This weekend I had an incredible visit to London. Dana and I decided to play hooky just for this one time and skip class on Thursday so that we could have enough time for a real visit to London.
Thursday: We really struggled with finding a good priced flight or train to London, so we ended up taking a flight at 6:55am from Lyon to take advantage of the cheaper price. Since in Lyon you have to take a special tram to the airport, it took us a bit of time. We woke up at about 3:45am, took a taxi at 4:30am, grabbed the tram at 5 and got to the airport just before 5:30am in time to deal with all the nuisance at the airport. We flew through Amsterdam (and after having to go through customs in Amsterdam – quite surprising since France and the Netherlands are both part of the Schengen agreement….), we arrived in London. We took the metro to my friends dorm (in central London) to drop our stuff off. We thought it was going to be a quick ride on the metro to his place, but it actually ended up taking just over an hour because we had accidentally taken the slower possible route into the city. By the time we got to his place to drop off our stuff before lunch, we had already been awake for 10 hours and were already tired. After spending a little time hanging out with my friend Mike (from Penn) we left with him and found a cute little Indian restaurant for lunch where Dana’s friend Kristen met up with us. There was only one person in the restaurant and it was closing just as we were finishing up. He was trying so hard to get us to leave so that he could close up the place, which just kind of made it a little bit awkward for us, but oh well because it was delicious (I had chicken tikka masala with naan). After that, we walked over with Kristen to the British Museum. We just walked inside without paying or anything. It is really incredible because (basically) all the Museums in London are free of charge, making them really accessible to the general population. Kristen is really interested in art and museums and has visited the British Museum a few times on tours during her classes. So, she knew a ton of information and took us around as our private tour guide which was extremely interesting for us. I really enjoyed the Greek Parthenon exhibit and the grandfather clocks that we saw. After that, we headed over to Covent Garden where Dana and Kristen grabbed an ice cream in this gourmet ice cream shop. I tried the Ferrero Rocher flavor and it was really delicious. Next we popped over to a pub called the Harp (which is actually nominated for the best pub in London 2012 award) where Dana and I tried the local cider on tap. I really enjoyed the cider and the ambiance of this pub. Following the pub, we walked around for a while before heading over to Wahacca for dinner. We ended up hanging out down in the bar for about an hour and a half before dinner because of the wait, but it was fine because we weren’t that hungry when we initially arrived at the restaurant. We shared some guacamole and churros and I had a delicious steak burrito. I was surprised to find a chic restaurant like this in London, but it was certainly delicious. After dinner, we all headed back to Mike’s dorm so Dana could get her stuff since she was staying with Kristen for the night. My French phone had worked perfectly fine all day, but right as we got to the gate of Mike’s dorm, it stopped working. I couldn’t call Mike and he couldn’t call me. We couldn’t get in touch with him at all and Dana and Kristen had only 20 minutes left to grab Dana’s stuff and get back to the metro before the trains stopped running at midnight. Luckily right at that moment, after trying to call me a dozen times, Mike decided to just come down and try to find us, so fortunately, they were able to get Dana’s stuff in time to make the last train. Mike and I hung out for a while trying to get one of our 4 phones (between the two of us) to work. We even experimented with the idea of taking two cups and an incredibly long string so that we could communicate. Luckily after about an hour of playing with my phone, it started working and I was able to go to sleep after having been awake for over 23 hours!
Friday: Friday morning I left Mike’s room with all my stuff to go meet up with my Dad at the hotel we were going to stay at. We had this incredible place to stay right off of Trafalgar Square (the Grand at Trafalgar Square), which is right in the heart of the city. After we checked in and dropped my stuff off, we met up with Dana to go see the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace. We found a great spot overlooking the palace and had a great time watching the whole parades of the band, the guards, the men on horses, etc… However, we definitely didn’t realize how long it was going to last (the whole thing lasted over half an hour) – since we were expecting something closer to the changing of the guards that we had seen at Arlington National Cemetery. Next, we headed over to Westminster Abbey area to grab a bite to eat. We ate at a very traditional English Pub where we all had fish and chips with peas (luckily they weren’t the traditional mushy peas. 
