London, Baby!

I got my papers done, which meant...LONDON! *Screams*

Ever since I was little, I have dreamt of going to the capital of England. My dream was finally realized! We left Derry Saturday morning and hopped on a plane to the Stansted Airport. We arrived a our hostel in Wimbledon that night (Btdubs, I would NOT recommend Travel Joy Hostels - Wimbledon.). The hostel staff wasn't very friendly, they would randomly come into our room for no apparent reason, and our room was not clean when we arrived. Since there was seven of us (Lexi, Joe, Chay, Sara, Christie, Lydia, and I) we had to book an 8-person room, so we were worried that we were going to be rooming with some random creeper. Luckily our first roommate was a medical student named Bahaa from Palestine. He was friendly, but I got the feeling he was kind of scared of us (Seven loud Americans, yeah, I would be too). He was there one night, and then we had the pleasure of rooming with Adam, a student of aircraft mechanical engineering, or something like that. He was from England, so we had a good time getting to know him and having conversations about differences between British and American life. We lucked out on the roommate situation!

Sunday we ventured out and our first stop was the National Gallery. It was pretty awesome seeing classical works of art. There were street performers dressed up in costumes outside! Afterwards we checked out the Chinatown of London to get some lunch. We ate at a restaurant called Gerrard's Corner, which was definitely not as great as we hoping. The food itself wasn't bad, but the service was awful. Our server was rather rude and after we had all ordered, she so kindly informed us that we had to spend a minimum of £8 per person. I even was bothered enough by the service that I wrote a review on Yelp. After our misadventure in Chinatown, we visited the Camden Market, which is a giant and congested flea market-like place. I found a stellar galaxy print scarf (See what I did there?)! We also took a quick trip to the Piccadilly Circus, the London equivalent of Times Square.

Monsieur Canard in Chinatown

Piccadilly Circus

 

A levitating Yoda amazes the crowd

Inside the National Gallery

On Monday we got up and trekked to Buckingham Palace in hopes to see the changing of the guard. Unfortunately, we went on the wrong day, but it was still cool to see the Queen's place of living. We ate lunch in Hyde Park and met some furry critters that were even friendlier than their Bluffton counterparts!

A squirrel greeting Lydia

After lunch, we scouted out the famous Platform 9 and 3/4. When we arrived, I was fangirling and geeking out to the MAX. There was a long line to have your picture taken, but it was so worth it. The attendee was a total Sass Master and he kept the crowd entertained during the wait. He poked fun at Lexi and I, both Hufflepuffs. Whatevs. Hufflepuffs are great finders. After we all had our picture taken, we rushed to the Harry Potter gift shop in King's Cross, where more fangirling and geeking out ensued. It was a dream come true! (Yes, I am wearing a Gryffindor shirt. 1. I bought the shirt pre-Pottermore. 2. I consider myself the Luna Lovegood of Hufflepuff house. I support Gryffindor to support Harry.)

Hufflepuffs: The Canadians of the Wizarding World.

After trying to get to Hogwarts, we searched out Baker Street to solve some mysteries with Sherlock. Okay, not really, but at 221b Baker Street, they have the Sherlock Holmes Museum! I wanted to go in, but I also didn't want to pay and wait in a long line. However they also had a gift shop attached to the museum, we we poked around in there for a while. I still have the urge to watch "The Great Mouse Detective" and BBC's Sherlock and cry until season 3 FINALLY airs in January.

These last two pictures are from the Baker Street London Underground station. It was totally awesome!

On Tuesday, we took the Tube to the Westminster area, which is where most of the iconic London landmarks are. We also took a ride on the London Eye. It was £20, but it was worth it. Also I'd just like to say that Big Ben is not as big as pictures and TV makes it seem. Still, it was pretty impressive. 

The Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

The River Thames

Some guy just chillin' on his sand couch

The Globe Theatre!

The London Eye

Big Ben at twilight.

Since our plane back to Belfast flew back Wednesday evening, we didn't have much time to see a whole lot more. However, we did make time to go to Abbey Road and stand where the Beatles stood (Cue more fangirling). It's a working road, so there are cars, but there was a guy who would stop traffic and take your picture for free and told you how to stand to recreate the photo! Joe, Lydia, Lexi, and I walked on Abbey Road!

Overall, I loved London. I was a little worried that the food was going to be gross and people were going to be mean and unfriendly because my eye doctor, also a friend of the family, told me that when he visited that the people were rude and the food was awful, but aside from the Chinese place and our hostel, everyone was helpful and the food wasn't that bad. I still think that the Irish folk are much more hospitable and the food is generally better, but I wouldn't hesitate at the chance to go back to Great Britian!