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Wednesday, February 19, 2014

London Day 1 with Pictures!

London was crazy busy and lots of fun! If I put it all in one post you'd be sitting here for days, so I'm going to break it up by day and actually add pictures within the post.

On Friday morning I got up super early (3:45) so I could be ready to be out the door by 4:45 so we could catch a taxi to the coach station. Our coach was supposed to leave at 5:45 but didn't end up leaving until a little after 6. We transferred busses in Birmingham then went on to London. We arrived in London around 10:15 and made it to our hostel about 10:45.
 
 
The road our hostel was on.
Our hostel was very reasonably priced and the staff was very nice. It was in a great part of town and very close to a tube station. We were also close to the grocery store Sainsbury's and we ended up getting breakfast from their bakery every morning. Oh how I love danishes.

After checking into the hostel we went out to explore the city! Our original plan was to go to the Tower of London first, but in the pouring rain and with a faulty map we got turned around and ended up by St. Paul's Cathedral. Since we were in the area we figured we would go in.
 
 

St. Paul's exterior.
Once we made it inside the Cathedral we weren't allowed to take pictures because it is also a house of prayer. As we explored we realized you could climb up to the top of the dome and look out into the city. Zoe and I were ready to go and Celina decided to come along as well. In total it was 528 steps up to the top, which was brutal on our legs, but wow, what a view.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Some pictures from the top.
It was very rainy so the view wasn't perfect, but it still was pretty awesome. I would do it again any day. By the time we made it down all three of us had very jittery legs. Like if you ride your bike for a log distance your legs feel funny when you get off. That's what 1000+ stairs will do to you! 

After St. Paul's we began to walk to the Tower of London in the right direction. It was pouring rain so we hopped on one of the iconic red busses to finish the journey.  Once we made it to the Tower of London we realized it would be a much more enjoyable attraction if it wasn't raining. You'll see that most of my pictures are a little blurry from water droplets getting on my camera lens. We did go see the Crown Jewels which were really neat (and very shiny!).
 
 
 
 
 
 
Then we cut our losses and went off in search of a more indoor attraction. We ended up walking across London Bridge and towards the London Bridge Experience per request of Celina. Little did Zoe and I know that it was a horror attraction! That certainly isn't my cup of tea, but since Celina went up the stairs with us, we would go to the haunted house with her. Zoe and I clung to each other for most of the time but we made it out alive.

After that we decided to find a place to eat dinner. We ended up choosing Nando's. My dinner was super yummy! I would love to go there again if I have the chance.
 


Me and my dinner. Plus my first soda since arriving in England!

After dinner we went to the Tate Modern museum. I always love a good art museum:)

After we left the museum we went to King's Cross Station to get pictures at Platform 9 3/4!
 
 


So fun!

At this point it was about 9:00 and we decided to head back towards our hostel. Since it was valentines day we tried to find a bakery to get some treats but we ended up at Sainsbury's and got little chocolate pudding things. Not quite what we wanted, but close enough!

That wraps up day one! I'll post day two soon, keep checking back:)
 

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