Will and I got in to London at two after our emotional morning
leaving campus. We took a train in from Gatwick and tried to find our hotel. We
had to go check in at a hotel and then we were cabbed over to our rented
apartment. After a fail of an hour and a half we found the hotel, and got
brought to our apartment. The apartment was pretty big, private, and only a few
tube stops from the center of town.
We looked through our guidebooks and realized that during finals
we didn't plan anything of this trip and thought we would just figure it out.
The lack of language barrier was a welcome change. We headed over to the Soho
neighborhood to check it out and get dinner and maybe dance (just a little). We
found THAI FOOD and we just simply had to go in. It was good, cheap, and I was
into it. We went dancing and headed back wore the tube ended at midnight and
went to wait for the girls in
our apartment (I love saying that). They didn't end up getting
there until after 4am, and I had to stay up to let them in, the downside of apartment
life.
The next morning will and I got an early start while the girls
slept in and went over to the tower of London and had a huge breakfast before
we went in. We walked in all VIP like with the London Pass we decided to buy.
The tower of London was crazy with all of its history of torture and craziness
and all of the jewels we saw, although we
skipped the crown jewels. The line wasn't worth it. Then we went
up tothe Tower bridge and took in awesome views of London and the exhibitions
explained some of the architecture of London. Then we headed down to the Tate
modern museum and looked at some amazing modern art. It was so nice to see
modern art, something I missed in Italy.
We met up with the girls and walked across the millennium bridge
and looked up at St. Paul's. We then went over to Picadilly Circus and got some
coffee. Something about the collective exhaustion and new coffee buzz made us
all crazy and we literally stood around laughing trying to find a place to eat.
We epically failed and ended up eating street fish and chips on Bond street.
Woops.
On our second full, and sadly last day in London we were up
early to fulfill the itinerary Will had so dutifully prepared. We started by going
over to Portobello road, the awesome market street in London. On the way we got
off the tube and we were trying to figure out how to get to the market a few
streets away. The cutest old British woman came up and asked if we needed help,
we old her what we were trying to
do, and she said she would walk us there. This was one of the
many amazing interactions with Brits we had. They were all so nice, it was out
of control. At the market it took every bone in my body not to buy every
vintage watch, piece of crystal, and silver in sight. My already stuffed
baggage came to mind and I sadly walked away empty handed.
Off we went to Kensington gardens and Hyde park. On the way Lars
(laura) came 6 inches fro literally being killed while not looking the correct
way as she crossed the street. I hadn't seen much green space in the city yet
and I was shocked by the size of the parks. We walked through just chatting and
noting all of the things we loved about
British culture. From the formal greetings, to the super direct
Names for things like "way out" and "push chair". The parks
were great, we napped in the sun for a hot second and walked our way over to Buckingham
palace. We came, we watched, and we saw a brief guard changing (it wasn't that
cool, let's al stop lying to each other).
Next, We walked over to Westminster abbey and big Ben, we were
on a sightseeing marathon. Will and I flaunted our London Passes again and went
inside while the girls napped wit big Ben. It was cool to be within a place
where so much history has taken place, and where so many famous people a
buried. It's so crazy, Dickens, Darwin, royalty; I mean really London? We get
it. U took a lot of illegal pictures, a
skill I've honed in a semester of travel to historical sights,
it's really the greatest skill I've picked up woke abroad. That and an amazing
taste for a good carbonara and a judgmental eye for wines. We made our way back
over to Lieshter square to score a great deal; just wait for it.
We got tickets to see Les Miserables on the west end. I know, it
was awesome. Will and I had seen these half price ticket houses all over London
before the girls got there and we made the proclamation that we were going with
or without them. When they got in town, one of the first things they said was
"we want to see les mis" it was meant to
be. The whole trip kind of just worked out like that. Will and I
wanted to go to London and Dublin/Galway and so did they. We kind of
booked our own stuff and then ended up being on a couple of the
same flights. CRAZAY.
So we went to the ticket store in the tube stop and asked for
five tickets. There were five available in the balcony for a ridiculous price
as we got on it. We went to get some more traditional fare and coffee before
the show; holy fried food London, it started to get a little redundant, and we
all proclaimed how much Italian food we can
eat and be really full but not feel as though we are going to
die. Score 1 Italy.
The show was obviously amazing, it was on the west end. It was amazing.
We went back to our apartment (never gets old) and had some drinks and got to
bed early for our flight out to Dublin the next day. Oh London, I never wanted
to leave.
