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| Totally didn't think this would be "the real" Abbey Street. Good thing I took the picture .. because it was. |
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| Abbey Road Studios -- Where the Beatles recorded |
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| Studio Apartments in London |
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| First view into Hyde Park (Complete with Red Buses) |
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| Westminster Abbey (Where William and Kate were married =]) |
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| Houses of Parlaiment |
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| Big Ben and the London Eye |
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| No trip to London is complete without a picture with Big Ben, the London Eye AND a red bus |
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| I have been craving BBQ chicken, and when we went to Little Frankie's American Italian restaurant, my prayers were answered. It was nice to finally be able to take advantage of free refills, which England doesn't usually have, unfortunately.. We also got a chance to sit down with our map to plan out what we wanted to do and when. |
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| I never realized that the Olympics Logo of this year was "2012" |
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Kind of cool that they also had the countdown to the Paralympic Games as well!  TUESDAY  For those of you who have never stayed in a hostel, or have only heard bad things about it, that was me too before this trip. This hostel, called Astor Victoria (if you wanted to look it up), was a pleasant start to this new world. On the bottom of the bunks they had rolling crates where you could store your stuff during the day. I brought a padlock, but it was too small to use on the crate so I just locked the zippers together. Bathrooms and showers were separate from the room, but were not community showers (Thank Goodness!). I made sure to take my purse with me everywhere I went (even to the bathroom) and slept with it on my bed against the wall. There was never a time where I felt unsafe, despite sleeping surrounded by strangers who didn't even speak the language. Even with the cold showers and the guy at the front desk who had a hot-pink mullet, I would definitely recommend this hostel. It was nice to be able to store my luggage on the last day after check-out there, have access to internet, and a free breakfast in the morning (even if it was only toast and cereal). So, no, not all hostels are like the ones portrayed in the horror films, there merely a cheap place for students and backpackes to rest for the night. When we finally got up and moving, we walked around the area for a little while looking for a cafe for some coffee to start outr day before meeting Marissa at the Tube station.   
Uno Pronto became a morning regular (not just for the awesome green lids that came on our Take-Away lids, but mainly for the EXTREMELY attractive Spanish guys that were working ;-])
This one's for you Carly!
The gates to Buckingham Palace
    
Here are some of the views from the Palace..
 
Complete with Buddhist Monks
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| Kind of cool. We're famous... for stamp collecting. nice. |
Guarding St. James' Palace
Headed to Changing of the Guard
Where we were running to to see them
And they were changed. Basically ran all the way here (probably like a 1/4 mile) to see them stand here and stare at eachother while the horses freeked out and people were pushing and shoving everywhere for like 30 minutes, for them to ride around in a circle, and trot right on back to Buckingham Palacce. My advice? There really is no need to get here earlier than 11:20 to see the same thing that I did. Oh well, live and learn.
Preppin' for Olympics 2012
Then we decided to wander back over to where we were on Monday night (Trafalgar Square) where Brennah and Veronika (a girl that Marissa met at her hostel who was from Poland, but studying in Germany -- more on this later) went around in the National Gallery. Marissa and I stayed outside and watched three different street performers. The first was a contortionist who was able to get his entire body through a tennis racket, the second balanced on a rope while juggling knives, and the third was a mime. All of them were very entertaining, "studied at university", "did this professionally", asked that you give "around £5" if you have money", "but if you don't, just shake my hand and say thank you." Intersting. They all had everything timed with the next performer, and almost always gave the same speech towards the finale of their respective shows.
This is the view from the balcony of the National Gallery. You can see the Olympic countdown clock, that big tall statue thing, Big Ben on the left, and the two flags facing eachother are where we saw the "changing of the guard." I put quotations because I'm not convinced that we saw the right thing..
This. Is. Veronika.
Like I said earlier, Marissa met her at her hostel. She is studying in Germany, but is Polish. She was traveling alone, and now I know why. This girl was very nice, but boy, oh boy, could this girl talk. About anything and everything, she had something to say. Now, I know I am a talker as well, so who am I really to judge? But if you could only listen for like 5 seconds you would understand me. She was never wrong. Ever. She had all of the right ideas, and was always up in your face about everything. Now, I really did try and be nice to her, but she was one of those people who didn't pick up on the social cues of "I'm-really-annoyed-with-you-and-I'm-tired-SO-GET-THE-HELL-OUT-OF-MY-FACE." I'm not a subtle person, I wear things like this on my sleeve for the world to see. She apparently was not one of those people, but man did she need to be. We just started doing a lot more things split up and met up at certain times, for everyones benefit. It all worked out and I survived (she did too, barely) but patience is something that I really had to work on with her there, but I think I did a pretty good job.. though some may say different ;-]
One of my favorite parts of the day happened while trying to travel at Rush Hour on the tube. The girls were all in front of me and made it on the train no problem, somehow, however, I got pushed back, and then shoved onto the train a little after them. Alongside two women, I can only assume they were from Spain, helped me to get on. It was as packed as I have ever seen anything in my whole lifetime. When I tried to make light of the situation to these women, they just smiled and laughed (a lot like what I find myself doing when I don't understand the accents). So at the next stop, before we were supposed to get off, while people were getting off and getting on, I got shoved off of the train. Thankfully I was grabbed by one of these ladies and pulled back on. She just kept smiling as we were face to face on the train. Then when we finally got to our stop, I met up with my group and they met up with theirs. Since Marissa is from Columbia and speaks spanish, she was able to understand the woman telling her friends what had just happened and how "this girl got shoved off, so I grabbed her, and she kept talking to me in English and I had no idea what she was saying so I just smiled, Poor thing." Thank goodness for the universal language of kindness!
