Hello from Middelburg!!!
...but I should probably say "Hello from London," considering that this post contains tons of pictures and descriptions of the amazing adventures Thomas, Lindsey and I had while exploring London from March 16-18.
To get to London we decided that the cheapest route would be to take a train to Breda (Netherlands), and from there an overnight charter bus (here they're called a "coach") to London. While waiting in the cold night air for our bus to arrive in Breda, Thomas and I snacked on food we'd gotten at a small Burger King inside the train station. We'd been craving something "typically American" for a while, so we got whoppers. And they were delicious.
Anyway, we were standing under a tree...in which sat two birds. Apparently they were feeling territorial because one of them pooped - and it fell right onto Thomas' hand (don't worry, he had antibacterial wet wipes in his backpack). Some also hit Lindsey's shoe. Luckily, I managed to avoid the attack, but I did catch the giggle bug, as I couldn't stop laughing at the situation.
Shortly after the bird poop incident, a rather nice old gentleman from the UK came up and started talking. He had noticed our American accents and asked us why we were in Europe. We explained that we were studying abroad in Middelburg. The entire time we talked to him, I just couldn't get over his adorable British accent! It was like meeting someone from Harry Potter. =)
We left Breda around 10:45pm. On the drive to London none of us slept very much. Part of the reason was because we had to stop and exit the bus twice to go through customs in both France and the UK. It was about 2:00am at the time. We must have passed through the corner of France, but it was enough that we had to take our luggage off the bus and send it through a scanner after having our passports checked. Then we boarded the bus again, only to stop a few minutes later to go through UK's border patrol. Luckily, this time we only had to show our passports.
To actually get to the UK we went across the English Channel. We had two options: 1) Take a ferry; or 2) Go through the underwater tunnel. We ended up going through the tunnel. But we didn't drive through it. Instead, our driver drove the bus onto a very large train. It sounds really weird, I know, but it happened. Once on the train the driver turned the bus off. The train started moving forward, but the bus just rocked gently from side to side. It was an incredibly strange sensation to know that I was actually moving forward, even though it didn't feel like we were moving at all.
After about 25 minutes we exited the train and officially entered the UK. When we got off at the bus station it was about 5:00am. We sat and waited there for a couple hours until the subway stations opened so that we could find the place we had rented. This was my first experience riding on a subway. After that we took a double-decker bus to a street just a few blocks away from our place.
We found our place and quickly decided that a short nap sounded wonderful. We woke up around 9:30am and decided to start exploring London. I'll spare you super-detailed descriptions of everything we did since I've written quite a lot already.
Enjoy the pictures!!
Day 1: March 16...
 |
| One of the first few pictures I took in London. I'm such a tourist *wink* |
 |
| Walking across Millenium Bridge on our way to the London Eye Pier |
 |
| View of the Thames River from the Millenium Bridge. The London Bridge (yes, like the one in the song) is just a short ways away. And yes, the London Bridge did fall down at one point due to the weight of the houses people built along it. |
 |
| Thomas and I on the London Eye Pier with the House of Parliament (left) and Big Ben (the clock) in the background. |
 |
| The London Eye |
 |
| Passenger 'capsules' on the London Eye. We did not go on it due to the pricy tickets and long line. |
 |
| Thomas, Lindsey and I posing with one of the most famous London landmarks - Big Ben. If you would look to our left, you would see Westminster Abbey. |
 |
| The Tower Bridge - this is the one almost everyone thinks of when they hear 'London Bridge'. They are actually two completely different bridges. |
 |
| View of the Thames River and London skyline from the top pedestrian walkway of the Tower Bridge. The bridge actually functions as a partial museum, so we toured that too. |
 |
| Somebody help me! I can't swim and I'm in the moat! But seriously, the Tower of London used to be surrounded by a moat, as evidenced by the water line on the castle wall (the dark area near the bottom). |
|
 |
| Inside the Tower of London - Thomas found his tower and wanted to prove it. |
 |
| Most of the buildings from the Tower of London looked similar to this. One of the buildings houses the Crown Jewels, so we went to look at them. Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures in that building. But I distinctly remember seeing a 3-4 ft. wide punch bowl made of solid gold. |
 |
| Another view of the Tower of London grounds. The three of us walked along the perimeter walls. (...notice anything strange here? Perhaps the wire elephant?) |
 |
| The blossoming trees and the castle architecture make for an 'artsy' photo, don't you think? |
 |
| After LOTS and LOTS of walking and subway riding all day, we stopped by a family-run Turkish BBQ place for supper. I ordered the chicken doner wrap (the front plate). Thomas had chicken kebabs with rice and roasted vegetables (back left), and Lindsey had a lamb doner platter with rice (right). The plate in the middle was a shared salad consisting of: cucumber, tomato, purple cabbage, lettuce, and onions. We also got a complimentary bowl of toasted flatbread. |
Day 2: March 17...
 |
| Westminster Abbey - home to many famous people's tombs, such as Geoffrey Chaucer (we touched his tomb!), beautiful architecture, and royal weddings (William and Kate) and coronation ceremonies. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to take photos once inside. *sad face* |
 |
| Fountain near Buckingham Palace |
 |
| Buckingham Palace - we tried to see the infamous changing of the guard, but it was the wrong day and we didn't actually get to see it. |
 |
| The Blues and Royals Mounted Guard - these cavalrymen guard Queen Elizabeth II. A nearby tour guide explained that the Queen was actually not present at the Palace because the cavalry was missing a leading man with a trumpet and a rear man holding an axe. |
 |
| Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery. The Gallery contains paintings by well-known artists such as: Da Vinci, Monet, Peter Paul Reubens, Raphael, Botticelli, Rembrandt (and a bunch of other artists whose names I can't pronounce). |
 |
| Random giant blue rooster outside the National Gallery |
So...we had some fun with giant lion statues because we're college kids in Europe. Why not?
 |
| Gotta love Star Wars! |
We were instructed to sample some typical British cuisine, so for dinner (lunch) Lindsey and I had fish and chips, while Thomas ate a "British beef and Abbot ale (meat) pie". Both were delicious.
After dinner we went for a walk through Hyde Park and the Kensington Gardens. Eventually we found Kensington Palace and had some fun trying on old-fashioned royal jackets and such.
 |
| A squirrel started following us through Hyde Park. He was super friendly, but soon ran away. Oh well... |
Day 3: March 18...
 |
| St. Paul's Cathedral - We couldn't take pictures inside, but it was just as beautiful as you'd imagine a cathedral to be. |
 |
| At the top of the dome of St. Paul's Cathedral (the Golden Gallery) |
 |
| The view from the Golden Gallery of St. Paul's Cathedral |
 |
| Shakespeare's Globe Theatre - This building is a reconstruction of the original (which burned down), built in the exact same way with the same materials (solid oak) as the original. |
 |
| Interior of the Globe Theatre |
 |
| The HMS Belfast - WWII / Korean War-era British battleship - we toured the inside and experienced life as a British soldier. |
So, as you can see (I apologize for making this post so long, but congratulations for reaching the end!)...we were quite busy in London. I guess that's what happens when 3 honors students plan a spring break trip *wink*
Be on the lookout for my next post! It'll have many more pictures from the other half of spring break when we went to Rome.
Until next time,
~Laurie
