London, England

"I'm leaving because the weather is too good. I hate London when it's not raining."

-Groucho Marx

Three of my friends and I decided to "Mind The Gap" for a weekend, and headed off to London! So far the international trips we have done on our own have been Milan, Rome, and London. We would like to think we are getting more fashionable, but in reality we are just getting broker and better at packing a weekend into a backpack.

We left London 3 days before a terrorist attack in the city. On March 22, 2017 a terrorist attack took place in the vicinity of the Palace of Westminster in London, seat of the British Parliament. There were more than 50 people injured in the attack, three of them fatally. The chaos that ensued in the city led our study abroad program to send out an email saying all students should cancel their trips there for the next few weeks. If this had happened before our trip, we wouldn't have gotten a refund on our plane tickets or hostel, so we were very lucky.

When we were in London it was St. Patty's Day weekend, so the whole city was buzzing with life! The London Eye was lit up green, and there was a huge St. Patricks Day Parade that Sunday! We got in Friday morning so our plan was to spend all day Friday in London, go to Stone Hedge Saturday, and spend the rest of Sunday afternoon in the city before our flight.

Our hostel was a 30 minute tube ride from the center, so once we checked in, we headed out for the day!

Big Ben featuring London "Hackney carriages," their famous black taxis!

In 1908, a popular London newspaper stated, "The hackney coach—which is commonly supposed to have taken its name from the district in the north of London—was started in the metropolis so long ago as 1025 by a certain Captain Bailey."

These old-fashioned cabs were so cute, and we saw them driving all over the city!

Big Ben, the clock tower at the end of the Palace of Westminster, completed in 1859

We found two separate red phone booths with views of Big Ben behind them, so we took lots of pictures!

Booth one near Westminster Pier

Booth two near Parliament

The London Eye! Built in 1999, it is Europe's highest ferris wheel and it takes 30 minutes for one full rotation!

Eye love them!

We walked through a huge park to get to the Buckingham palace, and the tulips were in full bloom! The first day of Spring was next week, so these pretty flowers were a sign of that!

I'd want to be Queen just to get these gardens.

Captured this couple's cute moment, her yellow jacket matched the tulips perfectly. Don't worry, we offered to take their picture after!

Buckingham Palace

A palace built for the Duke of Buckingham in 1703, Queen Elizabeth and Prince Phillip currently reside here. My dad actually met Prince Phillip last year when he was working in London!

That night we went out to an Irish Pub near our hostel! We got Fish N Chips and Clotted Cream ice cream!

Dinner in front of a fireplace, talking about our adventures from that day!

I tried my first Guinness, for the spirit of St. Patricks Day! If I have learned one thing from this abroad experience it is that I am not, and will likely never be, a beer person.

The next morning, we woke up and went to Stone Hedge! This is in the next blog post, so I will skip to Sunday in London!

We took a visit to Abbey Road! It was quite a process to get a good picture since it is an actual road that cars are, you know, driving on.

You had to wait for the crosswalk light to turn green, and then have a stranger stand in the middle of the street to take the shot. Of course, there are people waiting in line to get theirs too, so you have to wait your turn. My roommate from High Point studied abroad here last semester, and recommended that we get there early for pictures. Thank goodness we did!

The lady took a picture right when we were starting to walk again, so my foot isn't down all the way, and Kyla put the wrong foot forward, but we still were in awe just getting to walk the same place the Beatles once did! So so so cool

Since we had already checked out of our hotel that morning, we had to walk around London with our backpacks on! You can see how little we packed for our trip, since Easy Jet has a one carryon policy. We joked that we had to go to class first before we made the young girls cry with our music.

Abbey Road Studios, where the Beatles recorded and produced their records!

We headed over for our afternoon tea reservation, and made sure to stop by Kings Cross Station to see Platform 9 3/4, a tribute to Harry Potter!

Between platforms 9 and 10, wizards go to Hogwarts on platform 9 3/4. Us "muggles" (humans) can't access the trains there, but wizards can take their luggage and transport through the wall!

Doby climbing the shelfs in the shop.

A Harry Potter fan's dream!

We headed over to the Highness Cafe and Tea room to sit down for an afternoon tea before our flight back to Prague!

Raspberry tea with a piece of chocolate banana cake!

Cheers!

Everything here was so delicious!

Can I have everything please?

We fell in love with London, and definitely want to come back. Since the city is so spread out, you really need a week to see everything! We saw all of the top things on our list, and even made it over to Stone Hedge for the day! Cheerio!