You bring me hope; I'll see you soon.
It's a British (picture) invasion!
I came home from London exactly a week ago. But due to my extremely hectic schedule/social life (*cough cough* bullshit) it has taken me this long to put up my pics. But here they are, just like I promised! *I apologize in advance on the length of this entry. I still can't figure out how to do LJ cuts*
This is Amy & I at Logan. Note the suitcases. A whopping 60 pounds each.
So we leave Boston around 5 PM Sunday, but due to the time difference we arrive 7 AM London time. And of course, because it's, you know, us, we had a miscommunication with Adam. So Amy & I spent an extra hour and 45 minutes standing in the train station waiting for him. Under normal circumstances we would have been cranky, but we just had to keep reminding ourselves that we were in LONDON and that Adam was graciously letting us stay with him for a week.
After dropping of our luggage at Regent's (which, aside from the rooms, is gorgeous) we walked around Trafalgar's square. Of course, I wanted to start taking cheesy tourist pics already (despite missing a night of sleep). So Adam and I climbed the lions.
This was a lot harder than it looks!
Next we headed to Buckingham Palace. It was gorgeous. Let me just point out that the we had gone from 2 feet of snow to 60 degree spring weather. There were flowers blooming everywhere, all over the city.
I had never seen so many daffodils!
So we get to the Palace and there's all this commotion. We didn't know what was going on, but we just figured it was changing of the guard. I mean, what else goes on there that people can stand outside and watched? We noticed all the paparazzi type people and couldn't understand why everyone was so interested...
We got closer to the gate to try and figure out what was going on. And all of a sudden...there's the Queen of England! Good ol Lizzie herself!
Apparently, the Commonwealth games were being kicked off. I still don't know what it was, but it had something to do with Australia. And what better way to represent Australia than with...
*Sorry, for some reason I cannot make this smaller!*
OH MY GOD IT'S ELLE MACPHERSON!!!
I was just in awe. I mean, I had been in London all of what, 3 hours? And there I was, standing in front of the Queen and one of the most gorgeous women in the world. I couldn't believe our luck.
So after we got over the shock of all this, we continued on our exploration of the city. We saw all the sites- Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and my favorite, Big Ben.
I'm serious. I took a million pics of that clock. I was obsessed.
London was really cool cause it was so different. I mean, a lot of stuff about it reminded me of NYC, but nicer. Like, even their trash cans seem polite.
So that night, Amy and I came back to Adam's dorm and napped for a bit before going out with Adam's friends. We went to this awesome club, the Walkabout, which was inside an old church. I don't think I've honestly ever had that much fun in my entire life. Unfortunately, I didn't want to be bothered with the burden of my cameras, so I don't have any pics from it.
The next day, Amy and I set out bright and early to get tickets to see a show. We ended up getting pretty decent tickets for Chicago, which was nothing less than amazing.
We also went that day to Westminster Abbey and shopping in Leiscter square.
The next day we woke up early (again) because we were finally going to meet up with Gareth! We met by the fountain in Piccadilly Circus, and we were so excited to see him. We decided to head to the river to take a boat tour up to Greenwich village, making a stop first at the Tower of London.
Behind Gareth and Amy is the Tower Bridge, not London Bridge. London Bridge has been rebuilt a bunch of times (obviously because it was falling down, falling down, falling down) and was just like the most boring concrete bridge. I was not impressed. However, the Tower Bridge was wicked cool. We had a really good view of it once we were in the tower.
Everything was expensive. Everything! However, certain places did offer a student discount. But Amy forgot her school ID. So Gareth thought she should use mine, cause you know, we look so much alike. And it worked!
The Tower of London was where they did a whole bunch of torture to prisoners back a kajillion years ago. Like make them use this hole in the wall as a toilet.
I'm serious- I looked- it just goes out a hole on the side of the tower. So of course....
I know. I couldn't resist.
So then it was off to look at armor. They even made it back then for midgets and giants!
That's what Amy and I would look like as medevil soldiers!
So we're looking at all this armor, and we come to this one suit, and we're just like oh this is pretty cool. Then we notice:
Um...what is weird to you about this picture?! Needless to say, we took a lot of pictures of this. I know. We're terrible.
Of course we did some other stupid stuff to. But sometimes, it wasn't our fault. We came to this one sign that said that it had a touchscreen. So Gareth stood there rubbing the middle of this thing for like two minutes when we realize it's like, cardboard, and there's not friggin screen! But we weren't the only ones. Check out the giant worn off spot in the middle:
Oops.
