For our Europe trip, we had three weeks to travel and knew we wanted to hit as many places as we could. There were five free days at the end of the trip that Justin and I spent months trying to decide what to do with! Santorini? Athens? Paris? Barcelona? Justin really, really wanted to go to London. He is a HUGE Top Gear fan and has just always wanted to visit “the motherland” and see what Great Britain is all about! Now, I on the other hand was hesitant. London…? You mean like, basically another New York City? With gross food and crappy weather and nothing pretty to look at? I wasn’t really for the idea, but I wanted Justin to have the time of his life so we booked our tickets and I didn’t really give London much thought! It wasn’t until my dad handed me a “London Top 10” travel guide on our way to Europe that I started to get excited. I dove into that book and read it cover to cover before we arrived in the city and long story short, I was SO WRONG about London. So wrong!!! London…….. is like the Disney World of cities. London is this magical, wonderful place where everyone is nice and everything is clean and pretty and sophisticated and classic and rich with history. London is beautiful and enchanting and busy and bustling yet open to explore. I remember pulling up on the Victoria Express into the station and thinking, wow… this is amazing. There was something so FUN about it!! It’s no wonder Taylor Swift has always called this city FUN-don! It’s like an amusement park but REAL LIFE! The accents, the cute red buses and little black cabs, the buildings, the architecture, the lights, the bridges… there is a new adventure waiting for you around every corner in this city. I mean, the telephone booths!!! Were an activity in and of itself!!! I’m getting a little excited now haha. I hadn’t blogged London yet because truthfully, every time I looked at the photos I got a little sad! I had to keep reminding myself of that saying “Don’t cry because it ended… smile because it happened.” I did NOT want to leave London and our cute little flat in South Bank just 10 minutes away from Big Ben. Experiencing this with Justin was absolutely one of my favorite memories I’ve ever had with someone. I will NEVER forget the raw eggs I was served for breakfast, my first time trying British beer made in 1,000 stone, seeing Big Ben all lit up and beautiful, navigating the underground… I can still hear the British accent over the PA saying “Train to Cockfosters!” London is so full of life… of adventure… of culture and people and stories and color and flavor. Ohh how I miss it… my favorite place on Earth.
We arrived mid-afternoon and then each took a nap!!! We had gotten up super early that morning to fly out of the Rome airport and we were exhausted! After getting some rest we headed out for the evening and explored South Bank, near our flat!
Ohhh the pictures don’t do it justice!
For our first dinner in London we had fish & chips of course! We went to Masters Super Fish, which was highly rated and seemed like the real deal. It was! We both could only finish about half of our fish… the onion and pickle were my favorite part! :)
P.S. Shrimp come with their eyes still on them in London.
Then we went on a walk… a lonnnggg walk… all the way over to Piccadilly Circus! We didn’t take the tube at all our first night and my feet HURT the next day but it was worth seeing so much of the city by night! And finding empty alleyways away from people to get awesome shots like these!
We could totally tell when we were starting to get close to Piccadilly… :)
This is London’s “Time Square” and it was pretty cool!!!
The next day we decided to pay a visit to the world famous British Museum. I am SO glad we went because 1) It was free! and 2) there were some really cool artifacts in here and we only did the first floor!
It was raining but who cares because LONDON.
The Rosetta Stone!!! So cool!
Justin’s either doing something he’s not supposed to (like touching 4,000 year old sarcophagi) or being a really good fiance and carrying my 3,000 pound purse. Gotta love him.
Orrrr he’s making dozens of tourists laugh with his shenanigans that cross all language barriers. His humor knows no bounds…
AND THEN. IT HAPPENED.
My first telephone booth picture!!!!!!!!!
and Justin’s!!!
We then explored a few more neighborhoods…
Then we headed back to South Bank to end the evening with a ride up the London Eye! SO worth the $40!
Stay tuned for Parts II & III on the blog next week!!!
