London Done Proper

Ironically, "London Done Proper" isn't even proper English. But I'm American, not English, so I believe I reserve the right to say that it is at least proper American.

Well, it's our first post from Europe, and I'm happy to report that we made it three days in a European city without any major mishaps! Granted, it's not until today that we're traveling to a non-English-speaking country, but since the English have a few of their own quirky sayings and a unique accent, I'm still proud of how we navigated the city.

Actually, the hardest part of the whole thing has arisen not from our specifically American upbringing, but rather from our upbringing in any first-world country of the 21st century:  non-constant Internet access. Even several days into our journey, I'm still having trouble adapting. Every single time Hannah and I have a question and no answer, I think, "No worries - I'll look it up!" And then I can't. I'm more annoyed at my inability to adapt to this change of lifestyle than I am about the actual lack of Internet. Because despite its consistent frustrations, it's actually kinda nice to be forced to depart from the Internet... Until we get back to the hostel (both of ours so far have had free WiFi) and we both spend a good thirty minutes reconnecting to everything.

That's enough of a digression on my #firstworldproblems. Let's get to what we actually did!

After a smooth ten hours in the sky, a fifteen minute train ride to Victoria Station, and a quick Tube ride to a stop just two minutes walking from our hostel, we dropped our bags off and hit the streets to find dinner. My cousin Carly spent two months last summer studying abroad in London, so she gave us lots of recommendations on where to go and what to eat; her single favorite UK restaurant was Nando's, and there was one just down the street from us, so we went there for some delicious grilled chicken!

After dinner we still had a couple hours of light (it doesn't get dark till like 9 pm here!) so we walked to Kensington Palace and Kensington Gardens for a brief look around. It was a very pretty place, and it was also fun to walk through the city to get there. Hannah and I were shocked at how seemingly ancient buildings could be found literally right next to modern ones built probably in the last fifty years! But I guess that's what you have to do in a booming city with so much history!

Our first full day, we started at St. Paul's Cathedral. It was absolutely beautiful. I don't think Hannah was moved quite as much as I was, but I was just in awe of how detailed and ornate everything was - all built to glorify God. We took a headset tour of the whole cathedral (we couldn't take pictures on the inside but Hannah took a few anyway) including a trip to the very top, where you could step outside and get a great view of the whole city. Though not as tall as the London Eye, we felt it made a great substitute!

After St. Paul's Cathedral we went to Borough Market for a delicious lunch: authentic meat pies from a food truck called the Pie Minister. (No, not minster, and no, not meister. For whatever reason, it's minister.) If we had endless wallets and endless stomachs, we probably could have spent all day there!

From Borough Market we walked up the Thames to see three of London's most famous bridges: the Millenium Bridge, London Bridge, and Tower Bridge. Tower Bridge is by far the most impressive, and contrary to the belief of many Americans, London Bridge is actually this rinky dink little concrete bridge that appears to serve primarily functional, rather than aesthetic, purposes.

We finished the day with a tour of the Tower of London, which, as you might have guessed, is on one end of Tower Bridge. It had a very interesting though very gory history, and we even got to see the Crown Jewels! For dinner, we went to a pub by the name of Windsor. I had my very first plate of fish and chips, and also ordered my very first beer!

We did not, however, get to see the Crown Jewels of the current Queen Elizabeth II due to the fact that she needed them for an event the very next morning: the State Opening of Parliament. Apparently Parliament goes through a lame duck session each year kind of like the US, and it's up to the Queen to reinstate them (along with their newly elected members). To do so, she must travel from Buckingham Palace to the Houses of Parliament, and the English celebrate this brief and perfunctory journey with all the unnecessarily proper pomp and circumstance you might expect from the country that had its military dress in bright red uniforms and form nice, neat rows from which to fire simultaneously at rebellious American soldiers. Point is, it's quite a grand ceremony, and it's open to the public! So, the following morning, Hannah and I went to Buckingham Palace to watch this ceremony, and we even got to see the Queen herself - from a good distance - ride out in her royal carriage. Pretty neat, and quite auspicious since it happened to overlap with the single day of the year we intended to go to Buckingham Palace!

After the ceremony, we walked up to Trafalgar Square with the National Gallery and those iconic lion statues. Then we walked to Leicester Square, then to Piccadilly Circus, and then to the Marble Arch at the corner of Hyde Park. On our way, we stopped and got a lunch my brother Nathan would be proud of:  a waffle from Wafflemeister and a big cookie from Ben's Cookies. Both were suggestions from Carly, and both were great! Thanks again, Carly!

After finding our new hostel that we'd be staying in that night, we walked across the Thames again to find Westminster Abbey and Big Ben, which is attached to the Houses of Parliament. Though we didn't go into either, they were all impressive sights to see. All that old, ornate architecture is so interesting!

For dinner, we went back to Picadilly Circus and ate at this little Italian cafe called Caffé Concerto. It was, again, a delicious meal! Then we took to Tube to Apollo Victoria Theatre to see an absolutely wonderful performance of Wicked. Hannah's family bought us tickets for my birthday back in January, and they were spectacular seats in the fourth row! The music was incredible, and the musical itself is a really fun story, so it was a really awesome way to end our time in London.

In short, London was a spectacular beginning to our four-week backpacking trip around Europe. We're in Bruges now, but I'll let Hannah talk about that for our next post. So for now, I'm signing off! As they say in England... Cheerio!

... Come to think of it, I never actually heard anybody say that in London. Maybe that's a dated term. Or just not proper English.