London - Love

If I could leave Chicago and move to any other city in the world, hands down it would be London. That should tell you how much I loved it, because I always claim I would never leave Chicago. Yes, everything in London was more expensive than Chicago, but the shopping, food, and Indian men were incomparable.

I had been saving the big three cities for Spring Break, because I knew I wanted to spend the most time there. I started in London, went to Paris and ended in Barcelona.

I got into London late on a Thursday night, and we stayed at a Holiday Inn ten minutes away from center of everything.  On Friday morning, we did a free walking tour where we saw the changing of the guards for the royal palace, Buckingham palace, royal gardens, Trafalgar square, Big Ben, the Parliament, and Westminster Abbey Church. Our tour guide was really good, and told us many interesting stories about all these places. We did not go inside the Parliament because it is closed when in session, and we didn’t go into the palace because it is only open to the public in the summer.  After the tour ended, we went to a traditional English pub where most people got “fish and chips” I always thought that would be some kind of fish dip with chips, but it’s fried fish on French fries. I got a veggie burger, which was homemade and different from the veggie burgers at home! Afterwards, we went by the water to the London Eye (big ferris wheel that gives you a view of London), and took pictures there. Then we went near the Big Ben clock and did the same. At 5pm we went to an evening song event at Westminister Abbey, because that is the only time that you can get into the church without paying a $20 entrance fee. The choir was really peaceful and the church was beautiful. I saw the alter where Prince Williams and Kate Middleton got married. Westminister Abbey is the official church for nearly all of the royal events, so it was pretty exciting to see the inside of it!

Afterwards, we went to the shopping street where one of the world’s most famous department store resides – Harrod’s. This department store was one of the most beautiful things I have ever been in. It had about 10 different floors full of everything imaginable. The bottom floor held all the designer purses, with each corner of it representing a different designer. There was a floor for just diamonds. Even a floor where there were puppies and every toy possible for your pet. In addition, there was a whole sector of Harrod’s just for CHOCOLATE. Chocolate that you could buy by the pound, in a package, as a candy bar, as hot chocolate, just about anything you can imagine. There was also a tea room, restaurant and café. Sadly, the only purchases I made from this store were fruit teas and chocolates. Nordstrom, Von Maur and Macy’s cannot even compare to how amazing and enormous this department store was.

Next, we went to Platform 9 ¾  which was underground in between the platforms for the underground railway system. I don’t know a thing about Harry Potter, but it was cool to take a picture here. We headed to Leicester Square for dinner, because we knew it had London’s only Chipotle there. This square is home to the entertainment and social world of London, and it was brightly lit up with fountains, theaters, restaurants and other entertainment venues everywhere. We walked around the area for a while, and saw street performers dancing and doing magic tricks. It took us about an hour to find Chipotle because very few people in London knew what it was, but we were all satisfied once we did. We ended the night by shopping around for postcards and stamps before heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we went back to Buckingham Palace to watch the official changing of the guards ceremony that happens at 11am each day. This is when the queen’s guards come on horseback and change their positions. Unfortunately, it was raining so the ceremony was canceled. We decided to go to the British Library next, which ended up being one of my favorite things to visit. It held the original magna Carta for London, handwritten lyrics on envelopes, paper, etc by the Beatles, original scripts by Shakespeare, the script of Alice in Wonderland, and so many other original pieces that were historically significant or famous in the entertainment industry. Best of all, it was a free entrance to see all of this! After the library we went to a nearby English pub for lunch since it was Saint Patrick’s day and we wanted to get some beer. We took a train to see Saint Paul’s Cathedral, which is where many royal funerals have taken place. (Including Princess Diana’s). The church was really pretty, but not one of the best that I have seen in Europe. My friend Emily and I decided to get tea and a pastry by near the cathedral, because “tea time” is a very English thing to do. I got a vanilla based tea with a lemon cake, and the lemon cake is the best lemon flavored thing that I have ever had.

Most of the other people that I came to London with decided to go to a musical that evening, because London is suppose to be as good as the broadway shows in New York. Emily and I were not very interested in this, instead we went to London’s main shopping street known as Oxford Circus. I had a lot of fun going into the different stores, including TopShop which is known to be London’s forever 21. (Pricier and trendier though). I bought a gold and metallic shirt that I really have been wanting for a while, as well as a scarf to go with my new coat! Afterwards we decided to go see the Kensington Palace (where William and Kate live), but it was a  bad idea because apparently the palace is not lit up at all during the night. We could barely make the outline of the palace, and it was disappointing after all the metro changing we had to do to get there. We ended the night by going to a well-known Indian restaurant named Dishoom. This is where I people watched the Indian community, and noticed how Indians are so much more attractive in London. The food was also good, but Emily saw a little rat running around just as we were leaving the restaurant……don’t really know what to say to that.

Sunday was the last full day we had in London. I began the morning by taking the train to Tower of London. It was a beautiful day outside, so I got to take a lot of good pictures of the tower that was once a castle. We toured around the inside and I saw a wing of the castle where many traitors were kept and tortured. We got a chance to see some of the original methods and tools they used for torture, and it was really shocking to see inscriptions on the walls left by the traitors during their time there. My favorite part of the tower was visiting the crown jewels. This is Where many of the diamond crowns and rings of Queens and Kings are located. Also, the world's biggest diamond - 530 carats lives here…..I wish I had that in my drawer.

In the afternoon, I headed to Leyton to meet some of my friends to do an Olympic tour of Leyton, London – where the 2012 Summer Olympics are going to be held! The tour took 2.5 hours, but it was not what we expected. Our tour guide was really boring and old, and there was not as much prepared and accessible to see as we had anticipated. Instead, this old woman decided to tell us about the town, the river, the streets, and other things that I had no care for. However, we did get to see practice indoor swimming pools that are going to be used for the swimmer athletes, the pringle stadium for the basketball Olympics, and most interesting of all – the Olympic walkway for the athletes!  We ended by seeing the ArcelorMittal Orbit designed by Anish Kapoor – worth 20 million pounds, and it will offer panoramic views of the olympics. I am really curious to see how this all looks on television when the Olympics come about this fall.

As much as I wanted to explore more of London because I loved it so much, I was too tired to do anything else Sunday evening. I walked around with some of my friends as we searched for a good place to eat, but a lot of things were closed. Europe in general closes a lot of its shops on Sundays, but I expected London to be more like home. Instead, I ended up eating McDonald’s as my last meal…..but unlike Chicago, they have a veggie burger wrap which was pretty ridiculous.

I spent my three days in London thinking how much I loved it and how sad I would be to leave…..even though I was moving on to Paris. I almost did not leave when I was suppose to, because I barely made my flight the next morning to Paris. Let’s just say that I underestimated how long it would  take me to get through security.