quickly hopped on the tube to make it to Piccadilly Circus just so we could say that we've been there. It was really similar to New York's time square.
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| Big Ben |
From here, Leen and I boarded the tube for the last time and made our way to find the others and grab our luggage to hurry to the airport. It was off to Ireland for the second half of our Spring break tour. While I was sad about leaving London and wishing I had more time, I have to say that Ireland was the place I had always dreamed about visiting, so I was as eager as anything. It did not disappoint.
