Thursday, January 30, 2014

Am I a Londoner Yet?

And so, we've arrived at the final of my London recap posts. Throughout our trip, we were allotted a large amount of free time to explore the city and partake in activities that were on our bucket list for our visit to London.  We spent this time doing typical touristy things, such as posing for the classic phone booth picture and visiting the Harry Potter studios, as well as discovering cool hangouts off the well-beaten path.


Each day we would have at least one portion of the day (split into morning, afternoon, and evening on our itinerary), usually two, free to spend as we wished.  Towards the end of the trip, we had an entire weekend free, which some people used to travel outside of England, while most of us filled that time with as many touristy tasks and classic London pastimes as we could! Here are a few pics from my adventures through London.

Was excited to cross the Millennium Bridge, mostly because it's seen in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. You can see the spectacular St. Paul's Cathedral in the background.

Couldn't resist stopping for a picture while crossing over the Thames on our walk home after a night on the town. Unfortunately, me + flash at night (or anytime, really) = extremely pale/almost invisible.


Super thrilled to be seeing Kensington Palace in person!

Necessary picture of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben (err.. I mean, the Elizabeth Tower).
I just had to take the classic phone booth picture. You can kind of see Big Ben in the background.

Heading out for the night with some people from the group. Pictures on the tube became a must throughout the trip.
Fun morning watching the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. Does this count as a selfie with the Queen? 

We lucked out with a beautiful day on the Saturday of our free weekend. Glad to be sitting by the Victoria Memorial.

I felt bad for being another reason this man dislikes his job, but I couldn't help myself.

Picture on Abbey Road: not as easy as it looks. It's a working road and people have places to be. Thus, my running.
Very happy after attending a beautiful morning Matins at St. Paul's and finally finding actual coffee at Starbucks!
The best meal I had in London, or maybe ever! Steak and Guinness Pie and Mash, I still dream about it. So good!

I loved touring the Tower of London and learning about all of the history and mysteries. The Crown Jewels were spectacular, however, no pictures allowed, unfortunately.

Hey, just hanging out in the Great Hall before my Transfiguration class.

Off to get my wand at Ollivander's!

HOME SWEET HOGWARTS.

We loved discovering different pubs and restaurants throughout London. This one was called Brewdogs.

Afternoon Tea immediately became my new favorite activity. I would do it every day if I could.

We were delighted with our Afternoon Tea spread at Soho's Secret Tea Room.  Tea, scones, and fairy cakes, oh my!

We just had to go to the Ice Bar before we left. It's all about the experience, such a cool place!

We ordered English Breakfast Tea and English Crumpets at Harrods while the Harry Potter theme song played in the background. Can you think of a better final morning in London? I definitely can't.
Thanks for reading all of my posts about London. I hope you enjoyed them! Now, since I'm in Paris, my adventures here will be the next thing I begin posting about. Hopefully, now that I'm settling into more of a routine, I'll post more regularly as I my adventures occur.

Until next time.
Grace

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