London

     I think I’m starting to get the hang of sightseeing in a large city as I’ve done it a couple of times now. To test my skills my 3 friends and I set off for London. We lucked out because Marist in London has a large group staying in flats and our friends were nice enough to let us stay there because London hostels are very expensive and not very clean. We flew in Friday morning and landed at 10am and had to take an hour train to get into the city. We then went to our friends flats in South Kensington, dropped our stuff and headed out for our first day in London.

London Eye and Big Ben

     Our friends all had internships for the day so we were on our own. Our first stop is a very famous department store that people think of when they think of London: Harrod’s. It is sort of the Macy’s or Bloomingdale’s to New York, except bigger and also a lot more expensive. Most people just go to walk around rather than buy things. They have everything, art, toys, food, decorations for your house and even real estate! We walked by all of Harrod’s windows as they were decorated for Christmas already. Next stop was the house used in the newer version of the movie The Parent Trap. We all watched it as kids so we had to go and take pictures. We then got some coffee and spent the next hour on a perfect fall day playing in the leaves at Hyde Park. Some people did give us strange looks but we were just being kids.

     Next on our childhood London-things-to-see list was Platform 9 ¾ at King’s Cross Station from the Harry Potter Series. We made it to the station and followed signs for Platforms 8-10 only to find out that its between 10 and 11. We took lots of pictures until we realized there were other people who wanted to take pictures too. We jumped back on the tube and got off to roam around at Picadilly Circus. This is kind of the city center much like Sol to Madrid. They have theaters, restaurants, museums, stores, bars, everything. We took one of the double decker buses back to South Kensington and sat on the top of course. We grabbed real cheeseburgers at Gourmet Burger Kitchen and called it a night. We checked lots of things off our list but there was so much more.

View from the top of the Eye

     The next morning my friends in London whom I was staying with, Bree and Carly, woke up early with me to get to Harrods by 8am. We lucked out because they were having their Christmas Parade! There was even fake snow (actually soap suds) falling on the crowd and confetti when Santa arrived. We walked around Harrods and got cupcakes and coffee and met up with the rest of our friends at Buckingham Palace. The Queen was home so we couldn’t go inside but we took plenty of pictures. Our huge group of us and our friends from London walked down towards the Thames River to see Big Ben, Parliament and the London Eye. We took pictures in the red phone booths because it’s so London cliché and got in line for the eye. It is a huge Ferris wheel that overlooks the entire city and we just happened to be on it at sunset. You stand inside a glass compartment so you can take plenty of gorgeous pictures. We had fish n’ chips for dinner then went out with our friends to a popular bar and got some rest for our last day.

On the Tower Bridge

     We all got up early to head over to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard which is a huge procession. We met a very nice family who told us how much they love America and gave us great tips on where to go. We took the tube over to Westminster Abbey, a famous Gothic church and the burial place of many famous poets including John Keats and Geoffrey Chaucer. It was closed for visitors because it was a Sunday so we took pictures of the outside. We then headed over to the Beatle’s famous spot, Abbey Road. Of course everyone who visits wants a picture of them walking on the crosswalk yet they don’t stop traffic for you. Pictures need to be snapped fast. Then we visited St Paul’s Cathedral where Princess Diana and Prince Charles was married, saw Shakespeare’s Globe Theater and the Tower of London. We walked and took pictures on the Tower Bridge over the Thames and headed back to say goodbye to our friends and head back to Madrid.

     We didn’t get to see every single sight in London because there are just so many and we didn’t have enough time. It is a fantastic city, a little expensive but there’s always something to look at while walking around. Next on the list: Lisbon.

Hasta la Proxima!