With heavily mixed emotions, I left Riva San Vitale on the morning of November 16th. The previous night was full of sharing memories, laughs, and a few tears as well. There was a delicious good-bye dinner and a PowerPoint full of pictures from the semester. Afterwards, all the students went out for one last night in the town. I think I was ready to be done with school and not have anymore work to do, but I wasn't ready to leave such a beautiful, peaceful town. However the following morning, I did have something very exciting to look forward to... I had a lay over in London for a week and I was going to be meeting my FAMILY there!! :D I was beyond excited, after 3 and a half months I was so anxious to finally see them again!
I had a short delay in the Milan airport, but that felt like forever to me. When we finally touched down, it was time for me to say good-bye to the Riva students that were continuing home. I thought I would be able to see my family right away, but I had to go through London Border Check, wait for my luggage, and then go through customs. As I left customs, I could see people lined up along the railings waiting for loved ones. I scanned the crowd and then I spotted her... my mom! I instantly started tearing up and called out to her. She looked at me with zero recognition on her face. I had my hair in a pony tail, my glasses on, my hiking backpack on my back, my school backpack on my front, trailing along my suitcase, and with all that it was hard to recognize me. But as soon as she did, she ran under the railings and gave me a hug. We both cried. Then I hugged my dad and cried more. And then my brother and cried some more.
When I was settled down enough to figure out what we had to do next, we got all our luggage and caught a bus to a tube (metro) station. The unfortunate thing is the tube was not working from the airport that night, so we had to get the bus. There was an incredible amount of traffic on the roads, so it took a long time to get to the tube station we were heading to. And then lugging luggage around was quite a challenge as well trying to figure out their metro system.
We caught the right metro and were greeted by a man who had clearly been drinking before he had gotten on. He was shooting welcome to London to us and befriended my dad. It was a funny welcoming to the UK.
Stopping in Victoria Station, we were incredibly confused which way to exit and by the enormous amounts of people bustling about. We left and it took us some time to find our hotel (and yes I said hotel!! Finally no more hostels!!) and when we did we were so relieved. It had been a long day for all of us, especially my family who had a long plane ride getting to England. We settled into our rooms (my mom and dad in one and my brother and I in another) and then went back out for food!
We got recommendations from our hotel for a good close place to eat and went to The Belgravia. In there I got a big burger and a side salad. Felt good to have food like that! My brother got a burger as well and both him and my dad ordered beers... a trend that happened for most of the trip haha. It was funny that the sport on the television was darts. You would not see darts as the sport to watch in many American bars.
After a big dinner, my dad and I took a walk a couple blocks down the street. It was so good to talk with him and catch up on how we've both been. Although cold, the walk was very enjoyable. We passed by a house where Mozart once lived and the streets were full of Christmas lights. This was another thing we'd noticed throughout our time in the UK. They don't celebrate Thanksgiving, so once November hits they start setting up for Christmas. So Christmas decorations were set up everywhere we went. It just made the whole experience more enchanting.
After our walk, we went back to the hotel. I took a nice, long shower and then went to bed. We had a day of sightseeing ahead of us and we were all tired.
Day 2:
We got a continental breakfast at our hotel, so we woke up and headed down there around 9. Boy oh boy, this breakfast was amazing. We got our choice of the traditional breakfast (sausage, bacon, eggs, grilled vegetable, and beans) or the continental breakfast (choice of cereal or porridge, fresh fruit, and yogurt). We also had an abundance of toast and jams, small pastries, orange juice, and coffee or tea. It was the breakfast of champions to say the least! Throughout our time there, I mixed up what I ate every morning.
On this particular day, our main plan
was to see the Tower of London! I just thought it was going to be some big
tower and that's it... but I was totally wrong. It was the old section of
London, full of different buildings, castles, and the residence of the Crown
Jewels all surrounded by a large stone wall.
When we got in the gates, our first
stop was in the White Tower. This building was the old residence of past kings
and queens. It now holds a huge amount of used armor and old battle weapons. We
went on a tour of the building and learned a lot about what it was like
back in its days of use.
