Wednesday, October 5, 2011

We see London, we'll see France...

Two days hardly seemed like enough time to explore London. But, surprisingly here we are on our way out of the city and we both feel ready for the next adventure. 
After sweet Lloyd dropped us off at the underground, we found our hotel aka the nicest hotel we've ever stayed in. Hyatt Corporation really knows how to take care of their employees. The London Churchill was incredible, and we got to stay on the executive floor :) all the free diet coke, bottled water, cookies and coffee you can drink. Not to mention the happy hour and AMAZING breakfast. Anyway, back to London...
We reluctantly left the room and explored. We went to Kings Cross Station and found platform 9 3/4!!! The train station has set it up to look like a cart is going through the brick wall. All around the station were signs that said, "Hogwarts students follow the arrows to platform 9 3/4". Kind of awesome.. 
We then went to the British Museum and spent almost two hours wandering around the giant place. We saw tons of mummies, the Rosetta Stone and artifacts from every ancient civilization in recorded history. We had to rush back to the hotel to get ready for (drumroll please.....) THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA!!!!!! Yes you read correctly, Ang and I scored a great deal on Phantom tickets :) So after a quick change of clothes and a free dinner of breads, cheese and tarts we literally ran to Her Majesty's Theater and found our seats. It. Was. Amazing. I (Lauren) sobbed like a baby at the end and we stood applauding for a very long time after. I already want to see it again. 
The next day in London, we lounged around the hotel a bit and checked out of our room. Then we went on a really great double decker bus tour of London with a company called Big Bus (we scored buy one get one free tickets!) We had an awesome tour guide named Samantha, who was incredibly entertaining, knowledgeable and interesting. We hopped off at the tower of London and took a boat down the river Thames all the way to Westminster, where parliament and Big Ben are.
Around 7 we met Lucy, Angela's friend that we stayed with, at the underground and made our way to her flat. She was so incredibly sweet and hospitable, so much fun to. After dropping off our 15 kg bags, we went to a pub for dinner and a drink with Lucy and her roommate Fred. What can we say about Fred...posh British accent, practical joker, sharp dresser..he was hilarious! We had a great time with Lucy and her friends, it wad really fun to see how real people live in London. Thank you so much for showing us such a great time!!

So now we are on a train heading to the Luton Airport where we are catching a plane to Paris. We were going to take the Chunnel, but when we looked at prices, a plane ticket was almost a third of the price! (Ang found that, she's good at finding stuff). So off we go to Paris..we are so excited to check out what the city is all about. 

Things we learned in London:
1. There are quite a few little people here. Ang spotted 3
2. People do weird stuff on London undergrounds...sleep, talk to themselves, nurse a baby...that last one really made us laugh. She made no attempt to hide it!
3. London is a lot less friendly than anywhere else we've been. 
4. Everybody has a different accent! It really is amazing how everybody sounds different. 
5. Angela and I are stellar travel companions.

Airport is the next stop! See you in Paris,
A&L

3 comments:

  1. Ahhhh, Paris. Remember all the places I told you to go, but most importantly, take time, both day and night to just walk for hours down the tiny city streets.

    ReplyDelete
  2. so you laughed at a lady nursing her baby...that's just great. Come to kenya and you can see and laugh at baby's being nursed as they ride on the back's of their moms (figure that one out..those things stretch if you know what i mean). ;-)
    I'm glad no one fell over on the underground.
    what else? uh, the hotel sounded AWESOME..i just wish i could take a euro backpack trip to that hotel and then just stay there quietly..then go home.
    and i could totally see the little people thing..have you ever seen the wizard of oz..those little ppl had British accents for a reason..
    love you and keep truckin safely. (so eloquent)
    Lenna

    ReplyDelete
  3. This is so funny, I work at King's Cross station (on the redevelopment and refurbishment - you may have seen a few orange men from the construction site!) and it always amazes us how many people come to visit platform 9 3/4! So its funny how that was the first place you visited! It used to be located beside our office entrance and we had to fight through the crowds to get into work... and then they moved it because we covered it in scaffolding!

    You are totally right that London isn't friendly and the variety of accents and languages you hear! I'm from Manchester so I notice that too - Im glad you got to see some other parts of the county, enjoy the rest of your travels!

    James Walsh
    (I met you once in College Station - remember the dizzy bat race at the Brazos valley bombers??)

    ReplyDelete