London!!!

London. Was. AWESOME!!!!  Although the trip was amazing, the weekend started out a bit shaky.  Our friends Sarah and Chelsea accidentally missed the bus and had to take a later one (that unfortunately cost waaaay more) which really sucked.  Becca, Ellen, Hannah and I arrived in London around 8:30 but they didn’t get there until almost midnight.  When the four of us got there we took a taxi to our hostel.  The only hostel I had ever stayed at before was in Chicago with the HLC and it was actually really nice, so I thought this one would be decent as well.  Umm, I was wrong.  On the plus side it was in a safe neighborhood in Waterloo, cheap, and really close to Big Ben and the London Eye (about a ten minute walk if that).  Other than that, I would never, ever stay there again.  I know I’m a poor college student and shouldn’t be picky, but when you are used to staying in clean hotels it was quite a shock.  The lobby wasn’t bad; it had a pool table, a few couches and big TV, but the rooms were NASTY.  I spent the night on the highest level of a triple bunked bed with questionable sheets and a nice view of a ring of black mold growing around the edge of the ceiling.  We were in a musty smelling room with 15 other people, most of which were 20 something men that we had never met before (even though we thought we had booked an all female room).   Since we weren’t fans of the hostel, we tried to spend as little time as possible there, so right after we locked up our bags we went to a pub and relaxed there while we waited for Chelsea and Sarah, which was really fun.

Saturday we got up around 7 so we could spend all day seeing the city.  We walked to the parliament building first, which was UNBELIEVABLE!!! It was my favorite building I saw.  I couldn’t believe that after watching dozens of movies and TV shows where it is shown, I was finally seeing it in person.  I can’t even describe how beautiful it was, and the best I can do is pictures which really does it no justice at all.   The London Eye was also really cool and much bigger than I imagined. 

 Next we walked to Westminster Abbey, which was also amazing.  It’s awesome to think about the fact that it is where most of the royal family has gotten crowned or married, and where the royal wedding will take place in the spring.  On Saturday we also saw Buckingham Palace, Abbey Road, Oxford Street, Platform 9 ¾, London Bridge, the Tower of London, Shakespeare’s Globe and much more.  By about 7 we were all exhausted, so we went back to the hostel, ordered pizza and played cards.  At about ten we all went to sleep because we were so tired from the day.

On Sunday Ellen and I took a double decker tour through the city which was a BLAST!  It was incredible to hear all about the magnificent buildings we had seen and to view them from higher up.  On the tour we also got to see some things we hadn’t on Saturday such as St. Paul’s Cathedral, Madame Toussad’s, Regent Street, and Fleet Street.  The tour was one of my favorite parts of our trip. 

Around 1 we got off the bus to have lunch and then took the underground over to the Natural History Museum which was incredibly cool.  The building itself was remarkable, as were the exhibits inside.  Unfortunately we didn’t have time to see the entire thing because we had to go back to get our bags and catch the bus home, but it was still a lot of fun.  After an awesome two days we rushed back to the hostel to get our things and made sure we were early to the bus station so no one would miss it again.  Overall it was a wonderful trip and I had a ton of fun with all the girls.  I really hope to go back to London again while I’m here and take my time seeing all the incredible things the city has to offer. I know this one only the Reader’s Digest version of the trip, but hopefully it gives you all at least the basic idea of how epic and incredible London was. J