Our next stop in the gates was the building that housed The Crown Jewels. Unfortunately no pictures were allowed inside, but I don't think pictures would have done the jewels justice. We walked inside the building and were shown family diagrams of past rulers and how the jewels had changed with time during the different reigns. Then we saw a video of Queen Elizabeth II's from 1953. The rituals and outfits all seemed so lavish and powerful. I couldn't imagine the amount of pressure put on her at only age 25.
Then the best part of the building: the jewels. Before we saw the crowns, we went through an area of jeweled swords and sabers, gold plates and serving dishes, and beautifully decorated robes. On a conveyer belt around the corner, we moved through the section with the crowns. They are almost indescribable... huge gemstones of various colors aligned along the crowns (emeralds, diamonds, rubies, sapphires, pearls, etc). They're structures were made of gold or silver with a backing of plush fabric of royal colors such as red, purple, or blue. It was truly special. My mom and I went back to the beginning of the conveyer belt to see it all one more time.
I exited that building in shock. I had never seen anything like that. The Crown Jewels were incredible and far exceeding my expectations, but at the same time I couldn't help but feel like the amount of money for all their jewels was absurd. I would see throughout my time in London that pomp and circumstance was a common theme.
We walked around the Tower of London for a bit longer. We entered into an area that once held the exotic royal beasts of the kings and queens. Leopards, lions, elephants, zebras, ostriches, monkeys, polar bears, and grizzly bears were all once "pets" in the tower. We also went into the area where prisoners were held and torture was conducted. Some of it was sickening to read about. The last area we went in the Tower was an old chapel used for protestant ceremonies. Although it was cold outside, we enjoyed exploring this historic area.
Just before we left this area, we got an amazing view of Tower Bridge. A truly elaborate bridge, my brother and I got a really good picture with it in the background :)
ostrich
We left this area all hungry and made the mistake of not getting something to eat right away. Our moods all drastically changed as we walked around on empty stomachs and we learned that on our next excursions we needed to make sure we ate more often. It was not worth getting in grumpy moods.
Our next plan was to walk across London Bridge! I had high hopes of what London Bridge would look like... except when we got there, it was nothing special haha. It was a simple concrete bridge. The bridge we probably should have explored is Tower Bridge, but we got a good view of that bridge and the city while on London Bridge. We strolled along the bridge as dusk was setting in.
On the other side of the water, my dad had looked into a pub crawl we could go on. It centered around pubs that famous people often frequented. The first one we went to was called The George. This pub was the favorite of none other than William Shakespeare! It was exactly what you'd picture an old London pub to look like. It was cozy on the inside and my dad and brother enjoyed a good beer here.
The next stop on our pub crawl got us to The Market Porter, a pub where scenes of Harry Potter was filmed. It was very quaint inside, full of liquor/beer labels. We got a small nook in the bar to sit down and my brother and dad enjoyed another beer. They started to make a list of all the different beer they tried while over there.
Our stomachs started to really give us trouble because we were really hungry, but the problem was that a lot of these pubs did not serve dinner. We ventured around a bit more, passing by a bar named The Anchor (which reminded me of my sorority since our symbol is the anchor) and going inside a bar called The Black Friar. This was such a strange little building... it made me feel like I was truly in London. It was a small triangular structure that was in between two roads. We tried to eat here, but it was very crowded and understandably so since it was so unique.
We finally settled on getting back on the metro to go back to our hotel area. We ate at a place called the Traveler's Tavern which was really close to the train station. I ordered probably the most traditional food there is to have in London: Fish and Chips!! So yummy! The cod was huge and very tasty and the chips (as in French fries) were good as well!
After eating until we were content, we headed back to our hotel pretty wiped out. We were tired from the long day outside in the cold, but we had a great day! We got to see the Tower of London and experience some of the traditional pubs. I would say it was an awesome first full day in London.
Day 3:
We woke up to another wonderful breakfast. We packed up a couple things and checked out of the hotel because we had a great adventure planned! We would be leaving London for a few days and going up to Edinburgh, Scotland!! It was a good way to break up the trip and we didn't know what to expect from Edinburgh. We rushed a little bit to King's Crossing train station to catch our train. I got to see a special sight even in the train station...
I'm not the biggest Harry Potter fan, but it was still a cool site to see!! We boarded the train and had about a 4 hour train ride ahead of us...
