London

London...full of royalty, fish and chips, and sexy British accents. I'm not sure what I expected London to be like, but it's not what I expected and I wasn't terribly impressed with it. It is much more "Americanized" than I thought it would be, so after coming from Paris and Barcelona, it kind of felt like being in New York just with shorter buildings. Don't get me wrong, I could definitely live there as it is a very modern city with lots of tech companies, it just wasn't the most exciting to visit as a tourist. However, I do have to give props to London for their incredibly efficient metro, the London Underground, which made getting around the city a breeze.

I arrived in London via high speed train from Paris which went through the "Chunnel" - a 31 mile long tunnel going beneath the English channel. It's just completely dark the entire time you are underwater but it is still kind of eerie to think about how much water is above you. The first day in the city was spent wandering around places like St. Paul's cathedral and Leicester square before joining a pub crawl that went to a few pubs in London. 

The next morning I participated in the essential British tradition of having high tea, which is just tea served after noon with little finger sandwiches, scones, and desserts (I found out it's also an excellent hangover cure). I'm glad I did it, but I felt like I was in a scene out of Alice in Wonderland and it just wasn't my cup of tea (pun intended).

That afternoon I went on a "secrets of London" walking tour that started in the heart of London's modern financial district and ended in an older hipster area of London. My tour guide was awesome and an incredibly good story teller which was perfect while visiting some famous Jack the Ripper sights and of course Diagon Alley!

After a proper dinner of fish and chips with a side of mushy peas, I went to go see the musical Wicked. I was actually really surprised at how much I liked it and would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting London.

The last day in London is when I saw all the big famous sights, well almost. I went to the changing of the guards at Buckingham palace followed by a visit to Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and the London Eye. However, Big Ben is under construction for four years so all I could see was scaffolding around the entire structure. Disappointing to say the least! For lunch I browsed a large market and had another classic British dish of a meat pie which was fantastic! The rest of the afternoon was spent browsing the British Museum which currently has the Rosetta Stone and Cleopatra on display - pretty amazing to see. After I got my history fill, it was time to say goodbye to London and take a bus to Harwich where I caught an overnight ship to the Netherlands.