After lunch, my dad and I went over to Westminster Abbey. We took an amazingly detailed and fascinating tour about the Abbey lead by one of the Vergers. The sheer quantity of dates, names, facts, etc… that we learned was a little overwhelming and hard to remember, but overall we really appreciated the details. We explored every nook and cranny of the Abbey and discovered a ton about the history of the Royal family in England. After our tour of the Abbey, we crossed the Thames and went on the London Eye. The views were simply incredible and with my interest in photography and my newly acquired camera, I certainly took advantage of the stunning scenery. After the Eye, we walked around on the boardwalk for a little bit before walking to the National Theatre to see a modern remake of Shakespeare’s Comedy of Errors. For the show, they used the original dialogue but put the characters and the story in a modern setting. I thought the show was fantastic and after the second act, once my dad oriented himself to all the confusing misunderstandings that were occurring, he enjoyed it a lot as well. 
After that we grabbed a quick dinner at a great little self-service salad bar before meeting up with Dana to go to the Ice Bar in London created by the same people who own the Ice Hotel in Sweden. Before walking into the bar we were given parkas with gloves attached. We walked in and it was a great place. We went up to the bar and ordered great drinks that were served in ice glasses. I’m fortunate in that my hands never really get that cold, so I truly enjoyed the ice glass, but I think Dana and my Dad were struggling a bit with it because of how cold the glass was. After that we walked around the bar and took some great pictures. It was just so cool to see a whole bar made out of ice! I had a fabulous time, but I was ready to leave the cold after our 40 minutes. I don’t think I would have to stamina to make it overnight staying in the Ice Hotel, so this was perfect for me. After the bar, we stopped off at a little pret a manger to grab a quick snack because we had had a pretty small dinner. By that point, we were pretty tired out from our long day of travel and headed back to the hotel to go to sleep.
Saturday: Saturday morning we woke up bright and early to get our day started. My Dad had found this great Indian place called Dishoom where we could eat an Indian breakfast. We thought the place opened at 8, but unfortunately we hadn’t looked at the weekend hours and it actually didn’t open until 10. Since it was only 8:30 at that point, we struck out in all the other places nearby that we tried to find to eat at. Eventually we found this cute little Italian eatery called Carluccios and I had a delicious breakfast with egg and mushrooms on top of a French slice of Italian bread. Following breakfast, we headed over to the Tower of London. We walked in and caught a tour lead by one of the beef eaters. There are 37 beef eaters in the castle who live there and take care of the grounds. The tour was fabulous despite the crowds of people. The tour guide was funny and I learned a lot of history. The most shocking thing we learned about was James Scott, Duke of Monmouth. He was beheaded after trying to take over the thrown from his uncle James II. Unfortunately for him, it took 5 swings of the axe to actually behead him and after he was killed the royalty realized that he had never had a royal portrait done and so they had to sew his head back on for that – just an awful fate for the guy. After the tour, we went into the Waterloo building to see the Crown Jewels which were just spectacular. All the coronation crowns were really a sight to be seen. We also saw a pure gold punch bowl that was as large as a bathtub with a ladle almost as big as a paddle. Next we walked into the White Tower, the oldest building in the complex, which was built by William the Conquerer in 1066. Over the years this tower served many purposes. For William, he built it as a symbol of power following his conquest. Later it served as royal residences for hundreds of years as well as storage for gun powder, etc… Inside we saw St. John’s Chapel which is one of the oldest Norman style churches in London. Walking back outside, we saw the Women’s house which is actually the oldest and only surviving Tudor building (all the others burnt down in the Great London Fire). After our time in the Tower of London, we left to try to find the London Bridge. On our way out, we asked a beef eater how to get to the bridge. We thought he would give us simple instructions to the beautiful bridge right next to the castle, however, instead, he told us to walk about 10 minutes in the opposite direction. Not