The first day that we were in London was very relaxing. We spent a good majority of the day trying to navigate the subway, although we did go on a night bus tour that showed us Big Ben, the London Eye, London Bridge, the Tower of London and London Bridge, as well as many other iconic English landmarks. It was a great introduction to the city and really helped us to decide what we would do for the rest of the trip. The next day, we woke up and went to the Natural History Museum, the Natural Science Museum, and the Victoria and Albert museum, which were all free (as are all of the major museums in London). We saw a large number of sculpures, paintings, and collections of jewels and other valuables, and I think my favorite was the V&A museum due to its large collection of amazing sculpures and paintings, including very large paintings by Raphael. That night, we went and ate at the original Hard Rock Cafe and had an awesome waiter that not only gave us a lot of free stuff but also gave us the names and locations of some of his favorite spots in town and gave us all discounts. It was an amazing experience and the food was delicious.
On Sunday, we went on a free walking tour of the city, where we saw Hyde Park, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Buckingham Palace, King Henry VIII's house and many other things. One of the coolest things that we saw was actually a complete accident. We ended up stumbling upon a street in which they were filming for Top Gear, and we were lucky enough to get to watch them film as they drove at reckless speeds through the street. Matt LeBlanc was even in the passenger seat. That afternoon, we had my favorite meal of the trip, something called Bangers and Mash, which is English sausage over mashed potatoes that was absolutely delicious. In the evening, the six of us did an Escape the Room event, which began the moment we arrived at the building. We walked up to an abandoned looking building, and using a secret code, were admitted into the building and were briefed on our mission: to escape a room that we were locked in and find a "missing person". We decided to choose the group name "The Eggies" since Germans cannot pronounce our names properly, and it was a great experience. Once we were locked in the room, we all spread out and looked for clues while our guide watched us with cameras and provided us with clues occasionally through a tv monitor. The escape room had a sort of creepy vibe to it, and at one point, we entered into a dimly lit room in which the door slammed shut behind us, which added to the creepy factor. We ultimately finished with the fastest time of the day with only 3 minutes to spare. It was one of the coolest things that we did in England, and I would highly suggest an escape the room experience who enjoys to challenge themselves.
The following day, we went to the Camden Market, which is a large market square where a ton of food stands crowd a square overlooking a river passing through the area. The diversity of food throughout the square was amazing, and it was amazing how cheap you could eat in the market. I had English beef, Turkish wraps, Polish sausage, Argentinian beef, and a lot more food for relatively cheap. The atmosphere was amazing, and it really made me wish that we had markets like that in America. I find that the more I explore Europe, the more I find myself with this feeling. We then went to St James' Park and spent the afternoon enjoying the beautiful weather and climbing trees. We ate dinner in SoHo, which had some amazing Chinese food.
The following day, we returned to the V&A museum to finish looking at its vast number of treasures. At night, we all dressed up and went to see the Book of Mormon, which was absolutely hilarious. It was a blessing to be able to watch such an awesome show, and it was very different in that it was more about the dialogue and the content rather than elaborate stage presence and costume. I suppose that is something that you should expect from the guys that created South Park. We enjoyed the show so much that we ultimately decided to pay to go see Wicked once we returned.
We then left to go to Cork for a couple of days, and upon returning to London, we went to see Greenwich, which stands on the Prime Meridian. It provided a really beautiful view of the entire city, and it was also centered around numerous market places that had some really cool photography and crafts. We also got to see Mariana's school that she attended when she studied abroad in London. That night, we went to a secret bar located under a cafe that our waiter from the Hard Rock Cafe told us about, and it was really cool to experience the night life in London. The night after, we attended the showing of Wicked, which was an awesome show that had amazing stage presence and told a very different story from the one shown in the Wizard of Oz. Since this one was a lot more musical and had a more developed story line and costumes, it was very difficult to compare the two shows, and I just really enjoyed them both.
Our last day in London was a very relaxing one. I got to attend Palm Sunday mass at the Westminster Cathedral and got a palm cross to take home as a souvenir. I had never been to such a large church, and it was really cool to experience mass in another country, especially since it was in English. We also had some of the most delicous beef and Yorkshire pudding for dinner, and our trip home was very relaxing and without a problem.
Overall, London was an amazing experience. I cannot describe how amazed I was with the city, and I feel that although we spent a lot of time in London, we were not even close to seeing everything. It was amazing how rich some people were in London, for it was common to see people driving around Lamborghini's and Ferrari's, and the food was also very good, although a little expensive. I would not have wanted to spend my Spring Break anywhere else, and I was blessed with the company of great friends. Part II of Spring Break in Cork will come very soon.
Here are some pictures from the trip:
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