So then we had a little time before the boat came back so we went across the bridge, where I (not for the first time, either) immediately struck a pose:
Yep. I'm surprised Gareth and Amy didn't leave me there.
After that we boarded the boat again and headed to Greenwich. I know, you're probably thinking: what is the big deal about Greenwich? It's where the Prime Meridian starts. You know, the 0'0 line?
We thought it was pretty cool!
Yep, that's me. Squatting on the Prime Meridian.
It's a good place to just think about things. You know, while you're like at the center of the earth. Kinda.
Greenwich is also where they want to do the summer Olympics in 2012, This is us standing over the field where they would do most of the events.
Doesn't look like much, but London doesn't have much room to begin with.
We then got on the boat again after a long day. And just our luck, there was a bar right there on the boat!
I think this pic speaks for itself.
We then hobbled off the boat back to Trafalgar's Square so we could go meet Adam for dinner. We went through this huge anti-Bush rally that was just starting. People were setting up tents and banners and everything- it was crazy.
I couldn't believe that people from another country were so hardcore about protesting another country's president!
After we had dinner with Adam, we called Janine where she told us to meet her at her favorite put, the Royal Oak. So it was like a little Pinkerton reunion!
Since all the pubs close at 11, we had to make up for some serious lost time.
Gareth thought this would be a good idea:
Which lead to this:
....and some of this:
haha...Gareth and I wanted to enjoy it! We're sippers.
And of course, eventually this:
Oh Janine.
We then had to say our goodbyes because Janine and Gareth were heading to Paris the next morning. We hopped the tube and went all the way back to Regents, because we had planned on getting up early (again) to really see changing of the guard. It was okay, nothing too exciting. We couldn't really see what was going on. But Amy and I did get to sneak a pic in front of our future home.
And surprisingly, it was still gorgeous out!
Unfortunately, this was the closest I got to William and Harry all week:
*sigh*
We also went to Abbey Road that day, which would have been totally cool except I was HARASSED by mean little British schoolboys. One of them kicked me in the butt- literally (twice!) and another threw rocks at my face! Needless to say, it kind of put a damper on my excitement towards Abbey Road, but I had to take a pic there for my dad.
Yeah my smile there is totally fake- I just wanted to the the eff out of there!
That night Amy and I headed to the train station (cause we were pros by then) to pick up Justin, who came in from Italy. Which means we didn't have any time to partake in any St Patrick's day festivities! That was a bummer. But I'm not the least bit Irish, so I didn't really care. Plus Amy & Justin were so excited to see each other.
*singing* Reunited....and it feeeeeeeels so goooooood...
The next morning Amy, Justin, Adam, his girlfriend Juli & I set out to visit St. Paul's Cathedral. When we opened the door, this was the first thing I saw:
Smart Car! I was so excited- I had been trying to take a picture of one all week!
We got to St. Paul's as some big service was getting out, but we couldn't figure out what it was. But they wouldn't let us in!
I really thought someone would answer....
So to waste some time we walked down a bridge and back, where we got a nice view of the cathedral:
And it still wasn't open, so we got lunch and waited around and finally got to go in, where we got the brilliant idea to walk to the top of the cathedral- 530 steps! It was hot, but once we reached the top
...it was all worth it.
It was amazing. We could see the entire city, for miles and miles and miles.
I'd never seen anything like it.
That night, we met in Chinatown for real Chinese food, not like the American version of Chinese. Then the next morning Adam & Juli and I set out to Camden markets. It was the hottest day we were there. The markets are awesome cause you can get some funky stuff real cheap- I got a bunch of interesting jewelry. It's a bit sketchy cause there's all these drug dealers there, cause stuff like mushrooms are legal. So weird. But the marketplace was huge.
Juli made us get crepes, and they were so good! Especially with nutella, this chocolate spread thing, & bananas. That night we went back through Piccadilly
(which is like London's Times Square)
We decided to hit up the movies, which are like a month behind but I didn't care cause it had been a while since I'd seen a movie. We watched Hotel Rwanda which needless to say, I was definitely crying. It like, completely tore me up. Amazing movie, but what a way to end my vacation!
The next morning Amy and I took a taxi back to the airport with our now completely overstuffed suitcases, ready to head back to the states.
I loved London. It was an amazing experience. I realized not long after I was there, however, that it wasn't a place I would ever want to live. It made me appreciate the country we live in a lot more. People complain in the US all the time, but I don't think we ever realize how good we have it over here. While I was sad that I had to go back to reality and all, I was excited to be going home. I do miss those Cadbury Egg McFlurries, though.
