Can you tell I’ve been dragging out these London posts for as long as I can??? Because once all the pictures are up… that means it’s officially over. I’ve been pretending like we were just in London a couple of weeks ago when it’s really been four months! Time is FLYING by lately and I’m not complaining because that means our wedding day is quickly approaching and with every day that passes, we get closer to the day where I’ll be able to spend the rest of my life with Justin! I think one of the reasons I loved London so much was because I got to hang out with Justin every day. You would think after 5 years that you would stop being excited to hang out with someone… but no. Not me. Haha. I remember even in high school when we spent ALL day in every class with each other, I would still want to go over to his house and hang out after school and then go out on a date for dinner! I’m probably crazy… or just madly in love still, after all these years. So in London when we got to wake up, walk to breakfast, then explore a magical city together… it was like my wildest dream had come true! Our third full day in London, we woke up, I went and ate eggs benedict (on which the poached eggs were served RAW… and everyone’s was coming out like that. Okay, London.) and then we started our adventure for the day!
Because we stayed in South Bank, this view was only a 10 minute walk away! We were super close to The Shard, Globe Theater, and Millenium Bridge!
This is Shakespeare’s *reconstructed* Globe Theater since the original one burned down. But still, standing in the very spot that these legendary plays were put on hundreds of years ago? Priceless.
Then we decided to walk across Millenium Bridge to St. Paul’s Cathedral! We didn’t go inside, because we were trying to save our money (it blew my mind that London charged upwards of $30+ to step inside a CHURCH), and also we had seen WAY too many churches in Germany and Italy (first world problems) and just really didn’t feel driven to go inside. But I wish we had! We’ll have to go back! Fun fact: St. Paul’s Cathedral’s dome hosts the site of the scene in Harry Potter where he walks up the astronomy tower just before Dumbledore is murdered. It was filmed here and no one else is allowed to walk up those stairs! The city of London made ALL kinds of exceptions for the HP crew! More on that in the next blog post!!
I think I’m going to get this on a canvas! :)
We bought candied nuts from a street vendor and they were pretty delicious.
And then it was off to the Tower of London!
It’s REALLY hard to tell… but these ravens are HUGE. If you hear about the Tower of London you will probably hear about “the ravens.” The saying goes, “If the ravens ever leave, the Tower will fall and the Kingdom will fall,” so Charles II decreed that there must always be at least six ravens at the Tower. There is an official raven keeper and the job is a pretty serious one. I love the monarchy and all the little cultural traditions and legends surrounding it in the UK!! :)
The Tower Bridge!! You can’t go to London without seeing this! Ahhhh… I miss it!!!
That night we went to HARROD’S! And it was so pretty all lit up! We didn’t spend much time inside (in fact I vividly remember walking up to the furniture section and promptly plopping down in a comfy chair for 20 minutes), but it was really pretty to see Knightsbridge by night.
On our walk back to the apartment, we took some photos along the river in South Bank…
The next morning, I really wanted to go to a church service at Westminster Abbey (to get in for free… haha) but we didn’t get up and around in time. We thoroughly enjoyed looking at the outside though. And taking tons of pictures in front of it and Big Ben.
All I could think was, “William and Kate got married here!!!”
London in one picture! A big red bus, the London Eye, and Big Ben. Love…
THE FOLLOWING IMAGES ARE MY FAVORITE PICTURES EVER
Crying. Can we go back?!?! Love this city so much!!!
Part III may not ever come because I don’t want it to be over and to close the door on this amazing time in such a beautiful city with my favorite person in the world. Jk it will probably be up next week. But maybe not. I’m having a hard time not moving there right now, so these pictures will just have to do until we get to go back!!!
