London

Every time I tell people back home that I'm going somewhere interesting they seem to completely ignore the fact that I live in Europe. "She's going to Berlin? That must be expensive." Um...NO, I live two hours away! With London people think the same thing, but a round trip ticket is only around $100. It's not like I'm going on a 12 hour flight and paying $1000 like I have to when I go home!

Now that I've ranted about that...I went to London last weekend. It was my first time and it was amazing! My friends and I picked the perfect weekend for a last minute vacation.

DAY 1: We left Poland very early Saturday morning and got to London at around 8am. From the airport we took the train into the city and then the tube from there to our Hostel. Yeah, I said hostel, not hotel- worst idea ever. I've stayed in hostels before, but this was the dirtiest, smelliest, loudest one yet. On the way I made my friends stop at Kings Cross station, so I could see platform 9 3/4...yes I'm a Harry Potter Nerd. It was hands down the best part of the trip.

Once we got settled at the hostel we headed downtown again to Piccadilly Circus where we spent the rest of the day perusing tea shops, exploring M&M world, and being typical tourists. Our visit was planned perfectly because that night they were lighting the christmas lights and shooting of fireworks, so we stayed for that, which was lots of fun. My back was killing me though after all that walking.

We headed back to the hostel and were in bed by 11p.m. Our fellow roommates came in at around 2a.m. and lets just say they weren't very quiet about it, one also had a very severe case of sleep apnea.

DAY 2: Sunday morning we were out of the hostel by 9a.m. (What can I say, we're medical students, we're used to only 5 hours or less sleep a night). We took the tube back into town, but this time to London Bridge. Which by the way was the biggest disappointment of my  childhood.  Somehow based on the song I was expecting something a little more grand, not just a normal bridge. It was right next to Tower Bridge though, so we walked by the Tower of London and then across Tower Bridge to a tea place for breakfast.

We hung out around that area for a bit and then got back on the tube to go see Big Ben/Parliament, The London Eye, and Westminster Abbey - all of which are conveniently placed right next to each other. When we got there there was a huge parade going on, with Soldiers all dressed up in their fancy hats and what not. We thought we were going to get to see the Queen, but alas we did not.

Apparently it was a holiday - Armistice Day and then Remembrance Day on Monday, so there were lots of things going on. Either due to the holiday or the fact that it was Sunday we couldn't get inside Westminster Abbey, which I really wanted to see. So next time I go, I'm totally going to check that out.
From there we walked through Hyde Park and to Buckingham Palace. The flag was up, so the queen was in! Then we took the tube to Harrods, a really big, fancy department store. We didn't stay long because it was so packed!
We went back to Piccadilly Circus for dinner and to do some souvenir shopping and headed back to the Hostel and were in bed by 9p.m.

DAY 3: Monday morning at 4a.m we left the hostel after a very sleepless night. We took the night bus (yes, they're real things) to Kings Cross Station and then the train back to the airport. We were back in Poland by 10a.m.

I wish we could have stayed longer, but I'm happy to be home. That exchange rate is killer!!!