Foggy London Town (Days 1-3)

Artsy Underground pic

Me and Cole in a phonebooth!

Foggy London Town!!! To summarize, probably my favorite place I've been so far! There was so much to do-- we stayed 5 days but I want to go back already and see more!

DAY 1: We got there Sunday night (as in 2 weeks ago) and went out for some Indian food. The highlight of the meal was PUNKY, a small penguin-type animal with ice cream inside. He was described as "creamy vanilla ice cream in an attractive plastic toy". Oh Punky. He also got a little crazy later that night as you can see.

Julie, me and Mom with Punky

Punky Gone Wild

DAY 2: On Monday, we took a stroll from our hotel. Our first stop was the Albert, a British pub with good beer and good food! Then we saw Westminster Abbey, Big Ben and Parliament. We also went to the Churchill War Rooms, which was an amazing museum to go to. It was really interesting and interactive. I would recommend it to anyone because I'm not the biggest war history buff (like Cole) but I still loved it! After the museum, Cole and I walked around to the Picadilly Circus area and saw all the shops and restaurants there. BUT we couldn't wander for too long because we had a Jack the Ripper tour that night!

The Albert

Big Ben

Westminster Abbey

The Ripper tour was excellent. Our guide was an amazing story teller! We walked around with him to all the sites where Jack the Ripper supposedly killed people, and where his victims lived. He told the stories of all the victims and how they died. It sounds really morbid but it was actually really entertaining and the guide was pretty funny to liven things up. Overall it was a night of stories and gore and even conspiracy! (my favorite part) Sadly though I didn't take any pictures during the tour because I was too wrapped up in the stories :( After the tour we went out to a Lebanese restaurant in Picadilly. Lots of pita and hummus!

DAY 3: Tuesday we decided to go on a tour instead of wandering on our own. We hopped on a bus pretty early in the AM, and headed off to Windsor Castle. It was beautiful! We saw the changing of the guard there too since we missed it at Buckingham Palace. We walked through the church, the courtyards, and all of the beautiful ornate rooms. There were some pieces of furniture that I would like for myself (haha).

Windsor Castle

The next stop on the tour was STONEHENGE! We didn't stay there for long, mostly because there isn't a whole lot to see there except for a bunch of rocks. But in all seriousness it was really interesting and fun and once again I especially enjoyed all the conspiracy stories about how Stonehenge was built (it was built by aliens). I also saw some really cute little sheep in the countryside which I was looking forward too!

Me and Cole at Stonehenge

Our last stop on the tour was Oxford. It looks like such a fun college town! I wish we could have stayed longer but we only had a few hours in the afternoon. There were a ton of coffee shops, boutiques and restaurants/bars as one would imagine in a town full of students. This lovely statue was probably one of the highlights that I saw there. I wonder what he is thinking?