Virginia decided not to go due the Volcano issues, but our Italian friend Giacomo and I had a great time! Throughout the entire trip, we seriously lucked out with the weather! The only day it rained in London was Stonehenge day, so it turned out very welL! It was not typical London weather, but that's ok with me!
I left Lyon on Saturday Morning, and faced HUGE lines at the airport due to the volcano backup. But I eventually made it! On the train into London as I was passing the neighborhoods on the outskirts of the city, all I could think of was that any one of these streets could be Privet Drive!! Harry Potter could have lived here!!! hahaha, Harry Potter is my strongest tie to Britain.
Giacomo met me at the train station, brought me to our hostel to drop off my things, and the sightseeing started! Giacomo was a great tour guide, as a couple years ago, he spent 3 months working in London. So he helped me navigate the London Underground (the TUBE!), and took me to all of the touristy places I wanted to see! Day 1 was just walking around. I took my first London double Decker bus (which I am slightly embarrassed to say, I didn't know that ALL of the buses in London were double decker, I thought it was just the touristy ones!)
We saw the London bridge (which got the kid's song stuck in my head EVERY time I saw a sign for it/heard the name), Tower Bridge (which I thought had seriously ugly colours), The Tower of London (Queens were beheaded there!), and I got my first glimspe of the London Eye, and of Parliament and Big Ben and Westminster Abbey!
Next stop, Giacomo took me to Camden down, where there was a HUGE market! It was really cool with tons of really interesting booths and things, and Giacomo bought more than I did!!!
After that was one of the highlights of my trip, as I am a die-hard Harry Potter fan, I dragged Giacomo to King's Cross Station where we tracked down platform 9 3/4!!! It was AWESOME! I was like a child in Disney world :)
After dinner we wandered down Oxford street (probably for the best that it was night and all of the store were closed.....), Picadilly Circus, and Carnaby street!
Day two was day trip day to STONEHENGE!! We took a two hour busride that took us right to Stonehenge where we stayed for a few hours, and then took the bus back! Stonehenge was amazing. So interesting to see something so amazing that was built so many thousands of years ago. And we have absolutely no idea how it got there! The rocks weigh over 8 tons, and 1/4 of them are buried in the ground! Not to mention the rocks that are stacked on top of the other rocks. Historians guess that it took YEARS to build, and that the rocks came from hundreds of miles away. There are also the cooler legends that it was build by Merlin's Magic, or by giant's.
Historians also have absolutely no idea WHY Stonehenge was built and what it was used for. Religion, observatory, sacrificial stone? It's interesting to think about being able to go back in time to see exactly what happened, how it got there, and what it was used for. But I was very content just wandering around, taking pictures from every angle and just being lost in it all.
Day 3 was friend day! Giacomo and I met my friend Meghan (who I know from McMaster, and who is on exchange in Sheffield, England for the year) at the train station and she hung out with us for the day! We saw the changing of the Guard at Buckingham palace, and for a bit there were only normal looking guards there (wearing normal hats and boring blue!), I was worried that the cool, traditional guards were gone, or not there that day, or who knows what! Just as I was losing hope, they came around the corner! The changing of the guard is an absolutely HUGE ordeal. They block off the streets in front of Buckingham Palace (which really doesn't look so much like a palace.....) and there are HUNDREDS of people there, so much so that you can barely see what's happening! But I managed to get a few pictures.
The three of us wandered down oxford street (the stores were open this time) and I bought and I love London Sweater! We also walked up and down Bond street (the 5th avenue of London) 3 or 4 times because we were being stalkers. The three of us are walking up the street for the first time, when a guy passes us (Meghan and I are talking..), Giacomo stops and says "That was Christiano Ronaldo!" I turned around, just to see the back of him going into Yves St. Laurent. I can't say for sure, but it certainly looked like him from the back! But Giacomo swears it was him! We tried to catch him coming back out of the store, but after our 4th pass, we decided to stop being creepy stalkers and move on hahahah.
The next visit on friend day was from my friend Kareem (who I also know from McMaster, who is on exchange in Coventry for the year). We met him for lunch as he was on his way back from Egypt after his Easter break, to school. He made time for us between Plane and train :) It was a short but nice visit!
The Next friend was a new one, Mihir. Mihir is Pasan's friend from when he was a kid, and I had met him a few times in Lyon while he was visiting Pasan, and his french girlfriend. He is also on exchange from his school in the states for the year, in Kingston. Mihir hung out with Meghan, Giacomo and I for the rest of the evening. We checked out Hyde park, and Leicester Square (which I found out is actually pronounced LESTER square. Who knew.)
The last day was a little sad, but still lots of fun! Giacomo took me to Greenwhich were we went to the Observatory and saw the Prime Meridian! We learned all about time, and longitude. It was pretty cool.
We then took a river boat back from Geenwhich to central London on the disgusting Thames River. The brownest and most disgusting body of water I have ever seen :s.
We had a picnic under the London eye, and then headed back to the train station to head back to Lyon. I wanted to go by Buckingham Palace (for the third day in a row...) to try and find the awesome guards that you can take pictures with! The ones where you try to make them smile! Unfortunately, for the third day in a row, there were no guards guarding the front gates (there were INSIDE the gate, but you couldn't get to them), there were only police officers. But taking a new way around the palace, we found some other guards not so off limits!!! This is the closest I could get, and I wasn't able to try and make them laugh.... but at least I got a close up!!! A great end to my London trip!!
Click on the title to see all of my London pictures!
Jolly good.
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