Hope you all enjoyed the ridiculously long post!
~L
I came home from London exactly a week ago. But due to my extremely hectic schedule/social life (*cough cough* bullshit) it has taken me this long to put up my pics. But here they are, just like I promised! *I apologize in advance on the length of this entry. I still can't figure out how to do LJ cuts*
This is Amy & I at Logan. Note the suitcases. A whopping 60 pounds each.
So we leave Boston around 5 PM Sunday, but due to the time difference we arrive 7 AM London time. And of course, because it's, you know, us, we had a miscommunication with Adam. So Amy & I spent an extra hour and 45 minutes standing in the train station waiting for him. Under normal circumstances we would have been cranky, but we just had to keep reminding ourselves that we were in LONDON and that Adam was graciously letting us stay with him for a week.
After dropping of our luggage at Regent's (which, aside from the rooms, is gorgeous) we walked around Trafalgar's square. Of course, I wanted to start taking cheesy tourist pics already (despite missing a night of sleep). So Adam and I climbed the lions.
This was a lot harder than it looks!
Next we headed to Buckingham Palace. It was gorgeous. Let me just point out that the we had gone from 2 feet of snow to 60 degree spring weather. There were flowers blooming everywhere, all over the city.
I had never seen so many daffodils!
So we get to the Palace and there's all this commotion. We didn't know what was going on, but we just figured it was changing of the guard. I mean, what else goes on there that people can stand outside and watched? We noticed all the paparazzi type people and couldn't understand why everyone was so interested...
We got closer to the gate to try and figure out what was going on. And all of a sudden...there's the Queen of England! Good ol Lizzie herself!
Apparently, the Commonwealth games were being kicked off. I still don't know what it was, but it had something to do with Australia. And what better way to represent Australia than with...
*Sorry, for some reason I cannot make this smaller!*
OH MY GOD IT'S ELLE MACPHERSON!!!
I was just in awe. I mean, I had been in London all of what, 3 hours? And there I was, standing in front of the Queen and one of the most gorgeous women in the world. I couldn't believe our luck.
So after we got over the shock of all this, we continued on our exploration of the city. We saw all the sites- Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and my favorite, Big Ben.
I'm serious. I took a million pics of that clock. I was obsessed.
London was really cool cause it was so different. I mean, a lot of stuff about it reminded me of NYC, but nicer. Like, even their trash cans seem polite.
So that night, Amy and I came back to Adam's dorm and napped for a bit before going out with Adam's friends. We went to this awesome club, the Walkabout, which was inside an old church. I don't think I've honestly ever had that much fun in my entire life. Unfortunately, I didn't want to be bothered with the burden of my cameras, so I don't have any pics from it.
The next day, Amy and I set out bright and early to get tickets to see a show. We ended up getting pretty decent tickets for Chicago, which was nothing less than amazing.
We also went that day to Westminster Abbey and shopping in Leiscter square.
The next day we woke up early (again) because we were finally going to meet up with Gareth! We met by the fountain in Piccadilly Circus, and we were so excited to see him. We decided to head to the river to take a boat tour up to Greenwich village, making a stop first at the Tower of London.
Behind Gareth and Amy is the Tower Bridge, not London Bridge. London Bridge has been rebuilt a bunch of times (obviously because it was falling down, falling down, falling down) and was just like the most boring concrete bridge. I was not impressed. However, the Tower Bridge was wicked cool. We had a really good view of it once we were in the tower.
Everything was expensive. Everything! However, certain places did offer a student discount. But Amy forgot her school ID. So Gareth thought she should use mine, cause you know, we look so much alike. And it worked!
The Tower of London was where they did a whole bunch of torture to prisoners back a kajillion years ago. Like make them use this hole in the wall as a toilet.
I'm serious- I looked- it just goes out a hole on the side of the tower. So of course....
I know. I couldn't resist.
So then it was off to look at armor. They even made it back then for midgets and giants!
That's what Amy and I would look like as medevil soldiers!
So we're looking at all this armor, and we come to this one suit, and we're just like oh this is pretty cool. Then we notice:
Um...what is weird to you about this picture?! Needless to say, we took a lot of pictures of this. I know. We're terrible.
Of course we did some other stupid stuff to. But sometimes, it wasn't our fault. We came to this one sign that said that it had a touchscreen. So Gareth stood there rubbing the middle of this thing for like two minutes when we realize it's like, cardboard, and there's not friggin screen! But we weren't the only ones. Check out the giant worn off spot in the middle:
Oops.
