London!

To keep everyone updated with how my traveling has been going (and soon student teaching), I thought I would start a blog instead of sending an email every so often.  This way I can include more pictures-you can make them bigger by clicking on them! And seems like less work. These also might be coming along slowly because of crappy internet connections, busy traveling/sightseeing, and just because I'm lazy. I'm already a week and a half behind as is!

Let's see...March 31 my friend Elizabeth and I flew out of JFK together to London Heathrow. It was a night flight and I think I only got about half an hour of sleep out of a possible 7. Once we got there we went searching for another friend, Courtney, who flew in on a different plane. We found her after about an hour of searching and then made it to our hotel.  We were all tired but didn't want to waste any time napping; we were in London! We wanted to explore! We figured out where the closest Underground station was and headed on our way into the city.

We had plans of going on the London Eye once we got there, but there was a huge line and we weren't really in the mood to wait so we continued on our way. Other than seeing the London Eye, we didn't have any plans so we kinda just walked around, using a map and street signs to point us in the direction of touristy/historical things to see. Across the River Thames was Big Ben and the Parliament building, so we headed in that direction!

                                    

This picture is looking across the River Thames (London Eye and an aquarium). Thames is disgusting looking, by the way.

Of course we had to stop by red telephone booths for a mini photo shoot! Around this point we were starving and searching for food. Plane food isn't the most satisfactory. After we finished eating we noticed a big building surrounded with people right across the street so we went to check it out. 

It ended up being the National Museum. It was free so we decided it would be worth our time (free is the best!!). It was filled with a bunch of paintings and we didn't feel like spending a lot of time there so we found rooms that held paintings by Monet, Manet, and other people that I can't think of right now (mostly famous people we've heard about) (maybe Picasso?) and left. It was pretty need seeing paintings in real life that I've only seen pictures of or heard about.

This was outside of the National Museum. I need to figure out where some of the games are being held to go see them! We wondered around some more. Our Underground ticket allowed us to get anywhere within a certain distance, so we hopped on the Underground and went exploring some more. So much easier and faster and less tiring than walking everywhere! I have to look back at pictures to remember what all we did and almost just missed something! We went exploring to King's Cross Station. For those of you that do not know, this is where Harry Potter caught the Hogwart's Express at Platform 9 3/4. Since I am a big Harry Potter fan and my friends like it as well, we had to go check it out!

So fun! Also, there is a Harry Potter Studio Tour just outside of London that opened up about 2 weeks ago that my friend and I got tickets to. Woo! I think we ate dinner sometime after this. Can't tell you where or what, but I do know that I didn't eat a cheeseburger.

We made it to Buckingham Palace! Gates outside...

This is a horrible picture of the palace, but it's so big it didn't fit in my camera! But that balcony (in the center) is where the first public kiss has been taking place.                     

After we saw Buckingham Palace we slowly made our way back to a near Underground Station to head back to our hotel. It was early, but we were tired. It was a fun day and it was nice to know that transportation was so easy!

I want to do all of London at once, but I'm tired and we have an early flight from Belfast to Edinburgh in the morning, so I will add more when I'm not busy/not lazy!