Our first morning in London! So exciting! We awoke quite early and went downstairs to have breakfast. Something that I noticed right away that was different from the States was that most all buildings in London start at floor zero, and then go up from there. So actually, our breakfast was held on the second floor of the hotel, even though that floor was named floor one. As soon as we finished breakfast it was off to the conference room down the hall where we heard the 4 London presentations of London (the city), British Parliament, Bloomberg, and Harrods. They were all great! I really enjoyed how the Harrods team gave out chocolate coins if we answered a question correctly… however, I didn’t know any answers haha.
Then it was off to our private bus tour around London. It was a really great way to get oriented to the city, because up until that point, we had only seen a limited amount the night before. Our tour guide was super knowledgeable, but after a few hours, riding on a bus taking pictures out the window seemed pretty redundant. We got off at Buckingham Palace just in time to see the changing of the guard! It’s has such a regal feel to it. What really boggles my mind is that changing of the guards happen all over the city multiple times a day. It’s such an involved affair that mainly appeals to the tourist who wants to see it once and then they’re fine to move on. Unfortunately, I couldn’t have the great pleasure of saying I was at Buckingham Palace when the Queen was inside, because she was at her residence at Windsor Castle, which is where she spends most of her weekends. Nevertheless, I took some good camcorder footage of the changing of the guard as it was happening and then just of the Palace as well.
We broke off from the bus tour (as most people did after seeing Buckingham Palace), and went out to explore London on our own. After walking around, failing to correctly read the map to the underground station, taking the cliché red telephone booth picture, we finally made it onto the tube and rode it up to Camden Markets. We had heard it was very eclectic shopping, but very very neat to check out. Unfortunately for CJ, Kinsey, and me, we didn’t really know where the actual Camden Market was once we got off the tube. We wondered around for a few minutes, saw a little cluster of shops that said “The Camden Markets” and assumed that must be what we were looking for. We wondered through the whole thing within 10 minutes of arriving, and were less than impressed. We left feeling a little disappointed because as 3 girls would, we were really looking forward to having some good shopping time in Camden. It wasn’t until later that evening that we realized our mistake. After talking to another group from our trip who went to Camden on the same day, they told us that the market we went to was actually the imitator for the real Camden markets which was down a few blocks and around a corner. The other group said the real Camden Market was definitely something to see, and had great items for super cheap. One girl got a jacket for 9 pounds!
After our failure of a trip at Camden Markets, we did what any typical young American tourist does when they come to London… We went to King’s Cross train station and got our picture with the Harry Potter platform 9 ¾! There is a special area that the train station put in just for Harry Potter enthusiasts in which you can go get your picture taken with the cart halfway pushed into the wall. It was definitely something I had to do in London, and I got it done on the first day!
Another thing that we had to accomplish within the first couple days in London was venturing inside Harrods before our business presentation with them scheduled for Tuesday. I had heard about the store before the trip as this most extravagant luxury retailer, and was anxious to see if it would live up to all the hype. I’m pleased to say that it most certainly did!! We explored the food department of the store first, and everything looked amazing and so delicious! CJ and I decided on buying a cupcake from the Harrods bakery and Kinsey decided to be brave and try a whoopie (like a whoopie pie we have back in the U.S.). My red velvet cupcake was pretty good, although I think I just prefer a cupcake with sweeter cake and less sweet frosting. However, that is not to say that the frosting wasn’t good! In fact it was the best part for sure! Unfortunately, mother nature was not on our side that afternoon, and when we walked outside of Harrods to eat our cupcake (because we couldn’t find a place to eat inside), it was pouring down rain. We attempted to sit on a bench, hold umbrellas, and eat our crumbling cupcake all at once. Apparently my motor skills don’t work that way and cupcake crumbs ended up all over my lap and the ground! After we made complete fools of ourselves, we went back into Harrods and did more wandering around. There was still so much that we didn’t see, but we left because our feet were hurting! We had been walking everywhere!
After dinner, CJ, Kinsey, and I decided to ride the tube down to the Westminster stop and see Parliament lit up at night. We got there right at dusk, and had a wonderful view! It was so gorgeous! We took lots of pictures of the Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, and the London Eye. We had another long day tomorrow, so it was time to go back and get some sleep.
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