Spring Break Part 3: London

As previously stated, I've been a little busy but I hope some of you have stuck with me. I have a few more posts to go that are, in my opinion some of the most interesting. Today I'm going to do my best to remember everything about my trip to London and relay it all to you in my usual rambling style complete with lots of pictures!

After spending a few truly awesome days in Dublin and wishing we could stay longer, Zoe, Gilana and I managed to debunk the inner workings of the Dublin transportation system and after one failed attempt made it to the airport just in time for our flight to London. Despite the brevity of the flight I was so tired that I managed to sleep from take-off to landing, and it was worth every second. When we got to the exit of the airport we were so confused because we didn't know how to get into the city and there was no information desk and we couldn't for the life of us figure out why. After talking to a friendly coffee shop worker we discovered that since we had flown into Gatwick airport, which is outside of London we had to take the train into the city where we would find info desks and the like. A very helpful woman at the train station told us to get an unlimited day pass which got us a train into the city and unlimited subway transfers and bus rides, for relatively little money.

Pounds on Pounds. We were really obsessed with their money, the bills are so big.

A phrase we became well acquainted with during our stay.

Our train ride into the city was beautiful and very Harry Potter. Lots of older looking brick houses and green grass, some of them I am certain could have been Privet Drive. We arrived in the train station and decided that rather than going and dropping our bags off at Sarah and Harris' house (Zoe's friends that we were staying with) we would just be THOSE tourists and tour all day with our backpacks on. We decided to just pick a famous landmark in London and start our siteseeing tour there. Luckily we chose Big Ben, which turned out to be centrally located. Our trip to Big Ben was a little shaky because they wanted 5£ for a map of the city and the underground, and we just refused to pay that so to get around that we just took pictures of the maps that were provided in the subway, which also showed the pertinent landmarks above ground. 

Underground and railway map. 

Zoe and I attempting to get to Big Ben.

We made it!

Close up on Big Ben, the detail is beautiful. 

Backside of the Parliament building.  

Big Ben + Parliament. 

Again with my lamp post obsession, but really how cool is this one?!

It turns out that we picked the perfect stop to kick off our London adventure because while we were at Big Ben we also got to check out the London Eye.

Ready for our tour of London, backpacks and all. 

View from across the river.

Close up of the London Eye. 

While we were around Big Ben we happened upon some sort of military procession that was happening outside the Parliament building, it must have been a big deal because a lot of people who work in the building were outside watching it as well. 

An interesting angle on the Parliament building, taken through a wrought-iron fence. 

A glimpse of the proceedings. 

After checking out this excitement we headed over to Westminster Abbey which happened to be just across the street!

Far away view,  I think it looks so picturesque with the dainty trees in front of it. 

The main entrance. 

The detail on the door is mind-boggling. 

I am in love with the windows. 

If you couldn't tell, I kind of like Westminster Abbey, it is in my top three favorite religious buildings that I saw during my time in Europe. The other two being La Catedral de Sevilla and La Mesquita de Cordoba. Westminster was commissioned by Henry III in 1245, and it is designed to be in the shape of a cross when viewed from above. It was granted the status of Cathedral in the 16th century and has been the site of coronations for the British Monarchy since the 14th century. 

After thoroughly admiring Westminster we made our way to Buckingham Palace, a happy mistake took us through a beautiful park on our way to the palace where we had a run in with some overly amorous pigeons and weird duck-like birds. 

View of London from across a pond in the park.

It was such a pretty park!

The strangest birds I've ever seen.

I had some honey roasted cacahuetes or peanuts left over that I had bought as a snack way back in Sevilla so Zoe, Gilana and I decided it would be a good idea to feed them to the pigeons. I'm not sure why I agreed because I hate pigeons and these ones were used to being fed so they positively swarmed. Panic ensued. I was screaming bloody murder.

It landed on me! I was petrified. 

Don't let the smile fool you.

Zoe on the other hand liked the pigeons. 

And Gilana was like the bird lady in Mary Poppins. 

After a little fun with birds we made our way through the park to Buckingham palace. Unfortunately because of the day of the week/time of day that we were there we weren't able to go inside or see the changing of the guards but it was still a magnificent sight.

