We arrived Thursday morning, so by the time we got settled and checked in it was Thursday afternoon. Even though I've only been in Madrid for 3 weeks there was a bit of a shock going to an English speaking country. Right as we got off the plane a man asked us if we were non-UK passports. I responded with "Si" and then realized he had just spoken English to me. I kept expecting to hear Spanish and it was so odd to see and hear every thing in English. In Madrid we are so used to no one understanding English that we can basically get away with talking on the metro and no one over hearing us, so we can comment on people around us. We did that in London and forgot everyone on the metro could here to the stupid stuff we were saying.
Since we were starving we decided that the first thing we needed to do was to get fish and chips of course. YUMMY! Clearly I've changed because I used to never eat seafood, period. Now I eat almost all of it (except shrimp, or "gambas" in spanish). Anyways, of course the fish and chips were amazing. That afternoon we went and did some of the free turisty things. We went to Big Ben, Westmister Abbey, saw the London Eye, and walked through Parliament and the House of Commons. The House of Commons was really cool because you could sit in on the meetings.
Westminster Abbey
Big Ben
London Eye
As you can see, I'm rather bundled up. That's because it was freezing! Maybe 25F?? Much colder than Madrid, and we were not prepared. That night we walked around Picadilly Circus, which is London's version of Times Square.
Friday we woke up early because we were going to do a bunch of sites. That day we went to Paddingston station, and also went by the London Olympic Stadium. In the afternoon we went to Portobello Market, which is like a street market with food, clothing, and antique shops. We spent a while here and also had fish and chips again because it is so amazing. That night we walked around looking for Kensington Palace in the freezing cold only to find that it was close. Lame. Late that night we went to see Chicago because we managed to get really cheap tickets that afternoon. I may have seen the movie at some point but I really don't remember, so I had some idea of it, but either way it was really good!
Abbey Road
Saturday was the longest day ever. We went to the Tower Bridge, Shakespeare Globe, Buckingham Palace, Abbey Rd, Platform 9 3/4, the London Tower, and St. Paul's Cathedral. It was a very touristy day but well worth it to see the sites of London. That night Alexis's dad bought us tickets to a comedy show. While we were at the show it started to snow, a lot. So much that the stupid tube closed and no taxis's were running. Buffalo clearly needs to off a "How to Handle Snow for Dummies" class because London clearly did not know how to function. We had to walk back to the hotel in the snow, about a mile away.
Because of the snow, our flight ended up being delayed the next day. On top of that, we had no way to get to the bus to take us to the airport. It was all a big mess, but at least we finally got back. Which at that point, we passed out until 10pm when we went out for the Superbowl (which was on 12am-4am my time). One crazy weekend.
Platform 9 3/4
Final thoughts on London: it was an interesting city but I wouldn't go back. I'm glad I went once and saw what I did but by Sunday I was so happy to be back home in Madrid, London really cannot compare. Oh and the Great britain pound sucks and I lost so much money in the exchange. Didn't like that.
PS> Aunt Kathy- I hope you can add this to your collection. Looks like they weren't very popular seeing as I bought this for 1GBP.
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