I spent the weekend in London with three girls from my program. There was so much to see in so little time, but somehow we managed to fit in all the major attractions. On Saturday, we began the day with Big Ben, the London Eye, Parliament, and Westminster Abbey. The inside of Westminster is amazing and it was by far my favorite of all the famous churches I've seen. It was huge and it took us about an hour to walk around the whole thing. Unfortunately, we weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I have to remember it all in my head. After seeing everything in that area, we took a train out to Hampton Court Palace which was the palace of King Henry the 8th. We had lunch at a place in the garden that had a great selection of food. It was a really nice day so we sat outside on the terrace and ate while looking at the garden. After lunch, we walked all around the palace and took lots of pictures. Once we had seen everything, we went back into London and took a ferry tour on the Thames River. Our tour guide was really funny and kept cracking jokes about everything we saw along the way. We began at the London Eye and ended right before the London Bridge. The ride was so nice and relaxing and we learned a lot about the landmarks we rode by. After the tour, we went to Harrods, the famous department store. It was enormous and I was in fashionista heaven. We walked around as many of the departments as we could, and saw tons of clothes from all the top brands. When we left, it was dark out and the outside of the store was lit up all along the building. It was so pretty and it reminded me of Christmas time. Then, we met a friend of ours who was visiting her boyfriend for the weekend and we all went to dinner at a pub. I was so excited to see familiar food and I got a chicken burger with cheddar and bacon. I even got barbecue sauce with my fries which is how I love to eat them, but sadly I am convinced bbq sauce does not exist in France. It was so nice to see everything in English and to order food I am used to for a change. The whole weekend was like getting a mini vacation back to America except everyone had cool accents.
On Sunday, we had free breakfast at our hostel and then we went to find Abbey Road where the Beatles' studio is. We took a picture on the crosswalk from their album and risked our lives running out in traffic several times to get the best picture. After we got a good one, we headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. The whole area was a mob scene and I could barely see anything. I saw a little bit of the procession to the palace, but after that I couldn't get close enough to the palace gate to see the actual changing of the guards. When that was over, we went to Kensington Palace which is the residence of Will and Kate when they stay in London. We walked through the park and garden area that surrounds the palace and found a little place to have lunch, then we toured the palace. The upstairs is an exhibit of Queen Victoria and we saw her wedding dress and several of her personal items which I loved because I just recently watched "The Young Victoria" and I am now obsessed with her. When we were done walking around the palace, we went to a fancy tea place on the grounds called the Orangery. I got a hot chocolate and a piece of orange cake that was amazing. My friends got tea and some pastries on a cute little three-tiered tray. After tea, I went to meet my best friend Jen who just began her study abroad program in London. We went to Kings Cross Station to take a picture at Platform 9 3/4 from Harry Potter and then went to a restaurant for dinner. We sat and talked for almost two hours and I realized just how much I had missed her. It felt so good to be with her in a place so unfamiliar and just feel a piece of home. There is a reason she is my best friend and we always have a good time no matter what we are doing. After we ate, we found a red phone booth to take a picture in and then she walked me to the train station where my train was leaving from to head back to Paris. I was sad to go because it was such a short amount of time that I got to spend there and I had a great time. I really like London and I hope that someday I will make it back there. All in all it was a great weekend and I am so excited to be here and to be able to travel so easily around Europe.
Big Ben:
London Eye:
Hampton Court Palace:
London Bridge:
Changing of the Guards:
Buckingham Palace:
Harrods:
Abbey Road:
Kensington Palace:
Queen Victoria's wedding dress:
Orangery:
Kins Cross Station:
BFFs :)
No comments:
Post a Comment