London: Days 3 & 4

On Thursday morning we left our hotel in Galway, Ireland bright and early to drive back to the Dublin airport and catch a plane to London. I was SO EXCITED for this part of our trip.

When we landed in London we waited to sort out the car service to our hotel and amongst the confusion Mary and I found a little old man that we adored. We spent the next few days quoting, "where is my client?".

When we arrived at our hotel we sat in the bar and ordered a drink, headed up to our room then hit the streets for dinner and to explore.

Not only was our hotel amazing (like ahhhhmazing) but the location was so close to everything.

  

Just a short walk to Trafalgar Square

Next we walked to Buckingham Palace!!!!

Let us in!!

Queen Elizabeth...are you home?

I took 500 pictures of everything because I was mildly freaking out!

Westminster Abbey

And Big Ben!

It shocked me how excited I was to see this. Then the clock bells starting ringing and I just about lost my mind. Honestly, this was one of my favorite parts of our entire trip, if not my most favorite.

Walking towards Big Ben I think is when it truly hit me, 

"I. AM. IN. LONDON!!!!!"

It wasn't on my must-see list when thinking of London, I figured we would drive by it at some point but standing in front of it I was obsessed.  There are approximately 300 pictures of Big Ben on my phone and I have every intention of getting a picture enlarged and framed for my house.

  

We kept walking and just soaking everything in. The city seemed so clean and classy. I loved everything about it!

We stopped at 10 Downing Street and these men tried their hardest to show me the Prime Ministers house, eventually I nodded like I finally saw it but I'm not sure I ever did.

I need contacts. :)

Red double-decker buses and black cabs have my heart.

The next morning we woke up, rode the bus to Westminster Abbey and toured the inside. It was amazing! So much to see!!

After the tour we headed back to Buckingham Palace to try to catch the changing of the guard, we missed it but did get to see them march by.

Next we took the tube to Notting Hill and walked to Portobello Market.

I immediately recognized this store from the movie Paddington.

Mary and I each bought a souvenir here, I bought a little box that says Notting Hill Florist.

Paddington in Knotting Hill!

Mary got a 1st edition copy of the first Harry Potter book at Portobello Market!

Next stop, Kensington Palace!

Inside Kensington Palace

The Diana Exhibit was by far the highlight of the tour.

After Kensington Palace we rode a bus back to our hotel to drop off shopping bags (whoa, we did some shopping on this day! Westminster Abbey gift shop, Buckingham Palace gift shop, Knotting Hill, etc.) and then headed to the British Museum.

I'm so fascinated with Egypt, pyramids and mummies so I really liked this exhibit.

But my feet were KILLING me so I quickly was over the museum. haha

I think Mary could have stayed for hours but mom and I were ready to roll and get some dinner!

We grabbed dinner and headed back to the hotel because we had a super early wake-up call to head to PARIS!!!!