London, England: “It’s like America…but British”

Once we landed in London getting to our hostel was a breeze! We took the airport shuttle to the tube and the stop we got off at was across the street from it, so we were all at ease. We couldn’t check in for a couple of hours, but luckily the hostel was attached to a bar & grille, so we ate lunch…with food we are use to…it was glorious! I order a bacon, chicken, ranch wrap and it had never tasted so good! Once we checked in Chloe, Clara and I ventured off to find the Notting Hill area as well as Hyde Park. We found Notting Hill as well a Portobello Road, the main boutique street, and we went in to a lot of cool shops that had handmade stuff. After walking around Notting Hill we walked to Holland park which was absolutely gorgeous- perfectly manicured greens, parents playing with their children, school children playing games, squirrels running around and, oh…peacocks?! Apparently it’s not a big deal to have peacocks roaming around London, but us Americans were definitely freaking out about it. We got to see a male peacock go in to full plume, which was just a cool thing to see. After walking through Holland Park we walked to find the famous Hyde Park…which is like its own zip code it’s so huge- 600 acres! We didn’t have any idea how big it was! We strolled through the park for about 45 minutes, and then the 3 of us got overwhelmed that we were going to get lost, so we started for our next destination: Harrod’s. We walked in  to Harrod’s, and it is like the mother of Saks, Neimans, and Nordstrom. It was ridiculous. We felt so out of place because everyone was so dressed up, but the place was so over the top we couldn’t not go. 

Peacock in Holland Park

BBC

Hyde Park at dusk

Harrods...HUGE!

Next we started for the bridges: we walked across the Millennium bridge to get pictures of the London bridge, Tower bridge and of the River Thames. Walking across the Millennium bridge we could see Shakespeare’s Globe theatre which I kind of freaked out about…it’s freaking Shakespeare! We then found what we though was this local burger place and splurged on burgers and milkshakes (not really “splurge”, just the conversion rate to great British pounds sucks)- it was like a little piece of home. We made our way home to go to sleep since our tour of London was at 7 the next morning.

Windsor Castle

Our tour was of the town of Windsor, Stonehenge and Oxford and our tour guide was…ridiculous- just see the picture below. In the town of Windsor we didn’t get to go in the castle, but we did walk around and see the school of Eton which is where princes William and Harry both attended. Next stop was Stonehenge…from behind the fence. Our tour had additional fees to actually go in places, and we weren’t aware of that, so we didn’t get to go in to Windsor castle or Stonehenge, but I did get to see them both. Stonehenge was really cool, and it was interesting to hear about all the different conspiracies people think are behind it. Next stop was Oxford and the university, which really is comprised of 39 different colleges, just with one administration.

 

Christopher Wren's house

Our ridiculously dressed tour guide

Stonehenge

Stonehenge + me + a fence

The oldest house in the town of Oxford

The building where all Oxford graduations take place

 Saturday was our real last day of spring break, and Clara and I went around London together. We all started at Buckingham Palace together, but from there she and I broke off to walk through James Park which is across from the palace. It was even prettier than Holland Park, and of course the British actually use parks, and it just made me wish we had outdoor spaces like that back home. Next up was Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. We decided to save our money and not go in to the Abbey, but we did go in to the smaller church next door. It was interesting to see how the different churches I’ve seen actually differ- from Italy to Spain to France and now to England. We then walked along the River Thames and saw the London Eye and made our way to Trafalgar Square. There we saw the Texas embassy, which has since then become a restaurant, but it was an actual embassy when Texas seceded.  Next we walked to Picadilly Circus (I love the name!) which is like London’s version of Time’s Square, except maybe more confusing since like 9 different roads lead in to it. This is also where we thought the Chipotle was…turns out it was still under construction. You can imagine how heartbroken I was. Clara and I found another burrito place, but of course it was bland, because, well, Brits don’t have taste buds.

 

The gates to Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

James Park

James Park

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

The London Eye

New double decker

Old double decker

That's right y'all!

Notting Hill

More cute Notting Hill

Hyde Park

Inside of Harrod's

Inside of Harrod's

The Tower Bridge

On the Millennium Bridge with the Tower Bridge behind

Millennium Bridge

Millennium Bridge again

Shakespeare's Globe Theatre

St. Paul's Cathedral

Later in the afternoon we went to the Tate Modern Museum which is full of modern art as well as installations which were pretty cool, although I will admit I didn’t get a lot of it. Luckily though I did see my French impressionism- Monet’s “Water lilies” was there. We spent close to 3 hours looking at all the installations, paintings and sculptures before we left for 1 last stop- over the Millennium bridge again to Saint Paul’s Cathedral where Princess Diana was married. Turns out there had just been a wedding there, and a couple was taking wedding photos. We went inside and then took pictures on the steps outside (which are from “Mary Poppins” and the scene with the bird lady).

In front of Windsor Castle

Katelyn, me Clara & Alli in front of Stonehenge

Worst street performer EVER!

Inside the Tate Modern Art Museum

The night was pretty low key since we were all tired and had to travel again the next day, all day, to get home. Luckily I got my 10 kg bag (that’s 22 pounds) through security for the 4^th and last time. Yes…I did a 2 week trip in a Vera Bradley duffel bag. Never again will I be an over packer, and I have now learned how to beat the weighing system at airports- shove things in your jacket pockets, and, well, in between you and your jacket, haha.