The Epic London Adventure- Part 1

I recently returned from my last trip to London, which was amazing in every way. I absolutely loved it, and only wish I could have done more, though I did do quite a bit. Which is why this will be several posts. :) So here we go:

Thursday

On Thursday, I packed up all my stuff and caught a bus to the nearest train station. Where I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to pack my camera. So thanks to my friend Victoria, because she's the reason I have any pictures at all of the trip. Victoria met me there at the train station, and we traveled down to London together. Our train was at noon, and we arrived in London right at 2:30. The first thing we did was make our way to our hostel and drop off our bags. Then, because it was Victoria's first trip to London, I took her to Westminster to see Big Ben and the London Eye. We were planning on attending a service at Westminster Abbey that evening, and at 5:00 we made our way there. 

We weren't allowed to take pictures, seeing as it was a proper evening service. But it was absolutely incredible. The choir was singing, and apparently they're world-renowned. They read some passages out of the bible, there was a lot of sitting and standing. But the Abbey was so beautiful. It was actually very inspiring to me to be listening to a church service in such an amazing place. I felt very lucky to be there. 

After the 45 minute service, we made our way to the London Eye and met up with my other friend Mady. We had tickets for the Eye, so we collected those and then joined the queue. The Eye never looks that big in pictures, but once you're actually on it and going around, it seems massive! It takes 30 minutes to make a complete rotation, you know. Here are some stunning pictures: 

When we were near the top of the Eye, we noticed what looked like a giant purple bouncy house. After we were safely back on the ground, we discovered that it was not a bouncy house, but a tent in the shape of a giant purple cow on it's back. And it was the Udderbelly Festival. 

Victoria and I ended up going to that night's show, which turned out to be great. The show was called "Festival of the Spoken Nerd" and was comprised of three super nerdy people making science and math related jokes. It was FANTASTIC. If they sound interesting to you, and they should because they're awesome, then check out their website. Soon they'll be coming to the States!

festivalofthespokennerd.com

Then after that, we made our way back to the hostel for the night, as we had an early morning ahead of us.

An Adventure in London: Day 1

I've spent the last couple days in London, seeing all the sights and spending some time with one of my English friends.

Francine and I left early (and I do mean early. Like 5:50 early.) on Wednesday morning. We didn't leave quite as early as we planned, because I ended up forgetting my shoes and had to go back for them. Then we got on the bus to get to our coach. But evidently we got on the wrong bus, because it didn't go to Piccadilly, so we got of on the wrong stop and took a taxi the rest of the way. Then we sat at the coach station for 15 minutes with this god-awful buzzing sound driving us insane. I have no idea what it was, but it was really annoying.

Then we had a four hour coach ride, which I mostly slept through. Once we got to London, we made out way on the tube to Mill Hill, which is where Fran's Grandma lives. Ann, Fran's grandma, was kind enough to let us stay with her for a couple days. She is an absolutely amazing woman, and she has a very thick Irish accent that I love. She was so kind, and even made me a cup of tea.

We made our way into London, and our first stop was Westminster. We saw the famous clock tower, which, by the way, is NOT called Big Ben. The bell is called Big Ben, and the tower itself is the Elizabeth Clock Tower.

And it was such a beautiful day!

Then we continued on to Westminster Abbey, which was recently the site of a royal wedding! We didn't go in, because it was expensive, but it was magnificent enough from the outside. At one point, we were standing on top of a wall to get better pictures, and this group of seven or eight boys with skateboards walked past and shouted, "Get those angles, girls!" Which made no sense at all. And then one of them tripped so we started dying. Anyway, here are the pictures we took:

Sadly, it was too expensive to go inside. 

Then we went for a walk in St. James's Park, which is just alone the road from Westminster Abbey. It was very beautiful, because the flowers have finally arrived and the trees are beginning to bloom.

 We were silly and took some fun pictures under the blossoms; Francine didn't get as into it as I did. We did get some funny looks though.

Then we went to a pub to meet some of Francine's old friends, who were lovely. We had a great time, and then went to dinner with them too. Then we made our way back to Mill Hill and crashed very soon after.