Monday, February 28, 2011

In London and So in Love...

Because I have fallen so behind on my blogging—I have yet to write anything about London, Paris, Rome, and now Venice—I’m going to have to do a cliff notes version of these past four AMAZING cities. I won’t be able to paint you quite the picture, but at this point jotting down my memories from each place is better than not getting around to it at all.

Revisiting LONDON..
Monday:

-Loved London from the moment we arrived
-Stayed at the Astor Museum Inn—was AWESOME, favorite hostel so far
-Area we were in had such a great atmosphere
-As if life didn’t get any better than being in London, we found out a Chipotle was located a walking distance away
-Got our sacred burrito bowls and explored the area we were in
-Classic London red telephone booths, cute old fashioned taxis, and a mix of different style buildings on every street
-Got tickets to see Wicked at the Apollo Victoria in the theatre district
-Wicked that night was AMAZING, got chills during “Defying Gravity”, the cast was incredible

Tuesday:

-Woke up early and had breakfast at the Astor Museum
-Successfully navigated the tube to make it into the heart of the city
-Did an amazing walking tour with a very entertaining tour guide
-Walked through Hyde Park, saw Buckingham Palace, Clarence House where Prince Charles lives, Wellington Arch, The Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, 10 Downing Street…
-Learned, admired, and appreciated. It is a beautiful, sparkling, clean city… fell more and more in love with corner we turned
-Ate lunch in the city with our tour group. Fish and chips, of course!
-Played, saw, and explored in Trafalgar Square—a beautiful square in the city—with Michelle
-Stayed in the city until dark and walked by the river at night and saw Buckingham Palace lit up. Talked to one of the police guards outside of the Palace and learned more about the queen, the palace, the royal family
-Hopped on the tube towards “home” and then went out for drinks with the girls and our German roommate Nico at Shakespeare’s Head

Wednesday:

-Spent most of the day at the Tower of London. The name “Tower of London” was misleading and I was picturing just one tall tower. It is a huge fortress and historic castle in central London. It was built in the 1000’s and served as a royal residence, a prison, and today houses the Crown Jewels. It is also a museum and after taking a walking tour with a guide we spent hours seeing the different wings and sections of it, including the Bloody Tower where two young princes disappeared and were never found. We saw areas of torture and execution—including where Anne Boleyn was beheaded. It was such a cool day!
-Saw London Bridge, which actually was really nothing impressive, it was just your average bridge, and Tower Bridge which was much more majestic and is what people probably imagine when they think of the London Bridge. If we hadn’t had asked someone, we would have thought the whole time that Tower Bridge was London Bridge.
-The British Museum, one of the largest museums in the world that had collections of almost every society and civilization from the beginning of human culture to the present, was located a block away from our hostel. After our day at the Tower of London we took advantage of this by spending some time there and seeing as many exhibits as we could. There was so much to see and so much information to take in. Saw exhibits on ancient Greece, ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and ancient Rome.
-Had a relaxed, long dinner at an amazing Indian restaurant. The chicken curry and naan was to dieee for.
-Had a night out on the town with the Lugano crew. Went to two awesome clubs that were even hopping on a Wednesday night.
Outside the Tower of London
Thursday:

-Checked out of the Astor Museum Inn and since we were leaving for Paris a little later we couldn’t go too far from home. Went back to the British Museum and checked out as many exhibits as we could before it was time to leave London.
-Another day, another city… packed up our suitcases and were back to another train station. City of Love, here we come. I was ready to get swept up in its romance.

I absolutely fell in love with London and it topped the list of my favorite cities so far (my top three since I’ve been in Europe are probably London, Rome, and Munich). I want to live there one day. I loved the energy, the magic of the city lit up at night, the history lessons I learned, their British accents, and it helped that we had beautiful sunny weather. I can’t wait to go back one day and spend more time there.

For now, goodbye London, and bonjooour Paris…

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