...
Day 5:
We arrived back in London a bit later than expected because of the delayed train. At this point it was only drizzling outside and we made our way back to our hotel. It was convenient we got to store all our big suitcases here while we were in Edinburgh. For these next 3 nights the family room was available so we all stayed in one room. We resettled our stuff before taking a walk to go find food.
It was dark outside as we walked through the neighborhood of Belgravia (where our hotel was). Let me just say this was one expensive place to live. We looked at house listings outside the realtor and were blown away by the prices. This area is also the home to many foreign embassies. One thing my brother and dad could not get over was the exotic, expensive cars that lined the streets in this area. Porsche's, Ferrari's, Audi's, BMW's, and some things I had never heard of before!
My dad heard of a pub he really wanted to check out. When we got there it was super packed, but it seemed like a fun atmosphere. The place was decorated so cool, with old photos, old news clip, and other knick knacks. The only problem was they only had about 3 things on their menu that they actually served at dinner. I was pretty disappointed in my meal and I felt bad because I made a big deal about it. But I guess over a week long family vacation, something is bound not to go well... I'm just thankful it was only one meal that I didn't like.
We got back to our room, showered, and hung out together watching tv and chatting before going to bed.
Day 6:
After eating another yummy continental breakfast, we left to visit the British Museum. The outside was impressive, but I found the inside ceiling to be the most unique architectural aspect of the building.
This museum was full of historic artifacts from ancient Egypt, Greece, China, India, etc. We walked through these exhibits for a bit, but it was quite overwhelming because there was so much to see in this area. Before we got too tired, we changed course to check out other areas of the museum. We went into a section dedicated to old clocks and how they looked internally. That section was so cool and the clocks were very intricate. Another area we went into was about money throughout time, focusing on ancient currencies and preventing counterfeit currencies today. But eventually my family and I got tired so after an hour or two we left to get lunch.
We went to a place called The Museum Tavern which a pub visited often by Karl Marxwas again decorated for the Christmas season! Before our meals came out, there was the game pick-up-sticks sitting on the cabinet behind us so my brother and I played a game of it which I hadn't in quite some time. (I won!) The food was very good, I ordered scampi and chips this time!
My dad and I got a great picture together at the table. A good father-daughter picture :)
After lunch, my dad wanted to find another pub he had looked up. It is one of the oldest pubs in London, dating back to 1623 called The Lamb and Flag. The famous Charles Dickens enjoyed going to this pub! My dad and brother drank a beer while my mom and I got hot mulled cider! It was very very good! We drank up and headed for the direction of the London Eye.
When I first heard the name "London Eye" I really had no clue what it was haha. But as we planned our trips I found out it was the famous, giant Ferris wheel that provides one of the best views of London! We could see it from far away and I was very excited to go on it. The sun was beginning to set on the city and we wanted to make sure we got to the Eye with some daylight left. The London Eye itself was a cool site to see, much less be able to go on it!
My brother and I went on together. We got put in a big bubble capsule that is almost all window so anywhere you are inside you can get a view of the city. London is one huge city, probably the biggest I visited while abroad, and I couldn't wait to see it from above! To make a complete rotation takes about half an hour. There were little screens you could navigate to tell you what buildings and areas of London you were looking at. We ended up going on the Eye at the perfect time! Just as the sun was setting, we got a view of London with the last glimpses of daylight and as the wheel came to the end of it's rotation it was dark out. We got to see the city lit up and Big Ben was in clear view. My brother and I loved it. We kept taking pictures but eventually stopped because we wanted to take it all in. It was sincerely phenomenal!
My brother and I didn't want it to be over when the time came. I'll always remember our awe each time we looked out a different part of the capsule and saw a new view. It was something special.
We met back up with our parents full of cheer telling them how amazing it was and thanking them for the experience. Before we went on the Eye, we walked through a Christmas market. Now we had time to go through it at a leisurely pace and see what vendors were selling at each stand. I love looking through stuff like that, but it wasn't long before the chill of the night got to us and we were ready to head back to our hotel. We had to cross a bridge to get back to the metro station and I was able to capture an awesome photo of the London Eye with the evening skyline.
