London

My time to study abroad has finally arrived! My friends Miranda, Rachel, and I decided to go to London a few days early, so Monday we flew out of Omaha and touched down in London around 8:00 am on Tuesday.  

Day 1

We got to our hostel around 9:00 but couldn't check in until 14:00 (2:00, still working on the whole military time thing) so we dropped off our bags and headed out to eat and explore the city.  We ended up eating some yummy fish and chips down by the London Eye.  Then we went back and checked in to our hostel.  It was our fist time every staying in a hostel and we stayed in a 6 person room that was no bigger than my dorm room.  It was a very new and interesting experience.  We also spent the rest of the day just exploring places like Picadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and walking across the beautiful bridges.  We ate supper at a pub by our hostel and then headed back to the hostel for a good nights rest.

Day 2

We had decided to buy a London Pass for this day.  The pass allowed us to go see whatever sights we wanted in one day as long as you don't exceed 90 pounds.  We picked up our passes and headed out to Kensington Palace and then to Westminster Abbey.  We stopped in Borough Market to grab some quick lunch and then headed on to the Tower of London, Tower Bridge Exhibition (we got to go up and walk across the top part of the bridge), and the scary London Bridge Experience.  Since I had already seen a lot of the places before it was really cool to be able to take it all in without trying to snap pictures every 30 seconds. We found this great pub by Tower Bridge and decided to eat supper there, which we loved.  We spent the rest of the night walking around downtown and got some delicious dessert waffles.

Day 3

 We got up and took a train to Leavesden for the Making of Harry Potter Studio Tour.  For a huge Harry Potter fan like me it was absolutely AMAZING! I'm pretty sure I almost broke my camera from taking so many pictures. When we got back we went back to Borough Market to find something for lunch.  Next we went to see Buckingham Palace and then hung out in Hyde Park for a while.  Our hostel wasn't too far from Baker Street so we went and saw the Sherlock Holmes Museum before having supper at the same pub as the night before (it was that good).  Then we pretty much just went back and packed up so we would be ready to catch our bus at 3 AM to the airport for our flight to Prague.

It was a wonderful trip and London is beautiful but I am definitely glad to be somewhere a little less busy and less expensive.  I am very excited to see what the Czech Republic has in store!