Celeste Summer

Keeping up with this blog was much more difficult than anticipated. When only being in Spain for 4 weeks, having school, and what feels like 5 million amazing things to go look at, the last thing I could do was sit myself at a computer. I kept a journal of my trip and would plop down at the beach and put the paper to the pen on the plane, but good wi-fi seemed to be hard to come by. Although, now that I'm home I have an excuse to relive my last 8 weeks.

Leaving Thursday and spending the weekend in London was not nearly enough time to absorb the UK ways and british lingo that lined the streets. I'm proud to say I got a hand of the "tube" and successfully walked 50 miles in 4 days. Here's what went down and some of my new "must do's" if in London:

• The Queens Birthday is in April, but her "official" birthday is a Saturday in June which happened to be Saturday I was in town. Happy early birthday to me? We were lucky to catch a glimpse of the festive as the jets soared over Big Ben and the Buckingam palace, while coloring the  sky with red and blue. Keep this in mind if traveling in June!

• Rented bikes to ride along the river, through the Palace and over to Hyde Park - serious risky business considering bikes aren't allowed on sidewalks. Probably one of the scary moments riding along with the massive double deckers driving the streets! So worth it though because we got through a couple parks and more miles than our feet could have handled. There are bike rentals around every corner so pick one up in one spot and drop it off in another. No need to ride it back if you don't want!

• Museum tours included the Natural History Museum and Albert & Victoria Museum (Worlds greatest museum of art and design). Suddenly became a museum buff, and for not being one before, these two were extremely entertaining and very interesting. 

• Leicester Square where you can find a "Little Italy" and "China Town", plus lively streets, hussle and bustle and a lot of lights! Very lively atmosphere, but going hungry is essential because there are a million restaurants. Devoured probably the most amazing waffles and ice cream in this spot. 

• We got ourselves lovely London rain one afternoon (actually, more like showers). This isn't out of the blue for London, but we stumbled into a pub to grab a cider and beer. If you're caught in a storm or looking for a mid afternoon drink, pop in a bar, catch some rugby and have a cider...or two!

• I will say this over and over again, but I loved getting lost. Accidentally, we stumbled across a half mile ally way full of graffiti and artist at work on our way to South bank. Cameras were rolling and it looked as though they were filming documentaries - the entire place were artist at work and not one person bothered them. The walls were beautiful. Get on the tube, pick a spot you've never heard of and wander! 

• Do a bus tour! As cliche as it might sound, it lead us to the guard change at the palace and further into the Westminster Abby than we would have been able to go on our own! 

• Westminster Abby
• Buckingham Palace
• Abby Road

SHOPPING

• For small boutiques and not so main stream clothing stores, make sure to get over to Carnaby Street for those one of a kind London fashion finds. These stores sometimes close earlier than others, especially on Sundays, so don't make the mistake I made and get there before 6:00!
• Higher end, luxury shopping can be found on London's "rodeo drive" on Regent street. Beautiful grounds lined with chain stores, but head down the side streets and come across fun restaurants, like an Ice Bar!