believing him, we walked over and discovered that what we had been eyeing was actually the Tower Bridge and to our dismay, the London Bridge across the way was not so impressive. By this point, we were pretty hungry and grabbed some lunch at this adorable little place that was literally on the water right under the Tower Bridge. After that, we decided to still head over to see if maybe there was still something exciting about the London Bridge. We were seriously disappointed and decided to go around the London Bridge and find another Bridge to cross over. On our way, we happened upon the Borough Market. This was a fabulous market where we had tastes of delicious pistachio deserts, fudge and the most unbelievable curry ever. After that, we went to find the Millenium Bridge. This Bridge was originally built with inadequate dampening systems and used to sway when people walked over it. Luckily it has now been fixed! We headed over to St. Paul’s Cathedral which was incredible both inside and out. As usual, I decided I needed to try to take pictures of the place despite the restrictions on taking photos. My Dad was certain that I was committing treason and that we were going to somehow end up in British prison, but luckily I avoided that fate. Following the visit to the Cathedral, we walked back and quickly explored Covent Garden before meeting up with my friend Mike at this amazing Japanese restaurant called Misato in Leicester Square. It was very authentic and I had this delicious soba noodle soup with tempura shrimp. I have had soba before but nothing this authentic, or nearly this mouthwateringly delicious. After dinner, we headed over to the Savoy theatre to see Legally Blond. It was a really fun musical and the music was very catchy. I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the show and we had a great time. After the show, we were pretty tired from having walked well over 6 miles during the day and decided to head in for the night. 
Sunday: We woke up early Sunday morning and packed up our stuff before heading to lunch at a place right next to our hotel called Garfunkel’s. I had some traditional porridge with honey. It was weird eating it with honey, since I have always had oatmeal with brown sugar, but I really enjoyed it. After breakfast my Dad and I made our way to the National Gallery stopping in the Church across the street first. We were sitting in the pews since a service was about to start (we were just looking around…) and the guy standing next to us was humming to himself with his eyes closed and kept inching nearer to us. Right as he was about to bump into us (so concentrated in prayer), we decided it was time to leave and we headed over to the National Gallery. The art there was incredibly diverse and the Gallery contained some of the most famous paintings of very well known artists including Van Gogh’s famous Sunflowers and Chair paintings. I was seriously impressed and we certainly didn’t have enough time to truly appreciate everything in the museum. Next we headed back to the hotel to check out. We headed over to the metro so that my Dad could head to the airport and I could head over to meet Dana and Kristen at the V&A (Victoria and Albert Museum). I met up with them and we headed over to the cafeteria to grab lunch. The V&A is actually the first museum to have been designed with a cafeteria. Therefore, the rooms of the cafeteria, just like the rooms in the rest of the museum are gorgeous and works of art in their own right. I had a lovely lunch finished off by a traditional British scone. After that, we walked around the museum very briefly before heading back to the metro to go to the airport. About this time was when Dana and I realized that despite all our planning, we had somehow managed to book separate flights back to Lyon. I was heading back through Amsterdam and Dana through Paris. Luckily, the times weren’t that different so it worked out. As we were passing through security at Heathrow, somehow Dana’s passport fell out of the tray and we thought that it had been lost of stolen for a terrifying 5 minutes before it was fortunately found. After that we both headed to our respective gates. Once I arrived in Amsterdam, I thought I would have plenty of time (an hour) to get to my gate and find some food. However, by the time I passed through customs I only had time to run, grab and apple and run over to my gate. Meaning, I was pretty hungry by the time I got back to Lyon. My flight got in late so I had to wait for the tram back to Lyon for quite some time. Eventually I made it back home at about midnight and was very happy to settle into my bed.
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