We caught the metro and asked our hotel receptionist for a place near the hotel he'd recommend for dinner. We ended up going to a very fancy restaurant and I could hardly understand some of the things on the menu. I ended up getting very embarrassed asking the waiter what items meant and if there was just a normal salad I could eat. He seemed so confused by a "normal" salad. Meh! After all the pub food, I just wanted a healthy salad. Well he was a nice guy and whipped up something special for me. I had a very good spinach salad with pumpkin and pear soup. I was very pleased with my meal, but man was it a struggle lol.
Once back in our hotel room after dinner, we kind of crashed. We were all starting to feel a little worn from the trip and traveling, but we were having a wonderful time together. We took showers and watched the UK version of "America's Funniest Home Videos". Laughing together was a great way to end another great day :)
Day 7:
Again another day of good breakfast! We planned this day to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. For me, I thought it was going to be a quick ceremony as the guards of the gate changed out and we'd mostly be going there to see the palace itself. I didn't expect the Changing the Guard Ceremony to be as long and drawn out as it was. First, about two or three different battalions with maybe 30 guards each and a couple horses as well marched in separately through the main gates. Then a process of about 30 minutes takes place in the gates as the guards switch places and trumpets blare. Then another long process as the guards leave the palace with the music sounding. The whole thing took at least an hour if not more.
I don't want to sound negative, it was a pretty cool sight to see! But I felt like it was a waste. This happens every other day during the winter months and every day during the summer. To me I just couldn't believe that. Personally, I feel like the government and royal community need to evaluate the necessity of it. The ceremony felt very pompous to me, especially since it happens every day (or every other day). If they cut back on the extravagance of it all, I'm sure it would save huge amounts of money that could help the countless homeless people we encountered in the UK. It was all just too much. But that didn't stop the crowds of people from coming to see the ceremony, just as we had.
Since it was a very long production, by the time it was over I was freezing. My toes had gone numb at this point. I made us stop in a little souvenir shop before continuing. Afterwards we walked a ways to Westminster Abbey!! I was excited see what it looked like inside because walking up to it the outside was already beautiful! When we got up to it we saw that for this particular day it was not open for another hour... well that just gave us the perfect opportunity for lunch!
We went to a pub close by to the church and sat at a pretty cramped table. But that did not matter too much to me because the food was so good! I ordered a falafel burger! I had only had falafel's two times in my life, once in Amsterdam and once in Berlin. I really liked it so a smile came across my face when I saw it was one the menu.
Once finished, we left and went back to Westminster Abbey. There was a bit of a line so my dad struck up a conversation with the people in front of us. The woman casually said she did not know how to react when she met Charles so all she said was "Happy birthday!" We were like "huh?" And she went on to explain they were at Prince Charles birthday dinner last night like it was nothing haha.
We were pretty close to the entrance of the church when we noticed something we had not before... the prices. My entire trip abroad, the only church I had to pay to get into was the Sagrada Familia (because they needed the money to pay for the continued construction cost as the church is still being built. I think I had been about $12 USD). Well the price to Westminster Abbey was 16 pounds... that's close to $30 USD. Each. Are you kidding me? For our family to go in it would have been more than $100 USD. We all were in mutual agreement that it was extremely overpriced and in our eyes not worth it although to many people it is. It was a shame but I liked seeing the outside. Even that is very elegant.
We left and strolled just across the street to see the Parliament buildings and Big Ben! We explored this area for a bit with fascination. I do not know a whole lot on architecture, but these buildings were very cool looking. I liked that we got to see them up close.
And with that big icon, we decided to call it a day. Like I said earlier, we were starting to get a bit worn out. We went back to our hotel and my mom and I drank hot tea to warm ourselves up. When we felt warm again, we took a stroll together through the neighborhood we were staying in. We walked down the street, looking into the little shops that were closed for the day. There were clothes, furniture, random trinket stores, all sorts of things. We spent a long time peering through the windows of a place that sold ancient fossils and crystal rock formations. It was a simple thing, walking down the street, but I really enjoyed just chatting and looking at what there was to see together. It started to drizzle so we decided to get dinner.
