Notting My Head

Day 3: Notting Hill, Hyde Park, Tower of London, millennium bridge, Notting Hill Community Church.

Busy, busy day. But when is is not? 

This morning we started off by going to Hyde park and Kensington Gardens. A lovely place that I cherish dearly. We saw about half of the park, but are planning to go back tomorrow. I want to get my run in at Hyde Park--it's on my bucket list! 

Kensington Palace in the distance.

We went to Notting Hill Community Church after the park. It was rainy, but that doesn't ruin a day in London. The church was just as I remembered it from last summer--welcoming and joyous. The message was about prayer and how it is the foundation of our relationship with God. It's the communication. We should be intentional with our prayer and put effort into it, just as we do with earthly relationships. I loved the worship again--it always touches my heart. 

I love this area. 

Then we went to the Tower of London, for it is a must see experience for people who haven't been to the city before. On the way, I found a cute blazer for five pounds! Yay, deals! 

The tower changed a bit since last year, so it was cool to see the updates. We spent about three hours there--we had to take it all in!

We then got some fish and chips by the tower before heading over to walk across Milennium Bridge.

Mmmmm, those clouds.

Then we headed home! Well, our temporary home. And watched 'Young Victoria' because Kayla hadn't seen it. It's an awesome movie, by the way. You should watch it.

Long day tomorrow before heading out early on Tuesday to the USA!!! 

Cheers,

-Kelli

PortoBella

Day 2: Saturday, May 29. Portobello Road and the London Eye.

We started the day with Portobello Road Market for the Saturday morning rustling of people in the streets. I love the culture and diversity that make up the market--it's one of my favorite places in London. 

And the FOOD. YUM.

After Notting Hill, I showed Kayla Baker Street and King's Cross Station (where the Harry Potter things are). 

Then we wasted some time at the National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery before a walking tour at 4 p.m. Some Claude Monet and Vincent Van Gogh paintings:

Van Gogh.

Monet.

The walking tour was supposedly free, but really we just paid whatever we wanted. The guide, Richard, was from North London and was a Packers fan. He said he'd gone to a game pre-Favre days. That was pretty cool, I thought. Even in one of the largest cities in the world, I'm reminded how small the world can be.  

The tour was of Old Town London, which included St. Paul's cathedral and the Tower of London. More central and in the actual city (the one square mile) of London. 

That dragon is a symbol of the city. Beneath is Queen Victoria. This indicates that the city is higher authority than the monarch. To this day, the Queen must ask the Mayor of London for permission to enter the city because he has more authority in this place.

St Paul's cathedral.

Then after the walking tour, we headed to the London Eye. We debated standing in line, but realized it wasn't that long of a wait, so we went for it. And now, Coca Cola bought it and everything is different from when I was in London last. This was my first time actually boarding the Eye. It was super cool and I'm glad we did it! The cost was meh, but when in London, you seize the day.  On our way to the London eye, we walked across Tower Bridge! Something I always wanted to do, but never did. And the bridge was opening just was we walked up to it:

Shaun the sheep around London are raising money for children. This one is painted a Union Jack.

The House of Parliament is one of my favorite buildings in London. The architecture and design is beautiful. I could look at it all day. 

After the Eye, we headed back to our lodging. It was a long and successful day in London Town (literally, because we were in the town of London, which is the City of London that is that one square mile). :) The more you know!

Cheers!

-Kelli

London called me

Day 1: London love.

We left Scotland in the morning around 9. We headed for Heathrow airport and arrived around 11. 

To waste time until our hotel had check in, we ate lunch and wandered throughout the airport. Then we had to take the tube to the nearest station to our guest house. Taking the tube was great--I fell right back into routine in hike to use it. But walking there was rough. Especially because it was in an an area I had never gone before. After asking about 5 people and walking a few miles probably (and taking a train), we finally checked in to our place. It was the most stressful thing in my life, I think. And we did it all while carrying suitcases. At least it wasn't raining!

Then we had a 4 pm tour scheduled at BBC Studios. We had about ten minutes by the time we got settled in our room before we had to leave. We rushed on the tube to Oxford Circus and arrived with 5 minutes to spare. Phew!!

The tour was awesome! It was so exciting, especially being s journalism student. I think it would be so cool to. Work for BBC one day. Hopefully. We got to peek through the window down to the main newsroom where all the bustling journalists were. It was so fascinating!

Then we went to eat at The Sherlock Holmes pub. I had the Hounds of Baskerville Toad in the Hole. It was grand. 

Everything was Sherlock Holmes themed, obviously. 

After that, we took. A short walk down the Strand past Somerset house and into the Kings College Strand campus. I took a walk down memory lane from my study abroad experience there last summer. I am an official alumna after all!

 After King's, we strolled around the surrounding gardens near Temple station for a bit before getting on the tube back to Clapham Common. It was a beautiful first day indeed! :) London never disappoints me.

Cheers,

Kelli

Parading the Palace

Day 3: The Elephant House, National Museum of Scotland, National Library of Scotland and the Palace of Holyrood.

We let ourselves sleep in this morning, thankfully. We left late morning and made our way to the Royal Mile. We first made it a point to stop at the Birthplace of Harry Potter, (which I still need to read and watch), The Elephant House. It's a cafe and coffee shop very cutely decorated with elephants. We first stopped at the National Library, though there was barely anything there. They had a high tech exhibit that was more than disappointing. Not like the one in London, but is any library like London's?

Anyway, I had a latte at the cafe. It was so cute and warm inside, no wonder why J.K. Rowling drew inspiration to write.

Next we went to the National Museum of Scotland, where we spent a little over two hours in! It had a ton of stuff. Nothing I would say was commonly recognizable, but it was all really cool!

Replica of Mary queen of Scots tomb in Westminster Abbey.

We then ventured to the Palace of Holyrood House, where Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Victoria among others made residence. It is a working building and Queen Elizabeth II visits in the summer for residency. It's used for royal and governmental functions. 

And it's beautiful.

It was so pretty! I loved everything about it. Neat history, too.

Then we tried to find this marshmallow place called The Marshmallow Lady. Alas, we gave up after going in circles. We walked like 13 miles today, so we thought that was enough. Plus it was like 5:30 p.m. at this point, and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.

But it was a pretty walk back along Princes Street:

We ended up stopping at a pub right across the hotel to finally eat. Steak and ale pie, yum! 

Now we are trying to get rest before our flight out to London tomorrow! I'm going to miss you, Edinburgh!!!!

Cheers,

Kelli