Minding the Gap in London

This post is a little late since this week I've had actual schoolwork to do! I was just as shocked as everyone else when I found myself staying up late not to hang out around the bar or go for walks through town, but to create powerpoints and write papers. By far the lowest point of the semester so far. Anyway, last weekend Lexi and Pat and Sarah and Colleen and I went to Londontown! 

The plane ride was ridiculous - literally 25 minutes long. We arrived at night at Stansted, which, due to our need for budget air travel, is a tiny airport an hour outside the heart of the city. However, London is so big that we were techincally there when we landed, but it took a long bus ride to get us anywhere good. We met up with a friend of Pat's who goes to Oxford, and she whisked him away for a night with her. The rest of us went on to our first hostel, Palmer's Boutiqe Backpacker's Hotel. And for once, the place lived up to its name - it was wonderful! Very cute, super friendly staff, nice roommates, and some welcome touches like curtains on the bed, lockers, and reading lights. This is the inside foyer thing:

We didn't really do anything that night because we were all really tired. The next day, though, we had big plans! In order to execute these plans we had to attack the London Underground. It went surprisingly well, minus the part where we all had to stand around the metro map for a few thousand hours.

First we collected Pat and then we all went shopping at this phenomenon of a store called Primark. It's only in London, and it's like a dream made of stylish clothes. Each of us bought something, so I hope that the store doesn't come to the US or else my cardigan and sweater won't be as special. After shopping we ate and then went to walk around the Tower of London. We didn't go in because it was pretty expensive and we kind of wanted to see what else the city had to offer, history-wise, before we started paying huge entrance fees. We also went to Abbey road, which...wasn't that exciting. 

But we made the best of it! After that stuff, we went and took a fantastic boat ride down the Thames. It was raining pretty hard by that point though, so most of the people stayed inside the boat. This ended up being better actually, 'cause then it was just me and Lexi and Pat out on the roof, so we go to take a ton of pictures:

And even though it was raining and starting to get dark, we decided we wanted to go on the London Eye anyway. Before you go on it though, they give you these crazy glasses and take you through a "4-D" show:

We never really understood the point of it but it was cool anyway! The actual Eye was a lot of fun - the city is so beautiful and SO big!!

After that we walked around some more and took everything in before heading back to the hostel. We stayed at The Steam Engine, which was a great little place that's a pub below and a hostel on top. Since we were in a 12-bed mixed dorm, we even got the opportunity to meet some awesome new people! So with our new friends we were in the bar until really late, playing pool and talking about whatever. It was really fun and definitely one of the reasons I wanted to come on this trip. 

The next day was packed full of stuff! In the morning we went to the changing of the guard, which I loved because there were so many horses everywhere! And the music was cool too, I guess. 

Next up was Westminster Abbey, a place I have always wanted to go. It is an absolutely gorgeous cathedral, but you can't take pictures inside so all I have is a ton of shots of the outside. Thankfully, we got amazing weather on our second day, so the pictures came out well!

Oh, and there's also this, which I'm very proud to have seen:

So after we had said our hellos to Queens Elizabeth, Mary and Mary of Scots, we left and headed out to lunch. After lunch was the Churchill Museum and War Rooms, which I don't have pictures of for some reason. It was such a nice day that after the museum we took a walk in St. James park, which is very picturesque and had some great views:

Very close to the park was Trafalgar Square, where the National Gallery is. It was a great museum - really well laid-out and with a ton of great things to see. Unfortunately we were only there for like an hour 'cause they close at 5. But it was worth it, and Lexi and Sarah and I had a great time zooming around from one favorite to another. By the time we were done we got to go on a nice walk around the city before we had to meet up with everyone else. Here's my favorite picture of Trafalgar Square, taken from the steps of the National Gallery, and then some random pictures from all around the city:

That night we went and saw Sister Act: The Musical at the Palladium. It was alright! The acting was only ok, but then the sets were AMAZING. But it was entertaining and funny, and that's what mattered. After that we strolled around the Oxford Circus area and peered in all the windows and watched the kids go clubbing. We were so jealous! They had the best clothes, and all of us were severely underdressed. Instead we went and bought chocolate and wine and went back to the hostel to hang out with our new friends. 

Unfortunately, our flight was at 7:15am, which meant getting a cab from the hostel at 3:30am. Needless to say, it was a long night. 

Although I wish I had had April and Spade as my guides to the city, and to the English countryside in general, I had a great time. I feel like there's a lot of stuff I didn't get to see or do, so hopefully someday I can go back and really get to know the city. 

This weekend....Bruges? Arcen? Who knows???