We actually went back to the place we ate the very first night in London, but it was a full house. With no seats available, we went looking for somewhere else to eat. Well it was busy everywhere. We walked back to the original place and got so lucky! There was a big group of people leaving and we snatched up their table. And believe it or not it was the same table we sat at the first night :) I had to order fish and chips since it was our last night in London. Philip ordered that too except the huge size haha his fish must have been double mine. (So big part of it was cut out of the picture!)
My brother, dad, and I all drank a beer. We had a cheers and reflected on our family trip. I felt so blessed to have this experience with them and I know we all enjoyed our time. My favorite part was how close we got during our week vacation together. It was a much more mature trip than we'd been on before (normally it's the beach or something like that) but this was different. It was something unique and exciting that we got to experience as a family. And I couldn't have been happier.
Before we left the pub, there was a dessert that caught my eye the first night we were there and I knew I had to try it out. I think more because of the name haha it was called the "Traditional Spotted Dick Dessert". I ordered it and it was absolutely delicious! A type of cake with raisins smothered in melting custard sauce. I made everyone try a bite and we all liked it.
We went back to our hotel room, took showers, and made sure our bags were mostly all packed for the following day. It was weird for me to think this was the last time I'd be packing my bags for a trip during my time abroad, this trip for the way back home.
Day 8:
We woke up and had one last satisfying breakfast. Since our flight was not until the early evening, we had some time to go out for a little bit. My mom wanted to see Harrods, this well-known upmarket department store just a few blocks from our hotel. We walked there and along the way we saw some of the most luxurious stores. You name just about any high end designer brand and it was along these streets. And most certainly no ordinary person walking the street could get in or be expected to get waited on. There were men in suits standing by the doors, only to let the well dressed and high class people into their stores. As I walked by with my yoga pants on and zero make up, they just stared me down. It actually made me feel very self-conscious and I know they were looking at us like no way are you getting in. It reminded me of Pretty Women and the scene when she's trying to buy clothes from a store but isn't helped because of the way she was dressed. Such a classic scene when she walks back in all fancy and shows them off... but this is exactly what these stores were like.
Harrods is a huge store! As we were walking up to it, there were crowds of people outside. We made our way inside and were overwhelmed. When we had space to ourselves we tried to sort out where we were in the store. Believe it or not, they handed out maps as a guide. We decided to go to the fine jewelry section. Wow, was the stuff there absolutely gorgeous. We were not allowed to take pictures, but the jewels were so lavish and large! And from the ceilings hung crystal chandeliers. Moving into the next room were expensive watches. There was one that cost over 750,000 pounds which is over $1.2 million USD. Seriously, who needs a watch that expensive? Donate some of your money if you have that much extra cash lying around you can buy a watch over $1.2 million. And it wasn't even a good-looking watch! haha
My parents went into the food section of Harrods (which was packed!) and got my grandpa some items. He used to live in London for a time and remembers the store Harrods, so we thought it would be a nice Christmas present to surprise him with a few things from there. We tried to go to the toy section because we were interested what we might find there, but it was just super crowded. We had our fill of the hustle and bustle of the store and decided to leave. My mom and I were fascinated by the beautifully decorated window displays lining the building of Harrods. It was quite an experience going to a store like that.
Something caught my dad's eye just across the street. Cars. And no ordinary cars. It was a McLaren car dealer and to get into the show room it said by appointment only. No Joe Schmo was going to get in there. The cars were so exotic, my dad looked like he was star struck!
And with that we headed back to our hotel. We walked through the streets of London one last time and I could not help but feel sad to be leaving. The hotel got us a cab to get to the metro with all our luggage and we were on the metro for about 40 minutes to take us to the outskirts of London to the airport. The guy sitting next to me had his music blaring, which must have been killing his ears because we could all hear it quite easily. His choice of music was techno, but I heard Miley Cyrus' Wrecking Ball in the mix as well.
