London, England - Day 2

To begin our second day in London, we decided to take a bicycle tour of the city. I have been able to ride a bike for a very long time so was eager for this fun activity - until I realized the bike was a bit temperamental. I swear that the handlebars were touchy or something because I was zigzagging all over the place. If there was a monument, I would nearly hit it. If there was a narrow passage, I would hit it. Actually. Twice. But all in all, this was very fun and we got to see a whole lot of the city in 4 hours! Pictures:

Parliament Building. 

Westminster Abbey.

The London Eye.

Keep calm... I should have listened. Though I had a bell, I usually just screamed at the pedestrians walking in front of me to save their life from me, the juggernaut.

After we finished our cycling, we headed to Abbey Road to recreate the Beatles' famous album cover. It is funny because such an interesting tourist attraction lies on such a quiet, normal street. There are small groups of people that gather on either side, hopping in front of oncoming traffic for that perfect picture, and there is a funny old man that gave everyone a little sheet of paper that said "Abbey Road" and directed you to the "Official Abbey Road Museum" which was this hilariously tiny shop piled with Beatles paraphernalia. But just look at the picture! Totally worth it!

Abbey Road, Emily and Brooke's request of the day, was followed by Lindsey's request: the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. This statue, was sculpted with reference to the J. M. Barrie's novel Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. Apropos, don't you think? (Ps: the gardens were beautiful too!)

Always ready for a good photo opportunity!

After the gardens, the group split up for the evening. I was with Brooke and we set off to see Ellen, a friend of mine from high school, who is studying abroad in London! It was so great to see a familiar face from home (though she moved from KC sophomore year so it had been four years!) and I enjoyed hearing about her study abroad experience! We also got to see where she is living - a beautiful townhouse - making me and Brooke drool.

Don't you just love reunions??!!

Brooke and I, looking for delicious but cheap food, followed Ellen's recommendation and went to a schawarma place called Taza (or something like that). Man it was delicious! We spent so little on the schawarma that we even splurged and bought coffee at Starbucks (yayay!) to refuel for our exciting night ahead!

We ran back to the hostel to get ready to see the musical Book of Mormon. Brooke had heard great things about the show and I was just along for the ride! We had a fun time getting quickly dolled up before running to the theatre. The show was very funny, and inappropriate most of the time, but made for an enjoyable evening out! During intermission I had a dark chocolate bar and Brooke had ice cream which made us even more happy!

After the show we wandered around Picadilly Circus for a while. We passed many shops, got invited onto a party bus (though we declined), and took our stereotypical London-phone-booth pictures! We also went to the M&Ms store which was the most colorful and exciting four floors of chocolate on planet earth! Like M&Ms bliss, truly!

Plus we found a photo booth so this happened...

When Brooke and I arrived at the hostel, we waited for Emily and Lindsey to come back from their show so we could take a picture. In the meantime, I befriended the guy working at the reception desk and this happened:

Our classy London pic!

Thanks for reading!

The Opinionated Lassie