Saturday, May 4, 2013

London


It was a long bus ride from London, but with stashes of snacks, books and movies on our ipods, we made it through.


Then we got our Oyster cards and lit up the Tube! It was very intimidating at first, I'll be honest, but Hannah's ridden it before and guess what - yep, there's an app for that.


There's Buckingham Palace behind me. This was our unofficial visit before our tour in which we learned that the palace was originally Lord Buckingham's house and the king said it was nicer than his and traded houses with poor Buckingham. Yep, sucks to be rich in a monarchical society.

Queen Victoria added a bunch of additions with her husband Albert because they had nine children. My ears always perk up when I hear about Victoria because I loved the movie The Young Victoria so much.


Did you know that this tower is not actually named Big Ben? That's the name of the bell which is housed inside a tower called The Elizabeth Tower. Betcha didn't know that. 


Westminster Abbey! We went to an Evensong later and it was amazing. The sheer weight of all the famous people buried there and all the famous events that go on there was staggering. Did you know that all royal weddings, coronations and state funerals have to happen inside that church?

Gosh, I'm just full of information. 


Eating a very normal sandwich in a very cool place. This is the LIFE, y'all!


It's well into a gorgeous spring here. Sorry everyone in cold weather, hope your snow is melting. 


My beautiful sisters finding the way on twilighted London streets.


I believe this is Westminster bridge.


And Tower Bridge at night. Ah London, my heart can't take much more.


Speck of moon above the bridge.


Ok, fess up, are you guys the reason that the UK has no black bears?


Wellington Arch. This post is definitely out of order, so sorry about that. (Not really sorry, just hang on for the ride! I've got lots of more!)


I liked this bird hiding under the statue's arm.


UK symbol. Lion for England and unicorn for Scotland. It's their national animal, no joke.


House of Parliament. 



Rosetta Stone at the National Museum.


The watch display was one of our favorites. Check this beauty out!


And this gold and carbuncle mini was seriously about the size of my pinkie nail.


I had a banana split cupcake in Canary Wharf. Yum.


Also a chicken and avocado with extra pepper in Trafalger Square. NO BIG DEAL, right?


Downtime with my one and only big sis. It's awesome to travel with someone who knows you well.


Crazy contortionist street performer. 


This is one of my favorite shots. Gosh, is this real?


We had some awesome Indian food from this street market. Yum. We liked it so much we went back again another night.



At Camden Markets, Jak and I shared the best strawberry-filled lemon-glazed doughnut ever. Seriously. Even the doughnut flesh was addictive, which is great because it usually seems like an afterthought.


Also spinach salad and a meat and veggie pastie by Covent Gardens behind a great street performer. Anyone noticing a food theme here? Me either.


Also went to the Victoria and Albert museum, which was cool.




The Shard


Here's our friend Dominic who generously showed us around his wonderful city. Whatta guy!





St. Paul's Cathedral


Evening explorations. 


Even with the Tube, our feet sure were tired after all that walking around London. Great daze, y'all. 

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for lots of great pictures. Love you. Mom

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  2. Yay!! So fun to see pictures of you enjoying one of my favorite cities. There's so many good places to make memories, aren't there? Thanks for sharing!!

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