London

London was our first trip out of Scotland. It took a five hour train ride last week to arrive at King's Cross. Of course, it was freezing and rainy but we are used to it by now. London is an amazing city. I love the hustle n bustle, the old buildings, and the history. 

The first couple days were spent being typical tourists. I think this something that has to be done in a city as humongous as London. We saw the Buckingham Palace, the Tower Bridge, the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum, Trafalgar Square, the National Gallery, the Houses of Parliament, and the Churchill War Rooms. Just before services on both days, we ducked into St. Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey. Both churches are absolutely incredibly and have been standing for centuries. Since services are free, we also saved about $40 between the two. 

Friday was spent attempting to be more local. We passed through the posh shopping area near Buckingham Palace to see some famous handmade shotgun makers and then strolled through Hyde Park. The Tube then took us to the London Bridge Station where we spent a few hours at the Borough Market. Sort of like a farmer's market, this food stall area has some of the best food in town. We love food so this ended up being our afternoon entertainment. We tried carrot cake, lots of cheese, handmade ravioli, mulled wine, and a German lamb sandwich. It's definitely a must do if you come to London.

We spent our nights in London doing a mix of things. The first night we saw Wicked. Another was spent in the Camden Market area on the north side of London. Most of the market stalls were closed when we got there but we found Chinese for 2 pounds, stopped into a pub, and then went to a "club". They had a couple live rock bands attempting to "make it". I can assure you they won't. It was comical watching people dance to a bad band, mostly because only one person was dancing. 

One night we also got to meet a family friend of Dan's for dinner. She works at PWC and took us to the after work pub. It was interesting getting to here some of the perspectives of a Londoner, especially when it came to topics like Obama and the economy. 

Saturday we took a train to Oxford. There we basically just walked around the whole city. There are mostly just cool buildings to look at. Harry Potter was filmed in some of the buildings and Oxford University has some cool history to discover. One of the markets there had the best chocolate chip cookie I've had in ages. Hate to say this but it was way better than Tiff's Treats. That night we stopped into the oldest pub in Oxford called the Bear Inn. It dates back to 1242.

Finally, before we spent the day travelling back to Edinburgh, we got to see Hannah and Corie for lunch!

Classes are Monday and Tuesday so tonight we are headed to Amsterdam. 

Cheerio!

PS no one ever says Cheerio.