Ok so day one.
After my bus to the airport being late and a horrible take off and landing on my flight...I finally touched down at Gatwick Airport, in the amazing city of London (well, slightly outside the city to be more accurate), around 3 pm. I was a little worried for a moment because there was a slight issue with communication between us. I thought she was meeting me at the airport and she thought we were meeting at Victoria Station. But I was able to get everything figured out and settled and took a train into Victoria Station where I finally met up with Carolyn.
We decided to walk around for a while instead of taking the tube to her place. The first thing we came across was Westminster Cathedral (yes there is a Cathedral as well as the Abbey everyone knows about).
It was so beautiful inside. We then continued walking and catching up until we came across Westminster Abbey.
We didn't go in because it actually costs money if you aren't going for services, but the outside was very impressive. I can't believe that just a few short years ago, the Royal Family was in that very same place for the Royal Wedding!
Right near the Abbey was the Houses of Parliament building and...BIG BEN!!! (Fun fact, Big Ben is the name of the bell inside the clock tower...not the tower itself)
After taking many many pictures of Big Ben we crossed the street and took turns posing for pictures inside the red telephone booths!! Yeah...I was totally a tourist that day.
We then picked up some sandwiches and crisps for lunch on the River Thames. Yup, not even there for 2 hours and already picnicking on the Thames. We had a lovely view of the London Eye (which I most certainly did not go in...sorry Hannah) and part of the city.
After our late lunch we walked to, and then through, St. James Park; which was absolutely, breathtakingly, beautiful. There were so many flowers and colors, huge trees to sit under and weeping willows, and little ponds throughout the park. I can only hope my future backyard looks half as nice as that park.
Then we walked over to, wait for it.....Buckingham Palace! That's right, I can now say that I have been to Buckingham Palace. It was amazing. I mean, of course we couldn't get too close due to the gate...and all the guards, but I was still close!!
We then walked on down to Trafalgar Square. We passed the National Art Gallery and a good portion of West End (English version of NYC Broadway) and we just walked around a little.
Finally, after all of that; Carolyn and I got on the tube and made the trip all the way out to her flat. By the way...the tube was actually really cool and fun to ride. And it was surprisingly easy to figure out how to navigate the lines and stations after the first few days (not that I ever went on it alone...I'm not that stupid). We then dropped my stuff off in her room and made our way back out to the grocery store, Tesco, where we bought all of our food for lunches and dinners during my stay.
At around 9 pm we finally had time to start cooking our dinner. Carolyn made a delicious Chicken Parmesan. We then sat around and relaxed after our busy day. We talked and caught up with each other until we both decided we were really tired and should get to bed.
And that was only day one of five! Stay tuned!
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