London, UK: May 28-June 1

We had intended to write each day in Europe.  As happened in India, our days were so jam packed and we arrived back at home base so late in the evenings, that no writing was done.  So I've decided to give a photo overview, and write some thoughts as well.  If you have specific questions, please feel free to throw them our way.

Here are some thoughts and photos from our first days in Europe.  Neither of us had ever visited Europe at all, and this trip was amazing for us!  We have an intense desire to see the world, so this was a very exciting step for us!  Here we go...


Well, we're both here in London, Erik and I.  Our flights were as good as can be expected for a 10 hour plane ride.  It was so good to finally get to hug each other after 3 weeks!!  I don't think we realized how much we missed each other (or at least, I didn't).

After a hot minute trying to figure out where on earth we were to go, we called Karen to get directions, bought an oyster card, and jumped on The Tube.  About an hour later, we found ourselves at Karen's door while she was off looking for us at the bus stop. We were so glad to be on the ground and in the right place.  When Karen arrived back at home just after her neighbor had let us into her place, all we could do was give big hugs, put our stuff away, and catch up while dinner heated!

As for what we saw while in town...Wow!  We saw so very much in just a few days.  I'll try to get it all right.

We spent our first morning on the town dodging raindrops under trees in the park while wandering town on The South Bank.  Very quickly we got our first views of The London Eye, and then Big Ben and Parliament (along with so much more!)!

Our days in London in photos...

The London Eye:  Unfortunately, we didn't go up.  There wasn't time, and the weather wasn't ideal until the day before we left.  But it sure was a sight!

 Big Ben and Parliament!  We were in awe.  Such a beautiful building!

 Erik in front of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey:  We also didn't go inside here.  They closed a half hour after we arrived and there was a charge to go inside.  Now that I look back at the photo, I realize that there are similarities between this and Notre Dame in Paris.

 There were flowers all over town in beautiful gardens.  Erik loves the poppies!

 We arrived at Buckingham Palace in time to see a change of the guards!

 THE PALACE!!  It was very neat to see!

 The swans!  They were everywhere and I was a bit obsessed.  I think we have three dozen photos of swans in 3 days.

Peter Pan!!  I'm a HUGE fan of JM Barrie's Peter and Wendy!  This was one of my must sees in London.  It is so beautiful!

 There are ferries, rabbits, mice, and others in the sculpture.  

We were at the Princess Diana memorial in Hyde Park.  Behind us:  directly, the fountain memorial for The Princess of Whales, beyond that is the river and the viewing area from the paddling sports in the London Olympics.

There was a tri event getting started.  These kayaks had decals with the London Olympics 2012 logo.  We think they may have been official boats for the event going on.

Outside the National Museum.  The blue chicken is a modern installation thought to be a remnant of The Olympic Games.

 "W" with a guard at the stables.  He was told by his mom not to be ugly to the guard as he is not permitted to move or speak.

 A panorama from the bridge looking a some of the skyline.  You can see Big Ben to the right of the Eye.

 Erik and a phone booth

 Our London family.  We miss them and thoroughly enjoyed our time together!

 Erik and "W" got along very well straight off!  I have a feeling they will keep in touch!

We visited an exhibit at the London Film Museum:  Bond in Motion.  They had story boards like this one, cars including the original Aston Martin, and other items from filming from the beginning of the franchise to now.  It was very cool!!

London was amazing!  We saw history and modern wonders.  We walked down the south bank and immediately saw first the London Eye, and then Big Ben and Parliament.  I was just beside myself!  We see these things in books all our lives, and here we were in real life!  We couldn't get over the architecture and the beautiful streets.  The transit system was amazing!  We got anywhere we needed to go in a few short minutes without a car.  Our friends don't own a car and get everywhere on transit.  We don't have that option in Atlanta, unfortunately, so it was very, very cool to use!  

