We landed in Stansted Airport, which is about 35 minutes outside of London. There was a bus to take us into the city. En route to our hotel, we took a long bus ride all the center of London from the docks to Saint Paul’s to Westminster, to Trafalgar Square, to Harrods, to a bunch of squares…the list of locations goes on and on. Now we were on the bus for about 3 hours, which could get rather tedious, however we also had a tour guide who was pointing out sights to us along the way. Additionally, she was absolutely hysterical. In addition to talking about the historical and important facts, she rated the coffee at different locations for us around the city, talked about famous British actors, and her life as an extra in several films. Oh yeah, for some reason unknown, she hates Harry Potter. It is hard to explain but almost everything she said was random and funny in an obscure way. I am SO excited because she is going to be our guide again later in the week, and I know that it will make that excursion a good time.
When we finally got to our hotel, it took rather a long time to check in. There were many other groups approximately our size (like 30 people) checking in. Once we got to our rooms we quickly dropped our bags, and regrouped in the lobby to head out for some quick sight seeing before we had to meet for dinner. We all made it over to the Tube, which I felt really comfortable with. I have been on it many times before when I was in London last spring with Natalie, but it was kind of weird how my understanding of it returned to me so quickly. I have to admit though, it was kind of funny watching others trying to figure it out, but no worries, I was nice and directed them to which stops we had to go to and change line and get off at.
The first stop on our mini sightseeing trip was to Parliament where we could see Big Ben and the London Eye from the Parliament Bridge, which crosses over the Thames. It is definitely fun to be back in London and in that location because coincidentally that was the last place I visited when I was in London a year ago – Natalie and I went there at night after seeing the Phantom of the Opera, so I could see Parliament all lit up. It was weird to me because I started taking pictures all over again, however I soon was wondering what I was doing. I already have these pictures! It was then I finally realized that I was truly back in London, and some how it kind of feels like a second home. I was really only in London for 3 days last year, but I just feel like I know this city at least a little bit, which makes it all seem more familiar and accessible.After seeing Parliament, as a group (there was probably about 10 of us), we wound our way past Westminster, up to St James Park, and over to Trafalgar Square. Once in Trafalgar, all I wanted to do was sit on the steps, think, and take in London all over again. However, our time there was abruptly cut short because out of no where it began to rain very hard, which quickly turned in hail – at this point everyone in Trafalgar scattered to this nearest cover – our location of choice was the Tube stop. From there, we made our way back to our hotel with about 30 minutes until we were congregating for dinner.
At 8:00pm, we made our way over to a diner in walking distance from our hotel, where we dined on traditional London cuisine, aka fish and chips. They were pretty basic and tasted really good, however my opinion here is a little biased because I was starving by that time and would have thought that anything tasted amazing. After dinner, we all went our separate ways. There was a group of about 8 of us, who went to a bar further down the street and simply got a drink and talked for a little bit. Once back at our hotel, I showered, got ready for bed, and crashed on my not-so-comfy bed, but I was also exhausted so it felt like heaven.
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