London Time (5 days of craziness)

London Eye

London City Hall as seen through the London Bridge

Tower Bridge

Typical

British Museum (Millennium Project)

Signing the wall at Abbey Road Studios!

London was a whirlwind of a week! I was dreadfully sick for the first few days and our itinerary was packed full so we could see as much as possible in our limited time there. We arrived in London on Saturday afternoon after taking the Eurostar from Paris. We checked into the hotel and ventured to the London Eye to get a better view of the city. After the Eye, a few of us went to a local pub and had fish & chips! So delicious.

The week was a bit of a blur, but I will give an overview of some of my favorite moments, sites and food!  We went to Olympic Park and initially I was super excited about this, but unfortunately we weren't able to get in because they are in the process of converting it from the Olympic site to a community space.  I will be anxious to see how it turns out for the community in a few years and hope it is still thriving.  We spent a lot of time in the mall that the built for the Olympics (it is the largest mall in Europe!)  We had two intense days of site visits where we went to the following:  The Tate Modern Museum (loved this as I didn't venture inside on my last visit to London), One New Change, Lloyds of London, The Swiss Re, The London City Hall (one of my favorites! The interior was incredible), John Soane House, British Museum, Goldfinger House... and probably a few more!  I was terribly sick on our free day, so while I rested, others ventured out and saw some things that weren't on our itinerary.  Thankfully that day of rest really helped my health.. finally starting to feel like myself again :)  On my last day, I went to a few sites for my independent study and looked at some LEED and BREEAM rated buildings.  I also had a photoshoot with Minnie!  

Fooood!  I love it... no matter where I am.  Laura and I had an incredible Indian meal on our 2nd or 3rd night in London.  It was perfect and probably my favorite meal while I was there. We also had Persian cuisine one night and I went with a vegetarian dish and hot tea.  Perfect for my sick little self.  Of course I tried another meat pie and a local brew.  People complain about English food not being that great, but I find it to be perfect comfort food.  Fish & chips, meat pies and pudding could keep this girl happy for awhile!

I don't know how I almost forgot this.... Laura and I went to Abbey Road to see where the Beatles recorded their albums and took their famous album cover photo. It was comical trying to get a photo walking across the street.  We weren't the only people doing it either.  I kind of feel bad for the residents of this area having to deal with us silly tourists running out into the road all the time! haha It was a really great neighborhood though, beautiful houses and vehicles! 

Thursday I boarded a plane and I am currently sitting in our hostel in Dublin.  So I need to run and explore this cool city... I'll update you all soon now that we have decent internet!