Squirrels, Royals, and Rollerbladders
We flew from Boston to London and it was great fun until 5 hours of the night were lost and I could not sleep at all on the plane. It was beautiful to fly over the ocean and watch both a sunset and a sunrise within the seven hour plane ride.
This is the sunrise over beautifully green Ireland!
We spent the morning/afternoon in the parks and it was amazing! We went to Hyde Park and Kensington Park. I had always heard that the British love to garden and it is true!
The trees were massive and there were beautiful flowers everywhere.
The pigeons and squirrels are extremely comfortable with people and often people just come to the park to sit on a bench and feed them.
This squirrel came from behind me and was about 3 inches away from my leg before I noticed him. They were pretty entertaining.
In Kensington Park there is a Prince Albert Memorial. Bri had me watch a movie before we left called The Young Victoria and it was all about Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. They were a really neat couple and when Prince Albert died Queen Victoria had memorials and buildings built constantly in his memory.
While walking I told Bri that all we needed to make this park adventure complete was a royal procession.....
we then heard a band playing and saw people running....
Yep. I guess I'm psychic.
Bri then introduced me to one of her favorite places: Primark. It is like a Kohls with Walmart prices x7 because of the craziness factor. They have some awesome stuff for really cheap, but what you gain from saving money might be lost due to the billions of people you have to fight to get to an item. It was intense, but I really like this place. I told Bri we can not go back because I'll spend all of my money.
We went to Nando's for dinner and split 1/2 a grilled lemon/herb chicken, grilled corn on the cob, and potatoes. Really tasty, especially because of all the different sauces you can try.
One of my greatest accomplishments of the day was mastering THE TUBE.
The Tube: a crazy underground train system that takes you all around London. Passengers are silent on the tube and do not make eye contact. They are also always in a terrible rush everywhere they go. Do Not Trip or you will be trampled.
I am now a Tube Pro! ... sort of. Bri navigates :)
This evening was my favorite part of the day. We got on a double decker bus and just rode around town to see everything. We saw Trafalgar Square and Big Ben and Westminster.
The architecture around London is definitely something to see. I could ride that bus and look at buildings all day - that is how beautiful all the buildings are. At one point I pointed to a building with gorgeous arches and architectural designs around it and I asked Bri what it was.... a cruddy apartment complex. That is how awesome ALL of the architecture is here. In some aspects it reminded me a lot of Washington D.C. - beautiful old buildings and different statues and memorials all over the place.
At one point we heard disco music coming from the street across from us and then we saw about 60 rollerbladders zoom down the street. Crazy random but fun to see none the less!
We ended at the Cremerie Creperie where we had the best crepe I have ever had. Absolutely amazing!
We had a Summer Berry crepe with white and milk Belgium chocolate. I might have dreams about that crepe for the rest of my life.
Overall, it was a long and tiring day, but it was great. There is so much to see here and I'm so glad I came. Tomorrow should be another epic adventure and I can't wait!
