London is so posh...

So from Dublin we moved straight on to LONDON!  It was amazing, didn't have much sleep coming off of St. Patrick's day, and our flight was at 8AM, so we were slightly groggy when we arrived at about 9:30.  We stayed with our friend RYLAND (XO Sister ♥) and she had sneakily arranged a place for us to pick up the keys to her flat, since she works as an intern at a magazine and wouldn't be home until the evening.  So, we dropped off our bags and hit the tube.  The first day we saw the Memorial Arch, Hyde Park, a bunch of random memorials, went up in the Eye, visited Parliament and Big Ben, went over the Tower Bridge and saw the Tower of London.  Busy day.  By the time we got back to Ryland's flat we were exhausted.  We went for a pint at her local pub and called it a night.

The next day we woke up early to go to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guards.  However, sadly we waited forever and it never happen.  It was awesome to see the Palace just as it was though.  While we were waiting the Royal police/horseback riders (not sure of their proper name...) rode by, which I loved.  The horses were amazing and it was neat to see them just walking down the middle of the street, right in front of the palace.  From there, we met up with Ryland and went to lunch at Shakespeare's Pub, ate the local fish and chips, so british.  Next we took the tube out to the Globe Theater and took the tour, which was really interesting.  There was some sort rehearsal for a children's performance that was going on the next night, which we watched for a bit.  Next we walked past the London Bridge and over to St. Paul's Cathedral, where Prince Charles and Diana were married.  It was beautiful and huge and amazing.  

After that, it was back to Ryland's flat to regroup.  We got cleaned up and decided to go to a bar called O'Neill's (that name is everywhere...) in Piccadilly Circus.  Anyway, we took the tube out to Piccadilly and walked around until we found O'Neill's.  It was fun, pretty low-key, but a good time.  In London, the pubs close at about 11 and then you have to go to a club, which usually means a hefty cover charge--in pounds.  We somehow avoided that.  We decided to go to this particular bar because it had different floors, the bottom floor more of a pub, the middle just a bar, and the top a dance club.  We just sat in the bar and chatted for a while, it was great to catch up.

The next morning we had to be at the Ryanair airport, which is way outside London, by 9.  It was an early morning, but we made it to the flight no problem.  We got back to Alicante at about 3:00, there is an hour time difference between here and there.  Ryland took a later flight and got here at about 6:00 that night.  She has been here since then and we have been showing her the spanish ways.  It is so fun to be able to see where she has been this whole semester, and then be able to show her what we have been up to.

London was fabulous, it was a quick trip, but definitely worthwhile.