Saturday we woke up early, grabbed some coffee and breakfast at Costa (my love). We hopped on the tube and started our trip to see the London necessities!
When first getting on the tube, we ran into a few issues with the lines. The one we wanted, was under construction, but we finally got to where we needed to be!
Looking at the tube, I finally understood what "mind the gap" meant:
Which is the gap between the platform and train, just in case you were wondering!
We hopped off the tube, and our first stop was the London Tower! Lea had been on a tour of the place, so she filled me in on all the cool things inside.
Me in front of the Tower!
The Tower
Some of the poppies surrounding the Tower, a memorial for WWI.
This is a view from the back of a recreation of the lions King Henry kept at the Tower.
Lea was telling me that he kept them because they stood for power and courage.
Some more poppies!
Next we walked over the London bridge (I don't know if it has a special name) and it was so so so pretty.
Like this just is so surreal to look at again! I cannot believe I was there.
This bridge is filled with so much detail.
This is just on the side of the bridge, how intricate.
A view from the right side of the bridge!
I guess this is the official name!
Another picture from the ground!
We then started our trek, after making our way through an insane amount of people, toward the London Eye, and Big Ben.
On our way we passed the Millennium Bridge. Which the Death Eaters did destroy in the Half-Blood Prince. #tenpointsforgriffyndor
How creative is this bridge though.
Anyone care for a nice Snog?? :p
Big Ben!
The London Eye!
Big Ben up close.
Luckily Lea knew of a perfect "London picture" so we took one!
Cheerio!
We also swung by Buckingham Palace, for a quick peek at the royal place!
Still need to make one laugh!
My future gate into my palace, because I will live here.
Ugh! Can't wait to live here.
Queen Victoria!
So stinkin perfect.
After a crazy amount of walking, we stopped for lunch at this really awesome Italian restaurant. I got a pasta dish, and Lea got a pizza. It was so good, and much needed sitting time!
After our lunch, we headed off to Harrods. This is literally the biggest department store in the world, and that actually might be a fact but I'm not entirely sure. There are so many stores I wouldn't do it justice to try to name them off.
We then made our way back to the tube to go to Oxford Street. Here we were planning on doing a lot of shopping, but we're so exhausted from the amount of stuff we put into one day! So we just stopped into Niketown to purchase our shirts for the Lions game.
Sunday morning we woke up bright and early to head to 9am mass, and lucky Lea has a church literally two minutes from her dorm!
We stopped into Costa (obviously) and did a nice tour around Lea's school, Queen Mary University of London. On her campus there is a Jewish burial ground, which is actually quite beautiful:
Lea said that the original grounds where the cemetery was, had been destroyed in WWI.
During restoration, the cemetery was moved to this part of London. When the school was commissioned, they simply decided to build around.
The back of the Queen's Building.
Annnnd the front!
Gorgeous clock tower at the front!
How cool is this canal! This is located right behind where Lea lives, and is home to many house boats and to community activities. In the picture a little boy and his dad are fishing!
Next we began our eventful journey to Wembley Stadium. We got on the tube at the station nearest to Lea, and had planned on taking one of two lines that could get us there. Learning that both lines were unavailable, we had to improvise. This was just an ordeal, but we figured it out! We stopped at Victoria Coach Station to drop off my backpack. And because the Victoria tube station was insanely busy, and we were already late, we took a taxi to the stadium.
It was expensive, and we felt crazy sick, but we got to the game!!
We had only missed the first quarter, so we got to see the Lions rally! One Pride!!
We bought these hats off the display, because we liked them so much, and all of the rest were sold out!
Never a bad seat at Wembley Stadium!
I don't know if it is easy to see, but it was a rainbow with all of the different teams represented by the English natives. So very cool to see!
Let's go Detroiiiiiiiit!
Let's go boys!
Reppin' all kinds of teams. How cool!
So beyond blessed that we were able to go!
After another long day, we made our way back to the coach station, this time knowing where to go! We got to the coach station with some time to spare, which was a great plan because it was super busy. But I made my bus to Liverpool!
PSA: if you have long legs don't ride on a bus, because the person in front of you WILL put their seat all the way back. You will be then forced to dig your knees in the same painful corner for six hours. -- personal experience
ANYWAY! My good friends Hollie and Yotam picked me up in Liverpool, and drove me back to Edge Hill.
God is so great!!