We got off the metro and had a few errands to take care of while in the airport. My dad went to a place to get a tax deduction on his whiskey and then they had to return our metro Oyster passes. Trying to get through security, my boarding pass wouldn't scan (stuff like this always happens to me) so I had to go to another place to get my pass validated. We ate one last meal in the airport and used up the last of our UK pounds. I had a quesadilla and a smoothie!! The first I had either in months! And I kept the little giraffe :)
Before we knew it, it was time to head to our terminal. It was too surreal. I did not know what to think. My thoughts were all jumbled as we got closer to departure. It was hard for me to know what to do. I'm leaving? But wait... it feels like I got to Europe only a couple weeks ago. 3 months can not have already gone by. It was difficult to come to terms with that. I did not want to leave, but at the same time I did. There were so many people I could not wait to see back home, so that was what I focused on. We passed underneath a sign of a solider saluting us goodbye, that was strange too.
As we were about to board the plane, of course I get pulled aside for a "random" search. Like I said, this type of stuff always happens to me. So this lady patted me down, searched my bag, and I was free to board. My family got better class seat than I did; I had to sit in the crowded back of the plane. I go up to my seat (which was an aisle thank goodness!) and someone was sitting in it. When I told him that was my seat, he got all huffy. I stood my ground and people started to stare, but no way did I want to sit crowded between people on an eight hour plane ride. Finally he moved over.
For the ride home, I could not think about anything. I wanted to go over my time abroad in my head, but it was too overwhelming. So I decided not to think at all. I watched two movies, Man of Steel and Monsters University and ate the crappy airplane food. I just was in a daze. When our plane touched down, I felt in a bigger daze. I was mechanical getting my stuff together. This was really it. Despite the feelings of sadness, there were those of excitement as well. I was home.
Our stomachs started to really give us trouble because we were really hungry, but the problem was that a lot of these pubs did not serve dinner. We ventured around a bit more, passing by a bar named The Anchor (which reminded me of my sorority since our symbol is the anchor) and going inside a bar called The Black Friar. This was such a strange little building... it made me feel like I was truly in London. It was a small triangular structure that was in between two roads. We tried to eat here, but it was very crowded and understandably so since it was so unique.We finally settled on getting back on the metro to go back to our hotel area. We ate at a place called the Traveler's Tavern which was really close to the train station. I ordered probably the most traditional food there is to have in London: Fish and Chips!! So yummy! The cod was huge and very tasty and the chips (as in French fries) were good as well!
Day 3:
We woke up to another wonderful breakfast. We packed up a couple things and checked out of the hotel because we had a great adventure planned! We would be leaving London for a few days and going up to Edinburgh, Scotland!! It was a good way to break up the trip and we didn't know what to expect from Edinburgh. We rushed a little bit to King's Crossing train station to catch our train. I got to see a special sight even in the train station...
...
Day 5:
We arrived back in London a bit later than expected because of the delayed train. At this point it was only drizzling outside and we made our way back to our hotel. It was convenient we got to store all our big suitcases here while we were in Edinburgh. For these next 3 nights the family room was available so we all stayed in one room. We resettled our stuff before taking a walk to go find food.
It was dark outside as we walked through the neighborhood of Belgravia (where our hotel was). Let me just say this was one expensive place to live. We looked at house listings outside the realtor and were blown away by the prices. This area is also the home to many foreign embassies. One thing my brother and dad could not get over was the exotic, expensive cars that lined the streets in this area. Porsche's, Ferrari's, Audi's, BMW's, and some things I had never heard of before!
My dad heard of a pub he really wanted to check out. When we got there it was super packed, but it seemed like a fun atmosphere. The place was decorated so cool, with old photos, old news clip, and other knick knacks. The only problem was they only had about 3 things on their menu that they actually served at dinner. I was pretty disappointed in my meal and I felt bad because I made a big deal about it. But I guess over a week long family vacation, something is bound not to go well... I'm just thankful it was only one meal that I didn't like.
We got back to our room, showered, and hung out together watching tv and chatting before going to bed.
Day 6:
After eating another yummy continental breakfast, we left to visit the British Museum. The outside was impressive, but I found the inside ceiling to be the most unique architectural aspect of the building.
We went to a place called The Museum Tavern which a pub visited often by Karl Marxwas again decorated for the Christmas season! Before our meals came out, there was the game pick-up-sticks sitting on the cabinet behind us so my brother and I played a game of it which I hadn't in quite some time. (I won!) The food was very good, I ordered scampi and chips this time!
