I Love London

Good Morning!

It’s laundry time in Antwerp so Nick and I are chilling in the laundry room. We got back from London at midnight last night and we leave for Ireland Thursday at 6am. In between we have a tour of a brewery in Brussels, I believe it is Stella Artois (which I tried in London and it was not tasty). So recap of London:

Sunday- Walked to the train station at 6:30 am, made all of our transfers and got through security with no problems. We mostly slept the whole way there which is the first time I’ve really slept in a moving vehicle this entire trip. I was so excited to be in London, it felt different than any other city. The train station was gorgeous and we were all getting pumped up, at least I was until I couldn’t get cash from the ATM. Now we’re banking on the theory that 200 pounds is more than my limit to take out each day in US dollars which is why it was denied. But no fear, my friends came through for me and we worked it out. We decided to take taxis to the hotel because we knew it was across town and we didn’t know how to the work the subway system yet, especially with all of our luggage. So we got to take the coolest little taxis and the drivers were crazy! Never again will I complain about twin cities traffic or Minnesota drivers. We dropped our bags off at the hotel and walked to Hyde Corner park to start a free tour of the city. The tour guide had the most lovely accent and he made the whole thing very fun. After that we went to Hard Rock Café (the original) and got some souvenirs and a round of drinks. After moving into our rooms for real, 5 of us went to a Pub Crawl with the same company that did our tour earlier in the day. We met some cool people and had lots of fun seeing the secret side of London.  Oh and my camera got broken hanging out in my purse, the screen must’ve collided with a pen in there or something because it is all whited out now. So if I don’t post pictures you will know why, I’ve got about 200 to my camera and hopefully many more from the other kids since they’re all taking great pictures.

Monday- The day started a little late but we found out the line to get into Buckingham Palace was insane so there was no chance we would get it. So Sharon, Amanda, and I went to Camden to see a market that our friend had told us about. It was really cool but very sketchy and everyone was bugging us to buy stuff so we tried not to stay too long. When we finally got home we all crashed for a 30 minute nap. Of course then we were late for our next tour but that was a slow tour so it was okay. This time we got to see the actual city of London and the historic sites, while the day before we toured the City of Westminster technically. Right after our tour ended we had to try the underground for the first time to get back to our side of town in time for Wicked. We bought tickets last week to see the show because half of us have never seen it and the other half were in love with it. And it was amazing, I’m definitely a fan! We got done around 1030 so we just went home and hung out in the hotel room.

Tuesday-We packed and were out the door by 9 am so we could hit up a department store. We decided it was time to master the underground, aka the tube. And we did. The department store was crazy busy but we spent close to 2 hours just trying to see it all. After success there we headed off to Harrods, the most expensive and amazing store I will ever be in. We got lunch there, delicious, and then walked around a couple stores. Someday I wouldn’t mind going in there and not feeling like the stuff cost more than my college education. Not that I’ll buy anything, I just want to pretend like I can afford it all. We hopped back on the trains and headed to Piccadilly Circus. We were going for the Icebar but found out it wasn’t open for 2 more hours, so we killed time in the area with souvenir shopping and more clothes shopping. Another successful and expensive adventure. And then we got to go into the Icebar London by Ice Hotel. It was the coolest thing ever!!! We got a free drink with our fee to go in, and we had a coupon for free refills. We spent 40 minutes in there, freezing cold, but laughing and having fun. Plus the bartender was really cute. That was the highlight of the day for me. Unfortunately we had to start the trek to get back to the hotel to get our luggage and then back to the train station to head home. We took the underground the whole way there, it was hot but saved us a bit of money. And we all made it on time to the train station, safely back in Antwerp (or as we call it, home away from home). I loved London more than anywhere else we’ve been so far, I can’t wait to go back someday!