London!

So this weekend I flew to London to meet up with my dad after his conference at Oxford and I could not have asked for a better weekend. The weather was absolutely amazing which I guess is pretty rare for London. We had sunny skies the entire weekend and it was around 65 degrees perfect for packing all the sights of London into a short weekend! London was so beautiful but by far the best part of the weekend was just being able to relax, finally getting to stay in a nice hotel, and not having to worry about anything, it was kind of just like going home for a weekend which was great.
I arrived in London Friday night and made my way from the airport and three tube stops to the hotel where we just relaxed, went out for dinner and got to bed early for a busy day in London. Our first stop was the Tower of London, we got there pretty early so it wasn't too crowded. We took a tour around there including seeing the Crown Jewels and many many locations where former kings and queens were beheaded. Then we walked across the Tower Bridge and got some nice pictures of London!

Tower of London

Classic Guard guarding the Tower of London

Tower Bridge and of course I needed a picture of a red double decker bus

Then we headed over to Westminster Abbey. It was really pretty and we took pictures from the outside but we declined to go inside, a) because the line was super long and b) I'm kind of over ancient churches if you can't tell by all my other blog posts. We saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and then Buckingham Palace and Green Park. Buckingham Palace was pretty packed because there was some demonstration going on outside.

Big Ben!

Westminster Abbey

My Dad and I in front of Buckingham Palace

After lunch, we went to Trafalgar Square where there was a big festival celebrating the end of Ramadan and then we went into the National Portrait Gallery which was pretty cool and that is saying a lot since I am not the hugest fan of art. Then we went and walked down Carnaby Street, which has a ton of shops basically any designer store you could ask for. Then we headed back to the hotel to rest for a little since we had done so much walking. Around 6 we went down to the London Eye which was beautiful and there were a bunch of cool street performers and tons of little kiosks to get any kind of food imaginable as well as great views of the rest of London. Unfortunately only being London for such a short time we couldn't go on the Eye but if I'm ever back I am definitely going to do that. Then we had dinner at this delicious restaurant and since we had a lot of pounds left that we needed to spend we ate so much food it was delicious!

National Portrait Gallery

Carnaby Street

The Eye: you can see the beautiful weather we experienced

London at sunset

Sunday morning we got up early to go and walk around Hyde Park before I had to leave for my flight! The weather once again was beautiful and it was the perfect Sunday morning to walk through park! Then I headed back to the airport and back to Montpellier. I'm excited to be back but I wish I had gotten to spend more time in London since it was such a beautiful city and I know there was so much more to see and do with more time. 

Just thought I'd include this for kicks: Dad taking a shot after dinner!

The Marble Arch outside Hyde Park

A lovely Sunday morning in Hyde Park

I know my last few posts have only been about trips, but don't worry I'll be in Montpellier for the next few weekends so I'll start posting more about how awesome Montpellier is! Miss you all!