Adventures in London!

The Spanish love their holidays and when I discovered that school was canceled on the first Monday in March for the "Día de Andalucía", I took the opportunity to plan a trip to London and Paris. With Caitlin and Nicole as my sidekicks, we organized a 4-day expedition leaving Sevilla for London on Thursday, taking the "Chunnel" to Paris on Saturday, and returning to Sevilla on Monday. It was an aggressive plan and much to tackle in 4 days but the trip was definitely a success!

My flight landed in the London-Gatwick airport around 3 in the afternoon and then we took the high-speed Gatwick Express train into the London city center. This was my first European train experience and while not quite of the same caliber as the Hogwarts Express (dare to dream!), the train got us quickly and efficiently into London.

Our voyage on the Gatwick Express train

After arriving safely in the city center Nicole, Caitlin and I set off to find my friend Emily's apartment near Russel Square. Emily and I live together in Chapel Hill and she is studying in London for the semester so I was thrilled to see her! After quickly dropping off our luggage, Emily ushered us off to a traditional British pub. The atmosphere was absolutely adorable and we drank cider while catching up and listening to all of the locals chatting with charming British accents! After two rounds of cider and loads of laughs, the four of us made the short trek back to Emily's apartment to freshen up for the evening festivities. Emily took us to a delicious Mexican restaurant and we were seated at the best table in the house! VIP treatment continued throughout the night as we relocated to a nightclub called Maddox where, thanks to Emily's club promoter friends, we enjoyed table service and met Taio Cruz. The nightlife in London completely blew me away because everything from the drinks, to the atmosphere, to the people were so ritzy and posh!

Enjoying ciders outside the pub in London

Champagne courtesy of our friends in the kitchen!

After waking up for a delicious brunch, I spent day two exploring downtown London with Nicole and Caitlin while Emily went to her internship. We walked ALL over the city, starting at Big Ben and Parliament, meandering alongside the Thames past the London Eye to the Tate Modern museum. I really enjoyed the Tate Modern, where I saw one of the paintings from the famous "Water Lilies" series by Claude Monet. Next we crossed the Millennium Footbridge, stopping to take pictures of Shakespeare's Globe, continued on to St. Paul's Cathedral and then back to Westminster Abbey. Finally, we strolled through St. James's Park and ended up at Buckingham Palace.

The walls in Bill's, our breakfast venue, were covered with canned products!

Nicole, Caitlin and me in front of Big Ben and Parliament

The quintessential tourist pose in a red telephone booth

View from the Tate Modern with the Millennium Bridge and St. Paul's Cathedral in the background.

I was completely exhausted after a full day of sightseeing but also thrilled that we were able to fit just about everything in. I would have liked to go inside St. Paul's Cathedral and check out the National Portrait Gallery but I guess those will have to wait for next time! In the wake of our vigorous tourist activities, we met Emily for tea time in Soho and drank exotic teas and sampled authentic biscuits. Ultimately, we made our way back to her apartment to get ready for another evening out on the town; this time our terminus was an exclusive club called Ammika. Once more my friends and I was ushered into the VIP lounge with a bunch of Abercrombie & Fitch models, all the while thinking, "Is this real life?!". Our final night in London was a total success, making it hard to motivate myself to get up for our 6:55 am train to Paris!