London Trip, Part I

I'm definitely a small town girl. I grew up in a town of 10,000 people and I go to school in a town of 14,000, 9,000 of whom are students. I've been to big cities before (Paris, New York, Chicago) but nothing that even comes close to comparing to London. London is a bustling city, filled with tourists from hundreds of different places. Before I left I posted on Twitter and Facebook, asking people for recommendations and the response was overwhelming! Everyone had something to say about this incredible city, and were more than willing to share their tips and tricks on how to handle London. It was either someplace to eat, the best shopping areas, the most informative museums or an amusing people watching area. There are so many things to do, places to see and new experiences to be had that of course there was no way I was going to see it all in four days. Seeing as how big the city is, I think I did a pretty decent job of seeing the very coolest things. Here is a rundown of my action packed four days, broken into two parts to make it easier to follow:

Friday
I woke up at 4AM in order to have enough time to get ready before heading out to the train station at 6AM! Train ride for 4 hours, most of which was fairly uneventful. Thankfully all my electronics were charged, so I was all set! They charged for WiFi on the train, so I was more than happy to use my handy BlackBerry/PlayBook connection, and had internet throughout the whole ride. This saved everyone around me from a lot of, "Are we there yet? How much longer? I'm bored." As soon as we pulled into the London station I noticed immediately that you had to be aware of what was going on. You need to be quick to get where you're going and not get sucked into a crowd! We went straight to our hostel, which was so cute! I had a preconceived notion in my head that all hostels were dirty, cluttered, and old, but this proved me wrong! It was called Palmers Lodge Swiss Hostel (you can check it out here: http://palmerslodges.com/swisscottage/hostel/).

After unpacking all of our things and putting them into our own little cubbies, we went off to explore the city. The first stop? None other than Abbey Road of course! We not only got to see the iconic crosswalk, but we also got to walk across it, pretending to be the Beatles. After more than a few failed attempts at taking a picture, due to cars trying to run us over, we decided to reenact the scene a bit farther down the road. Then we had free time until our show later on that night. Deanna took us to a very quaint shop filled with Beatles knick-knacks. Everything in the store was one of a kind and very unique! We bought a few collectibles and then decided to make our way back to the hostel. Our plans for the night included going to see the play Wicked, which I was more than thrilled to see! Naturally, this was a great excuse for all the girls to get super dressed up with full hair and makeup, and new dresses purchased at local stores. The styling process took about 2 hours, a time in which we got yelled at for taking up all of the sink space with our makeup bags, blow dryers and straighteners. After making sure everyone looked acceptable, we had to get pictures, which took another hour. Heaven forbid that all of us girls spend so much time getting dressed up only for it to be wasted by not having photographic evidence!

After all that, we finally made our way downtown and to the theater. The venue itself was extremely nice, which apparently most theaters in London are. Wicked was absolutely incredible. Everyone has been telling me for so long to see it, but I've never had a chance. Now I know why everyone loved it so much! The set was so detailed and over the top, the costumes fit the characters perfectly, and the actors had amazing voices that filled the room. As much as I wish I could describe it, there is no way I would be able to, much less be able to do it justice. By the time the show was done and we had gotten back, it was late and everyone was definitely ready to go to bed.
Saturday

Banksy was one of the main things I wanted to see in London, so we booked a free walking tour to see some of the graffiti around the area. The tour didn't start until noon, but we got up early so we could have plenty of time to find it, and also have time to walk around the area. We found a few cute shops and restaurants, but nothing that really stood out. After a while of walking around, we headed back to the area where the tour was starting, a place called Spitalsfield Market. We were waiting on a few other members of our group to show up, since they knew the exact location of the tour. Unfortunately, their time management skills weren't the best, and by the time we had reached the starting point, the group was long gone. Fear not, though, because we found something even better to spend our time (and money!) on. In the center of the area, there was a market where vendors sold tons of different things, clothing, jewelry, food, vintage items, you name it and it was there. We were so excited to find something that was so unique! I've experienced a few markets in bigger cities like Madison, but this truly outdid anything I've ever seen. This wasn't somebody's junk placed on a plastic table, this was handmade items, creatively displayed. I found so many wonderful things there, including a skull print scarf with the Union Jack flag inside, great vintage jewelry (all of which reminded me of Layne and her wonderful jewelry collection which I desperately miss stealing from), handmade cards, prints of Banksy's work (so even though I couldn't see it, I could see it!), and so many other things. After spending lots of time and money at the market, we made our way down to the London Eye. The underground stop that we got off on was Trafalgar Square, which I was told to just sit and people watch in. Boy are there some different characters there! Tourists and locals come to this beautiful area, where there are plenty of statues. We saw kids on a break from school, tourists looking lost as ever, locals enjoying a beautiful sunny day and became so entranced! After a while of being amused by people watching, we crossed the bridge over to the London Eye. As it came into view, it hit me that I was finally in London! I've wanted to visit this magical city since I could remember, and here I finally was. It truly made me realize how lucky I am to have these experiences. Although the line for the London Eye looked really long, we made it to the front in about 30 minutes. The view from the top was absolutely magical! You could see every iconic building. They even had Samsung tablets on the inside of the Eye that showed where specific places were, and famous things that happened there. After our typical tourist stint, we headed back to the hostel to drop off our stuff. We were off to a pub crawl! The trek there was quite an interesting one. There were 5 girls together, who were meeting 2 guys at the first stop. After a little miscommunication on who was where, we finally got it figured out on where we were supposed to be. Since we were a little late, the group had moved on to the second stop, but thankfully it was just right across the street from the first. We were given coupons for a free shot, which ended up tasting like black licorice. We spent an hour there, then walked to the next stop, which was a really fun club! We danced like no other, and for those of you that know it, did a little Gangnam Style as well. (For those of you that don't, it's a very typical Lauren-like dance that involves a lot of jumping around...check it out on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bZkp7q19f0) We ended up meeting a group of 3 American guys who were really cool, one of whom even gave me a Sharpie mustache on my finger!

After all the crazy dancing, partying and mingling, we decided to call it a night and head back. Two action packed days in a row exhausts you pretty quickly, especially in a city like London!
Whew, what a post! I've decided to give your eyes (and attention spans) a rest, and I'll post part two very soon! Stay tuned for Sunday and Monday! :)