Look kids, it's Big Ben...and Parliament! Big Ben, Parliament...Big Ben, Parliament...

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Okay, so if you haven't seen National Lampoon's European Vacation you probably don't get the title of my blog but picture Chevy Chase going around a roundabout in a car for hours on end going "Look kids, there's Big Ben! And Parliament! Big Ben, Parliament!" Now you sort of get the joke 😊

Anyways, my sister Stacie arrived in Germany on Thursday the 13th and we spent most of the day running around doing stupid stuff. Like the front license plate fell off my car and they wouldn't let me on post without it so that took up a huge portion of the day. Exciting stuff, huh? We flew out early early early Friday morning on RyanAir (of course) from Frankfurt Hahn to London Stanstead. Our flight was at 6:20am so we had to leave the house at 3:30 to get there in time. My wonderful friend Heather took us (wasn't that great of her?) and we arrived in plenty of time for our flight. We got into London and took EasyBus (only 8 pounds one way) into the city. We had prebooked our Tube (that's the London subway) passes and our museum passes so we went to the tourist bureau first to pick them up then headed to the hostel to drop off our backpacks. Stacie was pretty happy to get rid of our bags by this point. We discovered on this trip that while it's definitely easier to use a backpack than a suitcase, she's not a pack mule kind of girl 😊 Anyways, our hostel was Palmer's Lodge (the stop is Swiss Cottage on the Jubilee line, if you're interested in the location). It was my first time staying in a hostel so I wasn't sure what to expect but I was pretty happy with this place. We stayed in sort of a dorm room with a bunch of other girls. There were tons of sets of bunk beds (Stacie took the top bunk and I took the bottom) and under the bottom bunk were two sets of lockers that slid out so you could put your stuff in there and lock them up. The beds had privacy curtains so you could block out the light and the whole place did have a "lodge" feel to it.

After dropping off our bags we went wandering. Stacie had barely slept in 2 days and I didn't get much sleep the night before so we didn't have much of an itinerary. Also, it's one of those things that there's so much to see and so little time to see it (we were leaving London Saturday evening, so only 2 days) that we had no idea where to start. We did go by Buckingham Palace, which was absolutely incredible. Gone are the days of tormenting the guards though...we couldn't get close to them. The guards themselves were far back behind a gate and you could barely see them. We also walked through Green Park on our way to Buckingham Palace, which was beautiful. We got to see Hyde Park as well, which was one of the highlights of the trip for me. I've read so many historical novels where the lords and ladies go riding through Hyde Park in the afternoon that I could almost smell the horses (I know...I'm such a nerd). I can't wait to go back and visit it when the rose garden is in full bloom.

I also got to visit Kings Cross Station. What's so great about that, you might ask? Well, Kings Cross Station is where they filmed a portion of Harry Potter! You guessed it...I got to visit Platform 9 3/4! Of course, it's not the gorgeous platform that they show in the movie since that's really just for the movie. But, they do have a nice little display set up with a luggage trolley halfway through the wall. I know...I'm such a kid sometimes 😊

That evening I decided to take advantage of the fact that I was in an English speaking country and see a movie so Stacie and I went to go see The Other Boleyn Girl, which I've read and love 😊 The movie was great! Of course, the book was better but the book usually is better lol.

Saturday Stacie and I got up early and checked out of the hostel. We went and bought our train tickets for Gatwick Airport for later that evening and then dropped off our bags at the Left Baggage counter (Isn't that great? For 6 pounds you can leave your bag for the day so you don't have to carry it around!) We visited the British National Museum and got to see the Rosetta Stone (WOW) and some really cool mummies. Then we headed towards Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, and the Tower of London. We couldn't get very close to a lot of it because there was a huge war protest going on. We saw picket posters that had a picture of George W. on them and said "World's #1 Terrorist". Wow...tell me how you REALLY feel!

With all of our exploring we ended up taking the Tube the whole time and our stay in London was coming to an end without Stacie getting to ride on a double decker bus. We had a couple of hours to spare after seeing Big Ben, the Tower of London, and Parliament so we hopped on a bus and rode it for a while then got off, crossed the street, and took the next bus coming in that direction. We got to ride up on top, which Stacie loved, but she discovered that she has no balance whatsoever when climbing stairs up to the second floor of a moving bus lol.

This was a whirlwind trip of course, and London definitely deserves a much longer look than what we were able to give it. Stacie loved London way more than she thought she would and I knew before her and I even went that I would be returning for at least one more trip so I'm not too sad about the things that I didn't get to see or spend more time at. I'll be back 😊

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Photos

Platform 9 3/4
Mrs. Weasley says, "Now, all you've got to do is walk straight at the wall between Platforms 9 and 10...It's best to do it at a bit of a run, if you're nervous."

In Green Park
Wow...you can really tell that we're sisters in this picture!

Green Park
I might blow this one up and frame it...

British National Museum
Stacie and I in front of something old and Egyptian

Parliament
As you can see, it was difficult to get close because of the protest

Comments

[Stacie]

ha ha ha
I sound like such an idiot in this blog, but in a silly way! I have no balance, I hate carrying my bag, I haven't slept. To everyone reading this, I had a fabulous time! My poor sister had to listen to me whine about my heavy bag and falling over but it was all fantastic. But p.s poor Mandi for putting up with me LOL

[mnmhull]

no you don't!!
you do NOT sound like an idiot! you just didn't like your backpack...there's nothing wrong with that! we just know better for next time :)