After lunch, my dad wanted to find another pub he had looked up. It is one of the oldest pubs in London, dating back to 1623 called The Lamb and Flag. The famous Charles Dickens enjoyed going to this pub! My dad and brother drank a beer while my mom and I got hot mulled cider! It was very very good! We drank up and headed for the direction of the London Eye.When I first heard the name "London Eye" I really had no clue what it was haha. But as we planned our trips I found out it was the famous, giant Ferris wheel that provides one of the best views of London! We could see it from far away and I was very excited to go on it. The sun was beginning to set on the city and we wanted to make sure we got to the Eye with some daylight left. The London Eye itself was a cool site to see, much less be able to go on it!
My brother and I went on together. We got put in a big bubble capsule that is almost all window so anywhere you are inside you can get a view of the city. London is one huge city, probably the biggest I visited while abroad, and I couldn't wait to see it from above! To make a complete rotation takes about half an hour. There were little screens you could navigate to tell you what buildings and areas of London you were looking at. We ended up going on the Eye at the perfect time! Just as the sun was setting, we got a view of London with the last glimpses of daylight and as the wheel came to the end of it's rotation it was dark out. We got to see the city lit up and Big Ben was in clear view. My brother and I loved it. We kept taking pictures but eventually stopped because we wanted to take it all in. It was sincerely phenomenal!
We met back up with our parents full of cheer telling them how amazing it was and thanking them for the experience. Before we went on the Eye, we walked through a Christmas market. Now we had time to go through it at a leisurely pace and see what vendors were selling at each stand. I love looking through stuff like that, but it wasn't long before the chill of the night got to us and we were ready to head back to our hotel. We had to cross a bridge to get back to the metro station and I was able to capture an awesome photo of the London Eye with the evening skyline.
Day 7:
Again another day of good breakfast! We planned this day to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. For me, I thought it was going to be a quick ceremony as the guards of the gate changed out and we'd mostly be going there to see the palace itself. I didn't expect the Changing the Guard Ceremony to be as long and drawn out as it was. First, about two or three different battalions with maybe 30 guards each and a couple horses as well marched in separately through the main gates. Then a process of about 30 minutes takes place in the gates as the guards switch places and trumpets blare. Then another long process as the guards leave the palace with the music sounding. The whole thing took at least an hour if not more.
I don't want to sound negative, it was a pretty cool sight to see! But I felt like it was a waste. This happens every other day during the winter months and every day during the summer. To me I just couldn't believe that. Personally, I feel like the government and royal community need to evaluate the necessity of it. The ceremony felt very pompous to me, especially since it happens every day (or every other day). If they cut back on the extravagance of it all, I'm sure it would save huge amounts of money that could help the countless homeless people we encountered in the UK. It was all just too much. But that didn't stop the crowds of people from coming to see the ceremony, just as we had.
We went to a pub close by to the church and sat at a pretty cramped table. But that did not matter too much to me because the food was so good! I ordered a falafel burger! I had only had falafel's two times in my life, once in Amsterdam and once in Berlin. I really liked it so a smile came across my face when I saw it was one the menu.
We were pretty close to the entrance of the church when we noticed something we had not before... the prices. My entire trip abroad, the only church I had to pay to get into was the Sagrada Familia (because they needed the money to pay for the continued construction cost as the church is still being built. I think I had been about $12 USD). Well the price to Westminster Abbey was 16 pounds... that's close to $30 USD. Each. Are you kidding me? For our family to go in it would have been more than $100 USD. We all were in mutual agreement that it was extremely overpriced and in our eyes not worth it although to many people it is. It was a shame but I liked seeing the outside. Even that is very elegant.We actually went back to the place we ate the very first night in London, but it was a full house. With no seats available, we went looking for somewhere else to eat. Well it was busy everywhere. We walked back to the original place and got so lucky! There was a big group of people leaving and we snatched up their table. And believe it or not it was the same table we sat at the first night :) I had to order fish and chips since it was our last night in London. Philip ordered that too except the huge size haha his fish must have been double mine. (So big part of it was cut out of the picture!)
