London, Day 2

Another long day in London. And it's my birthday! We ate breakfast at the hotel this morning & then bought tickets for a double-decker bus tour. We rode the bus most of the day & hopped off a few times to walk around. We first got off & purchased tickets for the Lion King tomorrow at the Lyceum Theater. We also wandered around the Borough Market which was fun. They sell some strange things there & it was very crowded. We got back on the bus & headed to Buckingham Palace. It was pretty cool to see. Very busy. I certainly wouldn't want to live there! After Buckingham Palace we rode the bus for the rest of its route. We saw a ton!

When we got off the bus the last time we took the Tube to the London Eye. It was a lot of fun to ride. The height bothered my mom & Ang a bit, but not me or my dad. I took a lot of pictures & just enjoyed the view. After that we grabbed the Tube & went back to St. Paul's Cathedral. We knew there were a lot of restaurants in the area so figured that would be a good place to go for dinner. We ended up eating at Express Pizza which was delicious. We even got dessert afterward in honor of my birthday. Well believe it or not, it is almost midnight & we just got home. Well it's off to bed! Tomorrow we are planning on taking a train to Kingston University so me & Ang can get a look at the campus. We are both considering a master's program there & figure we may as well check it out since we are here. Tomorrow is our last full day in London. The next morning we will fly to Shannon, Ireland & begin our adventure there. A week from tomorrow me & Ang will meet up with UVU. Crazy!

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*Me & Ang made friends with this little guy at Buckingham Palace.

London, Day 1

Our first full day in London is coming to a close & I am exhausted! The funny thing is that we went to bed last night at 8pm & got moving at about 10am... Apparently we were tired! Once we got out, we grabbed the Tube & took it to Westminster. There we saw Big Ben, Parliament, & the London Eye. We ate at a random cafe & then got tickets to a hop-on/off boat ride on the Thames. We rode the boat for a few stops & got off near the Globe, Shakespeare's Theater. We then walked across the Thames on a massive pedestrian bridge in order to see St. Paul's Cathedral. It was beautiful.

We got back on the boat & rode it until the Tower of London. On that stop we saw the Tower of London & also walked across Tower Bridge. Afterward we took the boat to Embankment. From there we walked to Trafalgar Square & then got dinner at a restaurant called Garfunkel. It was pretty good. I got another cheese omelet (they've been sounding good lately...) with chunky fries. Which are basically steak fries but thicker. After dinner we walked to Westminster Abby, Big Ben, & the Parliament. We wandered around for a while & then took the tube back to our hotel. Tomorrow we are planning on taking a bus around the city so we can see more. We are also going to ride on the London Eye, which I am pretty excited about...

That's about it for today because I am too tired to write much more. Bye!

New York, New Jersey, Iceland, & England

Well we have finally made it to London! The last few days have been pretty crazy. We flew to New York on Tuesday morning, checked into our hotel, and went to dinner. We were planning on going to Fresh Basil's, which me & my mom went to last time we were in New York, but it was closed! I was so sad! So we kept wandering and finally ended up at Serendipity 3. It was really good. Me & Ang shared a frozen mint hot chocolate & it basically blew my mind.

The next day we ate breakfast at Pax and then took the subway down to Battery Park. We thought my dad would like it... Once there he asked if we could take the boat to see the Statue of Liberty & Ellis Island. We agreed & got tickets. We didn't get off on Liberty Island, but Wwe did get off on Ellis Island. After that we took the subway to the corner of Mott & Spring, & ate at Lombardi's. It was amazing. I wish we could have gone twice! Mmmm.... delicious. After we ate, we headed back to the hotel to grab a car to the Newark, NJ airport. Somehow we ended up in a white limo, just like when me & my mom were there last November. It was pretty funny...

So we got to the airport, checked in, & boarded our flight. The first flight was 5 1/2 hours to Keflavik, Iceland & it was pretty miserable. The plane was really hot & none of us really got any sleep. We finally landed in Iceland & had to go through security again. Then I got my first stamp in my passport! Hooray! We got a drink & a snack, & then went to our gate. We had to go through Passport Control & I got another stamp! This time for leaving Iceland. So we boarded our plane & took off. This flight was only 3 hours. It was much better than the first flight! We all dozed a bit on this plane and before we knew it, landed in London.

Once in London we got our passports stamped, picked up our luggage, & grabbed a taxi. It was a pretty long ride from the airport to our hotel & we were all tired of sitting. I dozed a few times but then our taxi driver started entertaining us which kept me awake. We got to our hotel (Marriott), checked in, & laid in bed for like ten minutes. It was so nice! We knew we were all going to crash so we decided to get an early dinner & then go to bed. We ended up eating at the restaurant in another hotel (ours didn't open for another hour) & the food was pretty good. They didn't have Sprite but our waiter said they had lemonade that was the same thing. It was, it just had a strong lemon/lime aftertaste.

Well we are back in our hotel & everyone is already asleep even though it is only 8pm our time. It is strange to think that everyone back home is in the middle of their day while we are at the end of ours! That's all for now... I haven't taken many pictures yet, but imagine that will change pretty rapidly. Oh & my good friend Cali told me I would really enjoy the Fanta soda in Europe.... She was right! It is amazing! It is like sparkling orange juice. They even have crazy flavors like Exotic, Berry, & Lemon. I haven't tried any of those yet, but maybe one day!