Winning London.

So there I was waking up in London. How many other people (besides the 7 million people that live there... but they don't count in this post) can say that? It was almost surreal to be in a city with Royalty. And the first thing on our 'to-do' list for the day was to go take a visit to my future home, Buckingham Palace. We headed off walking along Hyde Park, thinking it really was only a couple of blocks away. I was wrong. But hey, I was in London, so I wasn't complaining. After a nice LONG morning trek through the park, we got to the palace just in time to see the changing of the guard. Or so we thought.. In actuality, the guard only changes every OTHER day in the fall and winter months. It figures we would come the day in between the changing. Oh well. I wasn't too worried. We were at the palace anyway!

 

Though the Queen invited us in for tea, we had to decline due to the full day of sightseeing we had planned. Maybe next time! By the time we saw the palace, we were starved for a good English breakfast and found a cute cafe off some side street in the middle of no where. But I guess I wasn't the only American thinking that way because I randomly ran into some Gordon friends at the same place! Such a small world.
The Tube (subway) was undergoing maintenance and it just so happens the two lines we needed to use the whole time were under construction for one weekend. The only weekend I was there. But it was grand because we had to figure out the crazy bus routes and got to ride a double-decker! When we stopped to change buses on our way to the Tower of London, we turned a corner and found ourselves in Trafalgar Square! It was so lively and fun so of course we stopped for a photo op, some statue climbing and a short visit to the National Gallery.

 

I didn't think the Tower Bridge could live up to expectations I had from pictures, but it surpassed them. It was amazing and we took a nice walk over and around the bridge. It was huge and gorgeous and blue! We stopped for some much-needed Ben&Jerry's and relaxed by the Thames.

 Steph and I headed to go see the Crown Jewels in the Tower of London, and boy, substantial is an understatement. Who knew you could see diamonds that big?? Unfortunately, no cameras were allowed.. so you'll have to take my word for it. AMAZING. But while we were there, we browsed around the tower (built in 1078!! so old.) and saw plenty of knights and armories and prisons and the Bloody Tower (and where Anne Boleyn was executed) and exciting things like that.

((PS- Sidenote- found out the London Bridge is NOT falling down. Don't listen to any nursery rhymes you have heard lately. It is, in fact, still standing, if you were worried.))

As we were walking back, heading to go check out St. Paul's Cathedral, we happened to bump into a huge protest with loads of police. And then we picked up some signs and joined in. No, just kidding, we didn't. But we did try to get inside the Cathedral, only to find out from a nice officer that there was no way that was happening. A pretty obvious roadblock prevented that. So we just looked on from afar. 

 

For dinner, we headed out towards Oxford Street and did some great shopping! And then, don't judge, Joseph and I were really craving Mexican. And since Steph doesn't really get Mexican in Australia, we thought it would be okay to try out some London-Mexican. It was delish. Almost as good as Chipotle! 

Well, I thought I could fit all of my adventures into one post, but I was wrong. Since it'll take about an hour to read the book I just wrote, I guess I'll build up the suspense for my next post of London. It'll be the last one, I promise! Back to the 'study' part of my study abroad. Who knew it actually meant I couldn't just travel Europe the whole time?

(Shoutout to Al who I know is reading this and got the MaryKate&Ashley reference!)