Before we left the pub, there was a dessert that caught my eye the first night we were there and I knew I had to try it out. I think more because of the name haha it was called the "Traditional Spotted Dick Dessert". I ordered it and it was absolutely delicious! A type of cake with raisins smothered in melting custard sauce. I made everyone try a bite and we all liked it.We went back to our hotel room, took showers, and made sure our bags were mostly all packed for the following day. It was weird for me to think this was the last time I'd be packing my bags for a trip during my time abroad, this trip for the way back home.
Day 8:
We woke up and had one last satisfying breakfast. Since our flight was not until the early evening, we had some time to go out for a little bit. My mom wanted to see Harrods, this well-known upmarket department store just a few blocks from our hotel. We walked there and along the way we saw some of the most luxurious stores. You name just about any high end designer brand and it was along these streets. And most certainly no ordinary person walking the street could get in or be expected to get waited on. There were men in suits standing by the doors, only to let the well dressed and high class people into their stores. As I walked by with my yoga pants on and zero make up, they just stared me down. It actually made me feel very self-conscious and I know they were looking at us like no way are you getting in. It reminded me of Pretty Women and the scene when she's trying to buy clothes from a store but isn't helped because of the way she was dressed. Such a classic scene when she walks back in all fancy and shows them off... but this is exactly what these stores were like.
Harrods is a huge store! As we were walking up to it, there were crowds of people outside. We made our way inside and were overwhelmed. When we had space to ourselves we tried to sort out where we were in the store. Believe it or not, they handed out maps as a guide. We decided to go to the fine jewelry section. Wow, was the stuff there absolutely gorgeous. We were not allowed to take pictures, but the jewels were so lavish and large! And from the ceilings hung crystal chandeliers. Moving into the next room were expensive watches. There was one that cost over 750,000 pounds which is over $1.2 million USD. Seriously, who needs a watch that expensive? Donate some of your money if you have that much extra cash lying around you can buy a watch over $1.2 million. And it wasn't even a good-looking watch! haha
My parents went into the food section of Harrods (which was packed!) and got my grandpa some items. He used to live in London for a time and remembers the store Harrods, so we thought it would be a nice Christmas present to surprise him with a few things from there. We tried to go to the toy section because we were interested what we might find there, but it was just super crowded. We had our fill of the hustle and bustle of the store and decided to leave. My mom and I were fascinated by the beautifully decorated window displays lining the building of Harrods. It was quite an experience going to a store like that.
Something caught my dad's eye just across the street. Cars. And no ordinary cars. It was a McLaren car dealer and to get into the show room it said by appointment only. No Joe Schmo was going to get in there. The cars were so exotic, my dad looked like he was star struck!
We got off the metro and had a few errands to take care of while in the airport. My dad went to a place to get a tax deduction on his whiskey and then they had to return our metro Oyster passes. Trying to get through security, my boarding pass wouldn't scan (stuff like this always happens to me) so I had to go to another place to get my pass validated. We ate one last meal in the airport and used up the last of our UK pounds. I had a quesadilla and a smoothie!! The first I had either in months! And I kept the little giraffe :)Before we knew it, it was time to head to our terminal. It was too surreal. I did not know what to think. My thoughts were all jumbled as we got closer to departure. It was hard for me to know what to do. I'm leaving? But wait... it feels like I got to Europe only a couple weeks ago. 3 months can not have already gone by. It was difficult to come to terms with that. I did not want to leave, but at the same time I did. There were so many people I could not wait to see back home, so that was what I focused on. We passed underneath a sign of a solider saluting us goodbye, that was strange too.
For the ride home, I could not think about anything. I wanted to go over my time abroad in my head, but it was too overwhelming. So I decided not to think at all. I watched two movies, Man of Steel and Monsters University and ate the crappy airplane food. I just was in a daze. When our plane touched down, I felt in a bigger daze. I was mechanical getting my stuff together. This was really it. Despite the feelings of sadness, there were those of excitement as well. I was home.
Honestly though, my family meeting me over in London was the perfect transition for me. I was still traveling, but I was with my family. So instead of going home abruptly and all of a sudden seeing my family, I eased into the situation. It all worked out so well for them to come over and I can speak for all of us when I say it was such a fun trip together. The best part is how close we got through the week. We got to experience so much as a family and the sites we got to see were really amazing. I will always remember this trip with my family, and little details about it that made it such a wonderful time. I could not have asked for more, I loved it <3
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