So then we had a little time before the boat came back so we went across the bridge, where I (not for the first time, either) immediately struck a pose:
Yep. I'm surprised Gareth and Amy didn't leave me there.
After that we boarded the boat again and headed to Greenwich. I know, you're probably thinking: what is the big deal about Greenwich? It's where the Prime Meridian starts. You know, the 0'0 line?
We thought it was pretty cool!
Yep, that's me. Squatting on the Prime Meridian.
It's a good place to just think about things. You know, while you're like at the center of the earth. Kinda.
Greenwich is also where they want to do the summer Olympics in 2012, This is us standing over the field where they would do most of the events.
Doesn't look like much, but London doesn't have much room to begin with.
We then got on the boat again after a long day. And just our luck, there was a bar right there on the boat!
I think this pic speaks for itself.
We then hobbled off the boat back to Trafalgar's Square so we could go meet Adam for dinner. We went through this huge anti-Bush rally that was just starting. People were setting up tents and banners and everything- it was crazy.
I couldn't believe that people from another country were so hardcore about protesting another country's president!
After we had dinner with Adam, we called Janine where she told us to meet her at her favorite put, the Royal Oak. So it was like a little Pinkerton reunion!
Since all the pubs close at 11, we had to make up for some serious lost time.
Gareth thought this would be a good idea:
Which lead to this:
....and some of this:
haha...Gareth and I wanted to enjoy it! We're sippers.
And of course, eventually this:
Oh Janine.
We then had to say our goodbyes because Janine and Gareth were heading to Paris the next morning. We hopped the tube and went all the way back to Regents, because we had planned on getting up early (again) to really see changing of the guard. It was okay, nothing too exciting. We couldn't really see what was going on. But Amy and I did get to sneak a pic in front of our future home.
And surprisingly, it was still gorgeous out!
Unfortunately, this was the closest I got to William and Harry all week:
*sigh*
We also went to Abbey Road that day, which would have been totally cool except I was HARASSED by mean little British schoolboys. One of them kicked me in the butt- literally (twice!) and another threw rocks at my face! Needless to say, it kind of put a damper on my excitement towards Abbey Road, but I had to take a pic there for my dad.
Yeah my smile there is totally fake- I just wanted to the the eff out of there!
That night Amy and I headed to the train station (cause we were pros by then) to pick up Justin, who came in from Italy. Which means we didn't have any time to partake in any St Patrick's day festivities! That was a bummer. But I'm not the least bit Irish, so I didn't really care. Plus Amy & Justin were so excited to see each other.
*singing* Reunited....and it feeeeeeeels so goooooood...
The next morning Amy, Justin, Adam, his girlfriend Juli & I set out to visit St. Paul's Cathedral. When we opened the door, this was the first thing I saw:
Smart Car! I was so excited- I had been trying to take a picture of one all week!
We got to St. Paul's as some big service was getting out, but we couldn't figure out what it was. But they wouldn't let us in!
I really thought someone would answer....
So to waste some time we walked down a bridge and back, where we got a nice view of the cathedral:
And it still wasn't open, so we got lunch and waited around and finally got to go in, where we got the brilliant idea to walk to the top of the cathedral- 530 steps! It was hot, but once we reached the top
...it was all worth it.
It was amazing. We could see the entire city, for miles and miles and miles.
I'd never seen anything like it.
That night, we met in Chinatown for real Chinese food, not like the American version of Chinese. Then the next morning Adam & Juli and I set out to Camden markets. It was the hottest day we were there. The markets are awesome cause you can get some funky stuff real cheap- I got a bunch of interesting jewelry. It's a bit sketchy cause there's all these drug dealers there, cause stuff like mushrooms are legal. So weird. But the marketplace was huge.
Juli made us get crepes, and they were so good! Especially with nutella, this chocolate spread thing, & bananas. That night we went back through Piccadilly
(which is like London's Times Square)
We decided to hit up the movies, which are like a month behind but I didn't care cause it had been a while since I'd seen a movie. We watched Hotel Rwanda which needless to say, I was definitely crying. It like, completely tore me up. Amazing movie, but what a way to end my vacation!
The next morning Amy and I took a taxi back to the airport with our now completely overstuffed suitcases, ready to head back to the states.
I loved London. It was an amazing experience. I realized not long after I was there, however, that it wasn't a place I would ever want to live. It made me appreciate the country we live in a lot more. People complain in the US all the time, but I don't think we ever realize how good we have it over here. While I was sad that I had to go back to reality and all, I was excited to be going home. I do miss those Cadbury Egg McFlurries, though.
Hope you all enjoyed the ridiculously long post!
~L