Winning London

Hey people,

Before I say anything else, yes this is titled after the Mary-Kate and Ashley movie because that was my weird first response to seeing London. Anyway I went to London this weekend and had the most amazing time with my friend Caroline!!! After a series of airport mishaps (don't ask) I made it to Caroline's flat. The first night, which was a shock to my system as it's actually cold in London, we went for a short walk before going to bed because my flight was so late. The next day, Friday, Caroline had to work pretty much all day and being me I was freaking out about going places by myself. I actually ended up having a wonderful day despite all the walking. I first went to the British museum and walked around there all morning. There were so many cool things there like the actual Rosetta Stone and parts of the Parthenon. I also had lunch there before going to look for souvenir shops.

British Museum

After finding one and being too indecisive to buy anything (leading to another story in which I never made it back to buy souvenirs and was depressed for like half an hour before Caroline said we could get food) I wandered down to the Thames River, which was gorgeous.

I found a boat tour place and did that, which brought me all the way down to the Tower of London and the Tower bridge and also passing lots of other cool stuff on the way.

Tower Bridge

Getting off the boat I decided to do one more thing before heading back to meet Caroline, so I ventured off again to find the Winston Churchill museum. They had an awesome audio tour of the museum and the exact replicas of the war rooms as they were when WWII was going on. It was so cool and I was being such  a history nerd that I didn't notice I only had 15 minutes to get to the other side of the city until I was almost done.

One of the War Rooms

After that I pretty much sprinted/ limped back to Caroline's flat, only getting lost once thanks to my handy dandy map. I was only half an hour late but of course that meant more running to get to the movies on time (we were still there 20 minutes early thank you very much) Caroline got us in for free with half off of drinks and chocolate because she works for the movie theater company- coolest job ever! We saw About Time, which was sooo good and then we headed to dinner at a pub called Shakespeare's Head. I got an actual hamburger with chips and almost died I was so happy. That was pretty much the end of the day with the next one just as jam packed.

Food!!!

Emily (also from Stonehill) joined us for the morning as we headed out on our adventure starting with a ride on  a double decker bus!!!

Double Decker Bus!

We made it to Buckingham Palace and got tickets for a tour, so we walked to Big Ben and Westminster Abbey while we waited. Here's where I get really jealous of the London people because we ran into not one but TWO groups of other Stonehill people. How crazy is that?

Big Ben

Telephone Booth Pic

Anyway we headed back for our amazing tour, with a special exhibit for the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth's coronation. Next we walked past St. Paul's Cathedral, over Millennium bridge, past the Globe Theater, and to lunch at the Anchor, a pub that used to be where Shakespeare's dressing room was. I got a salad with actual salad dressing on it (hint hint Spain) and it was amazing.

Buckingham Palace

Globe Theater

Emily left us at this point but Caroline and I journeyed on to the Sherlock Holmes museum. We had to wait in the cold for over half an hour but it was worth it. Inside was what 221 b Baker Street would have actually looked like based on descriptions in the books and historical facts of the time period. So cool!

221 b Baker Street

Sherlock Holmes :)

After this we of course went to Platform 9 3/4 where they have a trolley sticking out of the wall that you can take pictures with. I don't know weather I should be insulted or not by the fact that I was the only Hufflepuff there that day (and for the past 7 years joked the scarf guy), there is clearly some unjustified discrimination going on here. All I can here in my head right now is Caroline quoting Team Starkid for like the fifth time, "What the hell is a Hufflepuff?!"

Off to Hogwarts

After that we were going to walk to find the Tardis, or a police box for you non- Doctor Who people, when I realized that I would actually have felt better if my feet were cut off, so we went back to her flat (cue earlier story where I was depress followed by food). We ate actual Italian food and it was amazing. After that we hung out with some more Stonehill people before going to a cool bar/club (I don't actually know which). Finally we went to bed at 2, woke up at 6:30 and I was back in Madrid before I knew it (following more unfortunate airport problems because I just can't win). Ultimately I had the most amazing weekend seeing London and hanging out with Caroline who was the best host ever!!! I can't wait to see her and hopefully my other friends when they come to Madrid to visit!!

Love,
Sam