London, Baby!

London . . . where do I begin? Overall, England was just phenomenal. I couldn't have asked for better friends or a better place to be. So many experiences along the way that in thinking back, it was definitely life-altering in many ways. I'm grateful I could go. I had a friend mention to me the other day that she couldn't believe I got to just get up and go to England as she couldn't pick up and go to Las Vegas let alone to England. Needless to say, I'm really grateful for the memories and the opportunities. Sorry to get all emotional on you, but I think it's the only way to truly begin detailing my trip. I'm really overcome with gratitude that I could go.

Anyway, this is me the night before I left. Notice how bright-eyed I am. How clear my skin looks. The brilliance of my smile. Remember this later on.

Mindy and I before take off. We're just excited!

Kaylin and I. Kaylin and I were such fools on the trip, literally documenting every little detail. I took over 1,000 pictures, Kaylin took WAY more than that and mentioned yesterday that she wished she had taken more. That kills me, by the end of the trip I was kind of done taking pictures. But Kaylin's a pro. I saw a lot of her pictures and they just put mine to shame.

Like I said, remember the aforementioned picture, ha. I can't believe I'm posting this picture because clearly I look like the walking dead. Oh, yeah, that's because I was. I did sleep on the plane (thank you, sleeping pills), but jet lag still hit and it hit hard. On top of that, London is hot and muggy and my skin just felt like it oozed sweat. Sorry for the visual, but that's how I felt. We left for London around 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, this picture was taken around 2 p.m. Wednesday afternoon. Ugh. I look awful and I think my face shows how awful I feel too. To be honest, this picture cracks me up.

We arrived in London around 8 a.m. and pretty much started walking the streets right away. Obviously, this picture is posed (thanks, guys). Here's a funny thing about England streets, their street signs are located on the walls of buildings about eye-level, not up high like they are here in the States. I thought it was ineffective, but hey, it's what you know, right? Maybe it works for them. Navigating was a little difficult on foot because the roads criscross and the signs are not easily seen. Getting lost was just inevitable.

One of the first things we saw, the Natural History Museum.

This now inside the Victoria and Albert Museum, also referred to as the V & A Museum. It was much more interesting than the Natural History Museum. It had a display of fashion through history as well as quite a few statues, but I'm unsure the period they were from. Renaissance? Medieval? Not sure. I'm sure there was much more but we weren't there for very long. Also British pop singer Duffy was there the same day except we missed her! To be so close and yet so far away . . . crushing. I love her.

This is a baptismal font. Note the 12 oxen holding it up.

Princess Diana's dress!

This picture is out of place, but it's the next morning after a good night's sleep. We all look much better. This is also the hostel where we stayed in London. Hostels always get such a bad rap, but this was quite nice. It was clean and not crowded at all.

Buckingham Palace. Eh. The fence is too high to really appreciate it in my opinion. I understand that the Queen stays there and you have to have the fence, but I wasn't super excited seeing it.

Big Ben! So exciting! It was so beautiful and it seemed everywhere we went it figured prominently in our sights. I loved it. I also love this picture.

The Palace of Westminster. Love it! Did you know that Big Ben was once the largest clock in the world? It no longer is, but it is the largest in England. Big Ben is actually a nickname for the Clock Tower at the Palace of Westminster. Big Ben refers to the clock's hour bell, the largest of the clock's five bells.

We visited the London Eye which is kind of like a ferris wheel but of a much larger magnitude. Basically you get inside pods that have a standing platform and it rotates around like a ferris wheel. I was really excited to get on. It was a little expensive but I think it was worth it, especially as it was the first thing we did. What an introduction into the city of London! This is the view from the top. Crazy.

The pods that you stand in. There is a bench you can sit on as well.

Okay, so I missed our faces when I took the picture. But I love it. Check out our cute freckles.

After a long day, the Underground quickly put us to sleep. Talk about jet lag catching up with us. Ha ha, they don't know I took these pictures.

The next day. This is the view of the Underground station. I think I mentioned it in my last post, but I LOVED using the Underground. So easy and fun. It is obviously really crowded, especially at 9 in the morning.

More of Big Ben. I like these pictures. This is from the River Thames (pronounced tames).

I had to put in both pictures.

A picture of the London Eye from our River Thames cruise. I'm not sure what the big building was, I should probably know.

The cruise of the River Thames was great. We just took a boat ride across the river and got a great view of London. Check out how sunny it is, the weather was beautiful. So much that I got a sunburn . . . seriously. Being on the water did not help. One fun fact, I was even whiter than the people in London. Not cool. I thought my people lived there and there would be other whiteys. Uh uh.

My favorite view. The London Tower Bridge. I couldn't get enough of this view.

The Tower of London. The Tower consists of a fortress, palace, and prison. Henry VIII lived there with his harem of women. This is where a lot of royal prisoners were sent to, look up the Princes in the Tower and the future Queen Elizabeth I.

We posed with this guy and he said in his cute British accent, "I love my job." I especially liked his hat.

The Crown jewels were located inside this building. It's funny, because jewels are not as bright and shiny as one would expect. Which makes me wonder why people make such a big deal about diamonds and stuff. Just saying.

An interesting thing we saw was the Imperial Crown of India which was commissioned specifically for King George V when he visited Delhi as Emperor of India. British law prohibited the removal of the official Crown Jewel from the country so the Imperial Crown was made for his trip. It weighs 34.05 ounces and is set with emeralds, rubies, diamonds, and pearls. It was only worn once. In fact, there was a journal entry that was highlighted next to the Imperial Crown in which King George V wrote that he had worn the Imperial Crown for many hours; it was very heavy and his head hurt.

By the way, see if you can spot Kaylin in the picture. She's wearing a pink skirt.

I believe that Queen Anne Boelyn lived here for a short time.

Inside the gift shop. Note my anger for Mindy. She is admirably fighting a losing battle.

Another view of the London Tower Bridge. Marvelous. I can't say enough how much I loved it.

From the side.

I confess, I do not know the name of this cathedral. But I just liked it and took some pictures.

I'm not sure why I took a picture in front of a boat that looks like a pirate's ship.

Shakespeare's Globe! Ah, I just love him. Of course, this is not the original, just a replica of The Globe that Shakespeare owned during his lifetime. It's the only building in all of London, maybe England, that can have a thatched roof.

Yep, we rode in one.

Their taxis look much cooler than ours.

Harrod's, their super fancy department store. Seriously, I was uncomfortable in here. I shop almost exclusively at Target. I've been known to buy clothes at Wal-Mart. I think Banana Republic is too expensive. Harrod's was bright and shiny and clean. Their bathroom had lotions and perfumes in it. They sold Prada, Burberry, Dolce & Gabbana, whatever. I was just afraid I would break something.

This reminded me of my cousin Tracy. If you know Tracy, you know she likes to dress her dog Mojo up. Can't you just see yourself doing this, Tracy?

So wrong, and yet it's just so funny.

Yes, we had to take a picture inside the red phone booth. Except, it smelled like pee. In the worst possible way.

Leaving London! On our way to Stonehenge and Bath.