Hello everyone! It's been a while hasn't it?
A couple of weeks ago I went on a two week trip to London and Paris, and I had the time of my life there. While I am happy to be back in the comfort of my own home though, I do miss being on the road and/or abroad and just having an entire day full of festivities to look forward to. But being home comes with it's own duties and festivities that I must do, including finally creating a travel diary! So, after an unreasonably long time, I have finished rounding up and sorting through my photos to present to you:
The London Photo Diary: Part 1! Enjoy, and stay tuned for more!
Day 1
The day started off with of course: a flight. Unfortunately, my about 9-hour flight was in the morning, and I could not fall asleep the entire flight, resulting in a
mild case of jetlag. Nonetheless, the minute I stepped foot onto British soil, I was ready to begin my adventure! To get to the city, we took a short train ride to the station, that was packed with the most beautiful scenery of the English countryside.
It's safe to say that the minute I got into the train station, there was no mistaking where I was.
My Oyster card! Aka, my holy grail for a little over a week, which is now hanging on my magnet board in my room.
Right after we dropped off our luggage, my family and I decided to wander the city and take in the beautiful architecture as we headed to our first destination.
Just the first of many charming flower beds that I would end up seeing on my trip.
And we have reached our first stop: Buckingham Palace! I was floored by the beautiful emblems, and statues adorning the fountain that surrounded the building. After taking quite a few pictures of the area, I decided to hang around and wait to see the changing of the guards.
The number of people that arrived to see the guards and palace is incredible! It's a good thing I'm not that tall so I can still easily weasel inbetween people to get a nice picture.
Doing what I do best: cheesy tourist pictures!
Finally, after a good 20 minutes of standing and aimlessly taking the same pictures of the Palace, the changing of the guards was ready to begin!
WARNING: There is nothing more quintessentially British than the following set of pictures.
And with this final picture, we had to say our goodbye to the guards and their spectacular marching and playing, and move along with our day.
Upon seeing this glorious sign I couldn't help but get a little bit excited as this would be my first time using the Tube! Fortunately, it did not disappoint; Unlike many train systems I've used, both at home and abroad, I quite liked how modern the Tube was. It wasn't as dirty as many other systems, and the trains were quite fast, as well as it was very easy to follow. Other than what one of my favourite youtubers, danisnotonfire, has called the "Metal Doors of Death," it's quite easily my new favourite mode of transportation. I apologize for this paragraph about the Tube. I'm lame and get excited really easily.
First of many photobombs by my parents. @ dad: hey.
Our next stop was a charming little cafe called Monocle Cafe! Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of the exterior, but I highly recommend it for anyone going to London. It's quite small, and not too crowded (at least not when I went there) and the Japanese Breakfast Tray we got was marvelous!
Please ignore the little spill I made on the side even though this side note is probably what even made you notice the mess in the first place.
After we finished our mid-day meal (to be honest it wasn't quite filling enough for us to really consider it a lunch, especially considering the fact that it was shared three ways), we strolled around the area a little bit longer, and stumbled upon this row of cute cafes with the most adorable buildings behind it! One of the things I've always loved about London architecture is the colourful buildings, so seeing these few on my first day just made my heart soar.
I adore all the cute small cafes that adorn the European streets (which you'll see way more in the Paris Travel Diaries), and I just wish that we'd have more cute streetside eateries here in Vancouver.
Our last stop before briefly heading back to our hotel was the Sherlock Holmes Museum! ...Well, not quite. The lineup to get in was way too long, and considering our jetlagged state, we decided that it was just not the wisest decision to go inside. So, we took a picture of the outside of the place, commemorating our stop to 221B Baker Street, and internally freaking out about the fact that we were in the presence of such an amazing household.
After we took a small break to nap and get settled down, we went out to eat at an Italian place called Vapiano, which was only a short walk from our hotel. They had the most amazing pasta, which makes my stomach grumble and my mouth water just now simply thinking about it.
After our meal, we decided to walk down to the water and enjoy the view, but of course in typical London fashion, it decided to rain. So, I'll consider this picture as a slight sneak peek to Part 2.
And that's it! I'll end my little photo diary with this picture I took of my dad and me in the elevator on our way up to our room (by his face, I think you can tell where I got my sarcastic sense of humour from). I hope you enjoyed the pictures, and stay tuned for more!
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