We left Saturday the 22nd and after a long day of trains, planes and buses, we were finally settled into our hostel around 9 that night. We walked around little bit that night and found a late dinner but didn't have much time for anything else.
Sunday was a beautiful day in London and uncharacteristically hot for this time of year so we started the day by laying in the Hyde park waiting for our tour to start. Our walking tour started at 1:00 and covered all the major sites in London. It was the same one I had done the first time I was in London so it was a bit of a refresh for me but it was a good tour so I didn't mind doing it again. After the tour we had a late lunch in St. James Park and were pretty lazy the rest of the day. The heat of the day had worn us out! We walked along the Thames and hung around the London Eye for a bit, a great spot to people watch. We figured out that we were close to the London School of Economics, a dream school of Spencer's, so we made a short visit to the campus which was right in the middle of London. We were getting hungry so we quickly headed back to the hostel and made some dinner.
Monday was our busiest day in London. We started off the day by heading down to Abbey Road, made famous by The Beatles Abbey Road album. We were hopping to get some great pictures of us walking down the iconic street but we were disappointed to find out it was a pretty busy street. I got a pretty good picture of the street but with nobody in it. It is amazing how it looks so similar after all these years!
Next we headed to The National Gallery of London. Admission was free.. which is great for college students, and I was able to see my first Van Gogh. They had a whole room devoted to his paintings which was amazing to see, I could have stood there for hours. The most famous Van Gogh the Gallery had was his sunflower painting. There were no pictures allowed in the Gallery though, otherwise I would have some posted.
After the National Gallery, we had lunch in Trafalgar Square. It was another hot day in London so we sat on the edge of the fountain with our feet in the water, not a bad way to cool off. Next we were off to Westminster Abby to attend a choral service. We had heard about it the day before from our tour guide and thought it would be a great way to see inside Westminster without paying the ridiculously high admission fee. The service starts every day at 5 and is pretty much put on just for the tourists, but it was still an amazing experience to be a part of. Definitely not something I ever thought I would be doing.
After the service we headed down the river to see The Tower Bridge and The Tower of London. We walked around this area for a bit and then made our way home. Before making it there we decided to make a short pit stop at King's Cross train station, one of the largest in London, to see if we could find a Platform 9 & 3/4. For those of you that don't know, platform 9 & 3/4 comes from Harry Potter. They travel through the platform to get to the train station that takes them from London to Hogwarts. The cool thing about the platform in King's Cross is that they have an half of an actual trolley stuck into the wall. I wonder what people think of it if they don't know the reason behind it!
Tuesday was our last full day in London. We woke up early that day to go and get tickets for Wicked. Starting at 10am students can go and get tickets for that nights performance for only £25. We ended up getting great seats that would have cost £60 originally. We went back to the hostel to make lunch and take a short nap. We didn't stay in the hostel too long thought, we had some shopping to do. We spent the afternoon at the famous Camden Market. It was so huge we probably only wandered around about 1/4 of it. The day went by faster than we thought so we had to rush back to our hostel to get ready for the show but we made it with just a couple minutes to spare! Wicked was of course a great show, I was so excited to be able to see it, especially in London.
Wednesday we made our way to the bus stop, then the airport, then back to Glasgow and finally back to Stirling. It was a long journey home but as always, it was worth it. The next day I had my last exam at Stirling University. I am now officially done with my junior year of college.. something I still can't wrap my head around! For now I am busy packing, which more resembles jamming everything in two suitcases and hopping it will all fit. I leave the day after tomorrow and I can't really believe it still. I will write a small good-bye post before I leave, but for now, back to packing!
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