london: england

This weekend I jetsetted (is this a real word?) to London to visit my best friend since middle school, Chrissy. It was such an amazing trip, and even better to experience it with a friend. Chrissy is studying abroad in London this semester, so she knew great spots to bring me to and was an excellent tour guide. Obviously, it was just fun to see her for the weekend too!

The travel to get to London was rough because of lack buses from Galway to the airport. A friend and I ended up having to go to airport the night before, and sleep over in order to make our flight. Thus, very little sleep. When I finally arrived in London, I first took a much needed nap, then met up with Chrissy after she was done with class. We went to this cute little pub and got yummy food & drinks and caught up on life. Thursday night we went out with a group of her friends to O'Neills, a really awesome 3 floor pub with live music. 

On Friday we ventured into the city to see all the touristy spots. We walked through several different neighborhoods (Soho, Piccadilly, Westminster, etc.) each one amazing in it's own way. We stopped for high tea at a coffee/ cupcake cafe called Bea's. Honestly, to die for cupcakes! We saw Trafalgar Sqaure, Big Ben & Parliament, Buckingham Palace, the London Eye and other great spots. The coolest part of the day was taking a tour of Parliament. Chrissy has an internship working at Parliament this semester so she was able to get us in some "staff only" spots and gave me an awesome tour. It is indescribable how amazing it is to see buildings to incredibly packed with history, history way older than our own country. We ate lunch at a cafe inside the castle, which had a terrace that overlooks the Thames. We walked a ton that day but I really felt like we saw so much of the city. We went to famous shopping streets like Oxford Street and saw some amazing stores. I was pretty proud of myself for only buying one shirt!

Trafalgar Square

Big Ben & Parliament

House of Lords

London Eye & Parliament.

Friday night we went to a nightclub called Fabric, which according to a popular DJ magazine is ranked 2nd in the world! And man, it totally lived up to it's standards. It was a blast. We went in a huge group and the music & dancing were amazing. The nightclub didn't even close till 6am. We made it till about 4:30am which I thought was pretty impressive :)

On Saturdays markets are the thing to experience in London. Chrissy & I went to a place called Borough Market.  There were hundreds of food stands giving out samples of cheese, sausage, breads, oils, etc. and I don't think we turned down any! It was amazing food! The market was in a great location right on the Thames river. We walked past St. Paul's Cathedral, across the Millennium Bridge, and past Shakespeare's globe theatre. After, Chrissy & I went to a Modern Art museum called Tate Modern. We were both pretty exhausted considering the lack of sleep the night before, so we went home and napped before going out to another pub that night.

St. Paul's Cathedral

On Sunday, we went to Church. No, not real Church (sorry Mom!) It's hard to really even explain what it is, but it's a famous event in London. Basically every Sunday there is an event called Church, almost like a club. The location changes from venue to venue throughout the city. The concept is that everyone has to dress up either in costume or goofy outfit to get in. It was almost like Halloween. It goes from noon- four during the day. There was lots of dancing and other ridiculous things.

London is an amazing city. It's so packed with character and history. Every single neighborhood, building, market, etc. is so unique and fun to explore. The only negative of the trip, and of London in general, is how expensive it is. High prices combined with a bad dollar to pound exchange rate leads to spending a lot of money! However, the trip was worth every cent (or should I say pence).