This is Kings Cross Station - one of thee largest train stations in the world =]
Yeahhhhh buddy !!!
We went to Yo! Sushi for lunch where they had a conveyor belt with dishes circling the restaurant and the prices coordinated with the color of the dish. I got "kiddie chop-sticks" because I was struggling
(Sorry Brittnee, I know you taught me better)
Next stop was the British Museum where we saw the Rosetta Stone
Spent some time in Egypt
And I can check Greece off my list of places to go too!
Piccadilly Circus was next on our list for the day..
Then we headed over to China Town.
Maybe I'm partial to cheap purses, but New York's was way better, because London's was all restaurants
Classy restaurants..
But they did have yummy-looking desserts!
I'd always been told "Go see a show while you're in London" - So I did. But I had no idea how huge they were! There are theatres EVERYWHERE! I took pictures of some of them, but no where near all of them..
Our next stop turned out to be my favorite place in London (little did I know we would make a return visit because we all loved it so much on Thursday!)
This is at the IceCreamists.
Best. Ice Cream. EVER.
(If and when you all do go to London, you HAVE to go here!)
Brennah is on the left and Marissa is on the right
Just a little taste of "the other side" of London haha
English people would call this "cheeky" - which means inappropriate
Our last stop of the day was to Oxford Circus, which is where all of the best shopping is =]
If only my mother would have made me take my raincoat, it wouldn't have rained. Though, because I'm such a rebel, I didn't bring it. And this is what happend.
Yes Mom, you were right...
WEDNESDAY
This is the view down the street from the hostel. Pretty gorgeous right?
The 4 middle sets of windows are our hostel
This is actually called Tower Bridge, not London Bridge
Just saying Hi! from the crack of the bridge!
City Hall is the awkward building on the left..
My yacht coming to pick me up on the bridge.. (The Queen sent it for me..)
The "actual" London Bridge
Shakepeare's Globe Theatre
Millenium Bridge
(Name that Harry Potter movie!)
Madam Tussaud's
David Beckham and Posh Spice (because she will never be "Victoria Beckham" to me)
How long have I been waiting for this picture with Daniel Radcliffe!?!?
And to all of the doubters that said I wasn't going to meet and fall in love with Prince Harry..
<3
Yet another new exerience: Vintage Shopping
Overall: interesting, pretty, but too damn expensive!
Just riding on the top of the Red Bus
The breaks were the scariest part. They made the horrible noise, and then stopped literally inches from the bus in front of them. Not to mention all of the little bicyclists that were weaving in and out of traffic by all of these buses. I'm still surprised we 1. never hit anything ourselves and 2. that I didn't have an actual heart-attack riding these freeking things! AHH!
Safely back on the Tube where I belong
The City at night was beautiful and (JAYNE BAUER) if you're here at night, it's a must do!
We were cold, but didn't want to go back, so instead, we got on a red bus and rode it around the city. We ended up at Piccadilly Circus(^) and then Oxford Circus (v) which was pretty cool!
We never had a chance to make it in, but they had a Forever 21! Which most people here hadn't even heard of!
THURSDAY
First thing, we went to a new coffee shop which was supposed to be the "best in the whole city" called Kaffeine and it was, but it was only a 5 oz. cup for the same price. Quite yummy, but not sure if I'd do it again.. This picture is of the Drag Queen Store that we saw on our walk back from the shop to Oxford Circus. Stocked full of sequins, feathers, and sparkles!
I know I'm going to sound like my mother here, but this was just ridiculous. We were in Urban Outfitters on Oxford Circus, so I expected things to be over-priced, but £18 ($27) for a Fruit of the Loom T-Shirt that was poorly Tie-Dyed? Come ON!
We headed over to Hyde Park even though it was a pretty gloomy day with the mission of finding the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, because when Mom and Dad came to London and only had enough time to come here in search of this fountain, couldn't find it. Noobs.
But don't worry, it was nothing special.
Peter Pan statue! I totally forgot this "took place" in London!
Back on the Tube back to Covent Garden
And back to the IceCreamists
Some of the flavors shown Jubilee Strawberry (which I got both times I was there), Apple and Vodka sorbet, Popcorn, Dark Chocolate, Peanut Butter and Ferrero Roche were some of the more popular amongst the group
Brennah absolutely fell in love with her £10 Steve Jobs Cocktail
(Apple and Vodka sorbet Ice Cream with extra vodka)
They had all of these huge eggs everywhere throughout the center!
And this lady was singing opera..
There's not much else to say except for the fact that I absolutely fell in love with this city. Covent Garden was probably my favorite place to be, Legally Blonde was really entertaining, I loved all of the street performers (there were tons more at Covent Gardens and Piccadilly Circus as well as music in the Tube), I liked eventually figuring out my way around on the Tube, the weather wasn't too horrible, and just being able to say I saw such amazing, iconic things was all a huge part in making this trip so memorable. To any of you even considering a trip to London, whether it be before, during, or after the Olympics, I highly suggest you take it. It is a beautiful and wonderful city and I would already go back in a heartbeat (and I just may.. )
If you didn't know this by now, on Easter Sunday I am embarking (good word choice, right?) on the journey of a lifetime. We'll start off in Amsterdam, take a train to Paris, and spend the last two days in Rome. I'm exhausted from London, but am literally out-of-my-head excited for this trip. Hopefully all goes as smoothly as London, but only time will tell.
Hope you all are well, and hopefully enjoying your life as much as I am right now!
Miss you and see you soon!
Cheers,
Katie
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