London

After our week in Germany and Brussels, I went to London with Meghan, Shelby, Garrett and Ben.  We left thursday afternoon on the Eurostar and were set to arrive around 9:30 via the Chunnel.  Well right before we were set to go under the water, the train stopped and the conductor declared that there was a security breech and we were all to remain in our cars.  After about an hour they made the back of the train get off and go through security again.  It took 3 hours before we got moving again, and we were all getting really antsy.  So Garrett decided to turn the orange he took from lunch and turn it into a super hero.  Thus Orange Man is born.  He has since deteriorated, but kept us entertained through the 6 hour journey.  When we finally arrived in London, the Eurostar people payed for our taxi, since we were so delayed.  We decided to stay at an apartment just outside of Hyde Park, and it was very nice.  A little small but super nice.  We ended up getting there around 1:00 and crashed right away.


The next morning we got up and had some breakfast, and headed to the free tour in London.  They met just outside of Buckingham Palace, and took us through Trafalgar Square, Parliament and Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.  It was great and we really got a good feel for the city.  Then our tour group went out to lunch and got tickets for the pub crawl we were going to do later in the night.  It was already pretty late, so we headed back to the apartment and dried off and got ready for the night.  The pub crawl consisted of 4 bars and one club, and would last about 4 or 5 hours.  It was a great time and we got to know a really cool married couple.  The next day once we were up and recovered, we grabbed Starbucks and the girls decided to do some shopping at Portobello Market.  It was so much fun and they had a lot of unique items.  Then we met up with the boys around 3 for a tour of "Old London".  This tour took us by the Court of Justice, the bridges of London, old churches and expensive shopping areas,    and the Tower of London.  Then we were able to meet up with my friend from high school, Caroline, who is studying in London.  We got dinner at an Italian restaurant and headed to a small pub for some drinks and card games.  It was a lot of fun and I am so glad I got to see her!

Sadly, we had to head home early on Sunday and so we packed up all of our belongings to take the Chunnel back. It was a very uneventful journey home, but good to be back after a 10 day trip.