Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Me and My Parents Return to London

We have finally made it to the last leg of our whirlwind adventure!!  Please check the beginning in London, the middle in Paris, and the (almost) end in Rome.

I left off with mom and dad anxiously awaiting my return from the Spanish Steps so we could head out to the airport.  Needless to say, we made it there with plenty of time!  This was our first Ryan Air flight of the trip...and it proved quite interesting!  They have a strict one bag only carry on policy.  It was actually pretty amazing that we were nearing the end of our trip and could still fit everything into our three backgrounds.  I was definitely impressed with our effort!  


One of my favorite pictures from the trip is one that we took after we grabbed our seats for the flight.  We were worn out, but still having a great time.  We weren't quite ready for our vacation to come to an end.


We made it to London without any problem. We took a bus from Stansted Airport to Victoria Station. Our hotel was within walking distance from Victoria Station, but we had a bit of trouble finding it.  Eventually, we arrived at the Victor Hotel and checked into our room.  Shortly after we checked in, we met up with my NFL Europa buddy, Michael Andrew.  We looked for a restaurant to grab some dinner, but the only place open was a Burger King back at Victoria Station.  We settled for burgers there.  I was able to catch up with Michael for about an hour or so before he headed home and we headed back to the hotel for some much needed rest.  We had one more day in London left and wanted to be ready to make the most of it!


The next morning, we packed up our stuff and made the trek over to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guards ceremony.  We were not the only ones that had plans to be there that morning though.  It was completely packed by the time we arrived, but we found a decent spot up on the Victoria Memorial.  It was a perfect spot to see the two Guard groups march into the Palace area.  The ceremony was a bit long, but we enjoyed being there for it.



After the Charging of the Guards, we walked along the Jubilee Walkway from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square.  We walked through a bit of St. James Park along the way.  We also saw the Admiralty Arch just before we entered Trafalgar Square.  


We did some last minute souvenir shopping in the Trafalgar Square area.  I even got some goodies for our plane ride home in a grocery store there.  


We people watched for awhile as well.  It was interesting to watch people climb up and down to take pictures with the lions on the monument.  Mom and I both reminisced about our initial trips to Trafalgar Square.


Again, we rushed to get back to our hotel and grab our bags before jumping in a cab to scurry off to Heathrow Airport.  The cab ride cost a little more than we had left, but the driver graciously accepted all our remaining money and sent us on our way!



We all had an absolutely wonderful trip, but we were also very glad to get back to America!!

Andrea :)

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