Being there in early June, the weather was a bit drizzly and comfortably cool.  I purchased a jacket at TK Maxx (same as TJ Maxx here in the states), and I was perfectly fine!  However, we won't travel again without rain gear and researching ahead on the weather.

The parks/green spaces are marvelous!  There is more green there, and you are never far from some park somewhere!  There were multiple around Karen's flat, and we visited Kensington Garden (Peter Pan!) in Hyde Park, and St. James Park which looks to Buckingham Palace.  It was raining on and off while we walked to the palace, so we took occasional refuge under a random tree until the rain slowed enough to keep walking.  It was wonderful!

The residents of London (many of them) recycle nearly everything.  They have a compost service that picks up household organic trash which is put into composting bags and left on the street in small bins, and then used.  It's so cool!  The amount of trash there is minuscule, and a huge contrast to my time in India.

We just kept looking at each other saying, "I can't believe we're here!"  We got to spend a lot of time with Karen and her son which was wonderful!  Karen lived with my family for a year when I was little and we've kept in touch since.  It was very cool to see her city for the first time, and to meet her son whose pictures I've seen since he was born, but have never met.

Camden Market was very cool!  We went at Karen's suggestion, and we are so glad we did.  It is a huge, winding maze of shops and food stalls.  They had handmade (and not so handmade) crafts, jewelry, clothing, bags, gifts...the list goes on!  We missed out on the food as we didn't realize that you have to walk up the street from the Tube station before you get to the market itself.  There are a couple of smaller markets surrounding it.  We did, however, eat at a fabulous Brazilian place!  A bit pricey, but so good!  We had prawns, and ordered a pork dish and a seafood stew.  All of it was fabulous!  A side note:  Part of the market used to be housed in an old stable which has now been rehabbed into a more modern shopping area.  You will still find the floor, and you'll see horse statues all over the place, but the stalls themselves have been removed.

A little more on Bond in Motion at The London Film Museum...Wow!  I had seen an ad in an inflight magazine for the exhibit and thought to myself, "Erik would love that!"  We passed the museum while visiting Covent Garden (also very, very cool!), and I said, "that's it!"  We decided to bite the bullet and go, and we both had such a great time!  They had on display storyboards from the creation of some of the films, a model of MI6 Headquarters, The Aston Martin DB5 (the First Aston Martin used in the franchise), paraphernalia from the films including a couple of Bond's passports (his birth date changes to keep him young) and some of his money among many others.  We both like the Bond films, and we both very much enjoyed the visit to the museum.  And!  We both received student discounts!!  It didn't matter that we are students internationally, which was very cool!

I had hoped that going to Europe would help quench my thirst for world travel.  That this trip, along with a trip planned for next summer would give me enough that I would then be ready to settle down.  I think my friend, Sharon was right.  It only makes me more thirsty.  I thought 3 days would be enough to see some of the city and be satisfied with what we'd seen.  Again, I was wrong!  We saw just enough to want to see Everything!  (This goes for Paris as well)

Overall, the people of London were friendly.  The tourist season was far from its peak while we were there which helped our cause immensely!  I will say that my first experience with London going through security to continue to Mumbai was less than pleasant.  But that was an individual incident.  It didn't hurt that they obviously speak our language so communication was easy, overall.  Karen gave us instructions on the transit system, so there was very little need to find our way anywhere.  We also borrowed her son's cell phone which gave us an ability to communicate with her during the day.  It was somewhat like being at home with added accents and beautiful buildings.  Seeing our history books in real life was just so cool!  That is where this country began.  We saw the places where our country's ancestors came from.  Our country could have been envisioned in any space that we saw.  I know that the history between the two countries is difficult and complicated, but we have grown from each other.  I know Erik and I learned so much from our short stay there.  We learned about our culture, our heritage, and about ourselves.  All in 3 days.

I'm sure thoughts will arise as we continue to settle in and get back into our routines.  We'll continue to make notes and post about our experiences.