European Adventures London

My last update about Europe. From now on, its going to be the trials of 2nd year. haha I hope you'll still stick around and read this even with that warning. ;)

So we headed to Gare du Nord to take the Eurostar from Paris to London at around 1pm. However, when it came time to board, they found an "unclaimed" piece of luggage and had to evacuate the whole area. It was insane since the elevator AND an entire set of escalators were broken!!! After a very chaotic hour, we were able to board and just made our train with 10 mins to spare (and an hour late). We were on our way to London! The Eurostar dropped us off at King's Cross Station and of course, I had to go find the Hogwarts Express.



Here's the platform. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go through being a Muggle but someone left their cart halfway through. I can only hope that it was forgetful Neville.

We then navigated through the tube and got to our hotel. We took it easy as it was already after 6 by the time we got there and just had dinner.
The next few days, we set out to see the sights.



Here's Westminster Abbey. The famous site of weddings, funerals and coronations.

And we also went by 10 Downing Street but not only was it obstructed with heavy construction both on the outside and along the street, but also heavily guarded. Of course, what else would I expect? Gordon Brown waving to the crowd?
But along the way, I stopped for a tourist picture.



Jo said it smelled really bad inside so I didn't go in. hahaha



But here we are along the Thames river with Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament in the background. Too bad they were not in session or else I would've totally gone to watch a session. ;)



We wandered over to the London Eye and I had to satisfy myself with a picture from the ground since the prices were outrageous (read: 13.50 pounds!!).

We also headed to see the Queen! Unfortunately, I'm not sure if she was home or not.



Can you guys tell?
In order to get to Buckingham Palace, we took a walk through St. James Park. It was a really nice park and if it didn't have a bajillion tourists swarming around, I'm sure I could see the locals coming to hang out there.



Here's the Princess Diana Memorial Walkway across the lake in the park.



And of course, we took the bus a few times. Here's the inside of one of those old school double deckers where you get in on the back. Davis people, like the ones along the G line!




Everyone thinks that this is the London Bridge but rather, it is the Tower Bridge. It's very pretty though.

Among all the museums we went to, my favorite was the National Portrait Gallery. The top floor was portraits of royalty, starting with the Tudors. The second floor was a bit more modern, moving up until the mid 1990s and included people like Beatrix Potter. The bottom floor was modern people like Dame Judi Dench and David Beckham. It was really cool to see the change in the way people are portrayed. However, I only say this to intro the next picture who had nothing to do with the National Portrait Gallery. HAHA.



This is the famous chandelier in the Victoria and Albert museum. Jo told me that the designer is the same as the one who designed the decorations inside the Bellagio. :)

And of course, I have some food pictures.



The famous food hall in Harrods!! The room was huge and all the food looked SO GOOD. Sigh.



And Jo and I had tea one afternoon. The cake was pretty good.

London was a great end to my European adventures. In fact, of all the cities I visited, I really could see myself living there for a bit. Maybe because it reminds me so much of Hong Kong or because of the ease of language but to be honest, I feel very comfortable there. And to continue with the list of favorites, my favorite small city was Colmar. The architecture is so distinct and the town is very cute (although very touristy). My favorite large city was Munich. It was a great combination of old and new and the Germans are definitely some of my favorite people.

I'm so glad to have gone on this adventure...one that I've dreamed of for many years. It has opened my eyes to sights I never knew existed and to people I never hoped to meet. God has not only tremendously blessed me in allowing me to go but in bringing the people and places into my life. And I'd like to think that I learned a bit about International Law as well. :wink: Thanks for reading friends and stick around because you never know what adventures I might encounter next.