My Favorite City Yet...

I don’t think I’ve ever been as immediately amazed by a city as I was when I got to London. Forrest, Micah, Satvika and I flew in on Thursday of the third weekend of the trip. It was raining when we got there, but we check into the Marriott near Regent’s Park that night and searched for somewhere to grab dinner. Alex Guilbeau had suggested that I go to the Texas Embassy for “the best Mexican food in Europe,” but when we got there we had discovered it was closed forever! Because it was late and almost all of the restaurants were closed and the pubs had stopped serving food, we ended up just going to TGI Friday’s in Piccadilly Square. It was actually a relief to have American food for the first time in forever! After that, it was almost midnight and we were exhausted, so we went back to the hotel to sleep.

The next morning we got up and bought breakfast, then headed to the Tower of London. I LOVED all of the rich history and traditions that were everywhere in this city. In the tower we got to see the Crown Jewels, a lot of historical artifacts from the city, and the execution site of Anne Boleyn and others. Then we headed just across the street to walk across London Bridge!

After that, we headed back to Piccadilly and the theatre district to see if we could get tickets to see a show that night. We ended up seeing Chicago; I had seen the movie but none of us had seen the musical, so we were all super excited. Then we headed over to the Parliament building to see Big Ben and the London Eye, and then walked across the street to Westminister Abbey. I was so excited to finally be seeing a church that wasn’t Catholic, and it definitely did not disappoint. It was so cool to see the coronation site of so many of England’s kings and queens and the burial places of all of the famous royalty that we see in movies, Charles Dickens and other poets, and tons of other famous people. It was also really neat to see where Kate Middleton and Prince William were married! We kept unrealistically hoping to see them all weekend, but unfortunately, had no luck. The abbey also had a special exhibit for the Queen’s Jubilee (her 60^th year as queen), which showed pictures of her at certain events at the abbey throughout her life. This was definitely my favorite part; once I realized that Queen Elizabeth had lived through World War II knowing that she would probably have to rule the country one day I was so mesmerized by her life.

Finally, of course, we had to visit Buckingham Palace. We couldn’t go in because the queen was there, but we saw the outside and the gardens. After that, we were exhausted, so we went to rest in Trafalgar Square before going to see Chicago, which I loved!

In front of the Tower of London

Ravens at the Tower

Picadilly Square

Big Ben and the Parliament building

The place in the Tower where Anne Boleyn and others were executed

Westminister Abbey

Buckingham Palace

Crown in the Queen's gardens to celebrate the Queen's Jubilee

Chicago in Garrick Theatre

The next day, we got up and tried to visit the Churchill Museum, but ended up just seeing a bunch of war memorials instead. Then we decided to make the trek out to Olympic Park! The entire city of London is buzzing about the Olympics—there are ads everywhere, people are preparing the tube stations for the crowds, and there is London 2012 merchandise EVERYWHERE. They were also trying to make the city really clean and making other little preparations, so it was a really neat time to visit! We couldn’t actually go in the park because it wasn’t open to the public yet, but we walked around the outside and saw the major buildings.

After the park, it was time for something I’ve been waiting for forever—the Harry Potter set tour at Warner Bros! My family is all crazy about the Harry Potter books, and movies so at this point I really wished they were there with me. They had basically all of the movie parts, and we learned a lot about the effects they used in the movie. I got to go in Gryffindor common room, Dumbledore’s office, Snape’s classroom, Hagrid’s hut, and tons of other rooms. The entire thing was magical, and definitely lived up to my expectations, but my favorite was the great hall. It’s actually a lot smaller than it looks in the movies, but it was still one of the coolest places I’ve ever been! Finally, we got to see the outside of Hogwarts castle, which was like 30 feet tall, took months to build, and stands in a huge room that they can blow snow and other weather effects into.

I loved everything about this city. The people were so friendly and obviously spoke in beautiful accents, everything was so quaint and beautiful, the rich history and traditions of the city were noticeable everywhere,  and everyone was so happy to be there.  I’ve never visited a place so far away and thought, “I can totally see myself living here one day,” but this is how I felt about London. I would love to go back for a year or two when I’m working someday—we’ll see!