euro trip: stop 1 - london!

saturday, may 26th

after a quick layover in atlanta's new 1.2 billion dollar international concourse, we were off to london! i literally slept the entire time and woke up as we touched down at heathrow. when we got there, it was about 1pm. we found our way to the heathrow express train and 15 minutes later, we were in london! we took a cab to the hotel and got checked in. our room was so cute - i've never seen single beds before in a hotel room! we stayed off the edgeware stop - the tube was only a block away so it worked out perfectly.

after emailing our parents (and katie & kristin) we grabbed lunch at the cutest little place called the larrix. we had sandwiches, amazing french fries and snakebites. we hurried back to our hotel, showered, and headed for our first tube ride to the apollo victoria to see wicked! it was even better the second time around - i loved it! we changed clothes back at the hotel and attempted to "go out." easier said than done. after a lot of shuffling around and frustration - we ended up just heading back to the hotel and called it a night.

sunday, may 27th

we slept until about 1pm on sunday which we probably needed. we grabbed some starbucks and a cab and headed to camden to do some market shopping. i got my camera out to take a picture of the cab (they're so cute there) and must have forgotten to put my camera back in my purse. i realized this about 2 minutes after the cab drove away and then i cried.  this explains why there are no pictures from day 1! realizing there was nothing i could do, we went on with our market shopping. it was a very eccentric part of london & super cool. i got a dress, a shirt and a necklace for myself as well as some fun gifts for a few other friends.

{camden market}

{camden market}

{camden market}

{camden}

after we hit all the markets and had lunch at this great spot called wagamama, we jumped on the tube to westminister. we walked along the river and found the national parliament building & big ben! next we walked to buckingham palace where they were setting up for the queen's diamond jubilee. it was quite a production! after getting lost in a sketchy part of london for quite some time, we asked someone on the tube for a dinner suggestion. he told us about opal, which is where we ended up. after dinner we were wandering around looking for ice cream (per the usual) and ran into henry & alex. henry & alex are cute british boy who thought it was funny i said y'all and invited us for drinks. we met up with another one of their friends and stayed out with them until 3:30am. it was such a fun night!

{court's fave lunch}

{london eye}

{selfie at the london eye}

{big ben}

{buckingham palace}

{buckingham palace}

{bongo courtney}

{henry & i }

monday, may 28th

after sunday's shenanigans, we needed some rest and slept late again. we went back to larrick for lunch and then got on the tube to go ride the london eye! we had "fast track" passes, so we got to skip the line. it was SO cool - they even had samsung tablets inside with info about london. next we went to st. paul's cathedral - it was beautiful. we stopped in a little shop and i finally got a pair of scalloped shorts along with an adorable dress. we went back to the hotel and showered and then headed back down to westminister to meet leigh & derrick. i was so happy to see them - it was so nice to see familiar faces. we had dinner at a yummy italian restaurant in leiceter square. we then spent a good bit trying to find somewhere to have a drink, and after 3 unsuccessful stops, we decided to call it a night. i'm pretty sure we got on the last tube ride home - we were the only ones on it!

{selfie on the bridge}

{outside the london eye}

{london eye}

{inside}

{inside}

{view from the eye}

{st. paul's cathedral}

some thoughts about london:

• cops drive bmw's. what?
• bars don't stay open late. like, they close around midnight, if not before. i don't get it.
• you pay extra for an item if you are going to "eat in." for example, if you buy a sandwich at starbucks, the price tag has two prices: one for "eat in" and  the other is the "to-go" price.
• this goes for all of europe, but they are way ahead of us when it comes to technology. like when you pay with a credit card at a restaurant, they have a portable/handheld machine they bring to run your card. pretty neat.
• also for all of europe, you don't tip. cab drivers, bartenders, servers, no one. it's the strangest thing. henry told me it's because their minimum wage is a lot higher than ours. henry also said the only time he tips is if it's like outstanding service. this was hard to get used to!
• there was a "the body shop" on like every corner.