Ornate gates to the palace. 

The palace itself. 

More gorgeous gates.

Zoomed out view of Buckingham Palace. 

Gates to the palace park, with Zoe standing in front to show the scale. 

After our romp in the park and peek at the palace, we were all very hungry because we hadn't eaten since our breakfast at the hostel in Ireland, so we decided to stop and get a few snacks and eat then in Trafalgar Square. We spent a couple hours there climbing on the lions that surround a large statue in the square, taking lots of pictures, people watching and admiring the Olympic countdown clock.

I was the first one to try to climb the lions and my initial method of running and jumping was not the most successful.

I know that it's sideways but I think that you can see it ended in disaster. I did eventually figure out how to climb up the back of the lion and had a lot of success that way. As you can see in the following pictures.

Lounging on a lion. 

Zoe and I both made it up. 

Oh you know just snacking on a monument. 

In front of the Olympic countdown clock!

Better view of the whole monument in Trafalgar Square. 

We had a lot of fun in Trafalgar Square, the weather was beautiful and we were warm for the first time since we'd left our sunny Sevilla, which was a big deal. As our last stop of the day before we headed to Sarah and Harris' for the night was Kings Cross Station to take the obligatory Harry Potter platform 9 and 3/4 pictures.

Underground sign for King's Cross. 

Inside King's Cross station, looks a bit different than in the movies. 

Platform 9 and 3/4's. 

Running through the wall. 

After our adventure at Kings Cross we headed back to Sarah and Harris' flat for the night. We took the underground, a bus and had to walk a few blocks to get there but it was so worth it to be able to stay in a real home versus a hostel or hotel. That night they took us to their favorite Chinese restaurant for dinner and then we all turned in early because they had to work and we had another big day of sight-seeing planned.

The next morning we slept in until about 11, took nice hot showers in a nice normal shower for once and then on Sarah's recommendation went to the Camden Town outdoor market. The only downside was that it was absolutely pouring, as soon as we left the house we heard a loud clap of thunder and the rain started pouring down, it was just like in the movies. We ran back to the house to get our umbrellas and then headed off on the walk to the underground.

We thought this road sign was funny because it was pouring. 

The market itself had lots of fun cheap jewelry, sunglasses and clothes, and the neighborhood was very fun, young and hip. We all at lunch at a traditional British pub and then Gilana left us to go meet up with one of her friends who was living in London so Zoe and I continued our day of site-seeing on our own. Our first stop was Abbey Road where we felt obligated to recreate the famous Beatles pose.

Abbey Road.  

Our best attempt at recreating the picture. 

Then we headed off to the river Thames to see the London Bridge. We made a quick stop at Starbucks for some wifi to figure out where we were headed and a hot beverage before we resumed our tour. We saw the London Bridge which is actually a series of bridges and the bridge that most people picture when you say London Bridge is in fact not called the London Bridge. Tricky right?

What people think of when you say 'London Bridge'. 

Me on the actual London Bridge. 

After seeing the London Bridge we headed across the river and out of town to see the Globe Theatre. 

All that was left of the ruins of an old castle that was near the site of the Globe. 

Outside of the modern reconstruction of the Globe, which is built 750 ft away from the site of the original. 

 Our final stop for the day was St. Paul's Cathedral. It is a very pretty more modern looking cathedral than many we had seen on our previous travels through Europe, and it was a nice surprise to stumble upon it on our way to meet Sarah and Harris for dinner.

This bridge was destroyed by death eaters in the sixth Harry Potter movie. 

Shot of the cathedral from the street. 

Front of the cathedral. 

Back view complete with pretty yellow flowers. 

We then made our way back to Camden Town where Sarah works to meet her and Harris for a drink at a fun bar near her office before dinner. Then they took us to a delicious Turkish place for dinner where I had the most amazing falafel. That night worn out from walking Zoe and I watched about half of Bridesmaids before falling asleep. The next morning it was time to go, our flight was at 1 pm and with all the travel time, underground, train and bus it would take us to get there was just enough time for a quick breakfast at a cute cafe before we headed to the airport and back to Sevilla.