Let Her Run: London.

Well - we wrapped up Edinburgh and have made it through our first day in LONDON. I'll take you through the end of Edinburgh before talking about our next stop :)

On Monday, we had planned to reach London by 3-4PM and meet one of my old friends for dinner, but we couldn't afford tickets that left Edinburgh any earlier than 6:30PM! Sad because we missed our date with my friend AND still paid a lot of money, but HAPPY because we got a whole extra day in one of my new favorite cities!

After our morning ritual (grocery store for Alex's pastries, coffee shop & banana for me), we hiked up to the Edinburgh Castle and walked around - didn't go inside because $$$ (or should I say £££). It was still great to get to see more of Edinburgh and admire the views.

Our time in Edinburgh taught us to LOVE Sainsbury's supermarket...this is where I get all of my bananas and Alex gets his ~4 fresh pastries everyday. They're small and inexpensive, but all over the UK and have good options for those trying to save money and time by NOT eating out every meal (AKA us).

Yesterday before leaving Edinburgh I prepared for the day by getting a wrap, apples, banana, and salad to last at least through the day with my favorite go-to foods. We were thrilled to learn that there's a Sainsbury right near our London hostel as well.

Our train got into London at 11:30PM on the dot. Since we came into King's Cross, I wasn't leaving before doing one VERY important thing first...

(Please excuse my messy train hair.)

JUST like Harry, we found Platforms 9&10 and could NOT find 9 ¾!!! We walked all around with our luggage before finally asking a station employee. However, unlike what happened to Harry when he asked, the employee didn't even let me finish getting the question out before pointing us in the right direction...(it turned out it was off to the side of both platforms a bit). I ran right over and Alex snapped some long-awaited pictures with the cart going through the other side.

We got on the underground and eventually made it to our hostel...finally getting in bed by about 2AM. Our hostel here is more expensive, so we have to share a room with 12 other people, "summer camp style." It's tricky with people going in and out at all hours of the night, snoring, and coughing/snuffly/sounding generally unwell all night. This is a small price to pay for all of our many opportunities as we travel, and of course we are thrilled to be anywhere sans bed bugs, but it's a bit of an adjustment, especially because we'll be here for a total of 4 nights (we'll join our class on Friday).

One of the first things we did upon arriving in London was purchase "Oyster Cards" at the train station. These cards were £5.00 and are "reloadable," or in other words you can add money to them as is appropriate for you underground travel in London. For anyone who comes to London, I would recommend doing this right of the bat - like in Paris, you don't want to spend too much time between stations or stops purchasing tickets over and over again.

All Alex has talked about in regards to London is the changing of the guards. After a quick breakfast, this was the first thing that we hurried off to do, by way of stalking up on food for the day at the Sainsbury. We got to the market at about 10AM and Alex looked for the normal "chicken fajita" wrap that he'd been getting in Edinburgh...only to find that they were OUT. He asked when those wraps would be in, and found that it wouldn't be until 11:00. One of my favorite Alex-isms of all time is now that "Sainsbury doesn't serve happiness before 11."

We finally arrived at Buckingham at about 11:10...which we quickly found out was just in time for the 11:30 ceremony! It was SO CROWDED that I really didn't see any of the procession but Alex climbed up on the gates of Buckingham and snapped lots of pictures and told me what was going on.

At one point a big bus drove into the front "car park" of the palace and I could see silhouettes of fancy Kentucky Derby-esque hats. I was able to see when men in coattails and ladies in Royal Wedding-worthy get-up emerged. I'm not sure what they were arriving for or whether it was to do with the changing of the guards, but it was cool to see. Shortly after they arrived we got swept away with the dissipating crowds.

Next up was checking out Big Ben and the London Eye. We hung out in this area for quite awhile. We had 2:45 tickets to go on a river tour in the area, and 4:30PM tickets to go in the Eye. While we waited, we went into a "4D video experience" of the Eye. I've never done anything 4D before, but this was AMAZING. They had you following a bird's eye view of London for the most part, and literally followed a seagull around. It looked like you could grab the seagull if you reached out! Even included getting sprayed with real water and I think there were sight-specific smells coming from somewhere but my sense of smell is not excellent so I'm not 100% sure. It was really awesome. I wanted to go again! But we had things to get to.

It was pouring right before our boat tour but quickly cleared up and THIS is what we got.

Obviously, we were VERY lucky. I thought the tour was great, and we saw a lot of attractions from a new point of view. We saw the Tower of London - probably as close as I'll ever get because it's £22.00 per person! I'm pretty sad to miss it but we're spending money on other things and it's a stretch to spend so much time in the UK (the pound to dollar doesn't convert very well these days). We also saw the newly built Globe Theatre (old one burned down during a performance of Henry VI - they wanted it to be lifelike and used canons!). We also learned that the Thames is pretty clean and healthy... 116 species of fish!

Going up in the Eye was pretty awesome. It moves really slowly and you get to see the city from all angles. Again, the great weather and setting sun made this extra special.

Do you see Big Ben? Turns out that Big Ben is actually the bell inside the tower! The tower is correctly referred to as the Queen Elizabeth II Tower, and the one opposite it to the left is the Victoria Tower.

We ended our adventures today getting lost in Harrods. I've heard people both love and hate the way that the department store sucks you in and makes it VERY tricky to get out/escape. I felt overwhelmed and out of place in the fancier departments (Dior, Chanel, Givenchy, and the fine jewelry and fine watches sections...) but really enjoyed walking through the markets (Patisserie, Charcuterie, etc). When we found the special "Harrods" floor with Harrods-specific merchandise, I felt a lot more at ease. I thought of my dad a lot and how he'd been there about 10 years before, and brought back special things for my sister, my mom, and me - my first exposure to Harrods.

I feel lucky to have experienced such a department store... even though most of it is more than I will EVER be able to afford in my life. There aren't many stores left like this - somewhat old-fashioned in nature and content. I thought it was very special indeed and didn't expect to feel that way!

VERY fancy cupcakes in the Patisserie.