April 28th, 2014 | Uncategorized
Hi everyone! I’m sorry it’s been awhile since I’ve written one of these. It’s been a pretty crazy, but great, few weeks here. On Sunday, Susie, Mairead and I headed to London for a few days. London has always been on my bucket list of places I most wanted to visit, mostly because of some of my favorite movies have taken place here – Notting Hill, Love Actually and Harry Potter to name a few. Well, the city definitely lived up to all of my expectations. Even though we were only there for close to 48 hours, we were able to fit a lot in with our time. This was mostly due to the fact that Susie is a great travel partner, taking charge of where to go and how to get there in efficient time. Mairead and I certainly would have been lost without her!
Over the two days, we took a City Cruise along the water at the London Eye. On this ride, we were able to see sites of the Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the Shakespeare Globe to name a few. I certainly recommend these cruises to anyone traveling, as they have been my one of my favorite parts of my trip to London, as well as Paris a few years back. From there, we had lunch with one of Susie’s good friends. We must have made a good impression because we were invited to their apartment for a homemade meal that night. They cooked us dinner, and I have to say the meal was klass.
For anyone who has seen Notting Hill, I felt a bit like Julia Roberts character at dinner. As the only American, there were many jokes on my behalf, and conversations and phrases I could not pick up on. It was all in good fun, and we all had a really great time. At night, they took us into the city for a night on the town. We were extremely grateful for their hospitality, and showing us the way around the city.
Our days consisted of a lot of walking and tube riding, but it was well worth the blisters I now have on my feet! We saw Westminster Abbey, where Kate and Will got married. It’s just as beautiful in person as it was when I watched the wedding! We saw the changing of the guard in front of Buckingham Palace. This was unlike anything I had ever seen. The whole street was closed off as men on horses came riding in for the change of the guard in front of the palace. There were hundreds of people surrounding the palace just to see this happen. We stopped in Notting Hill, which is one area I really wanted to see. My mom and I share a love for most of the same Romantic Comedies, and Notting Hill was certainly one of our favorites growing up. The whole area was beautiful, and just as I imagined it would be. We also walked through Portobello Market. On Tuesday night, we were fortunate enough to have gotten tickets to The Lion King. This was my first time seeing the show, and I was most certainly impressed. It was incredible to see how people could bring such a legendary movie to life on stage.
I’m so happy I decided to take this trip, and even happier I had some great people join me to make it so memorable! My only regret is not staying longer, but I know I will be back one day soon because I still have so much to see! Hope everyone had a great Easter holiday!
