Honeymoon Tour: London - Day One

11/13/17

Au revoir Paris, 'ello London! We were switching countries today so we began our day with our typical French breakfast...

and continued with a delicious lunch on the Eurostar...

before arriving to Kings Cross (hello Harry Potter!). We tracked down one of the most adorable taxicabs ever! Turns out the English taxis are from one specific company and that's why they are so unique and recognizable. There had been an unfortunate incident on the Tube earlier in the morning while we were on our way into London so we decided not to take the tube anywhere while we were there. We arrived to our hotel, changed clothes, dropped off our luggage, and then set out for some sightseeing. It was a travel day so we didn't do too much as far as events go but I still think we fit a lot in.

We started off by walking to the London Eye, which was about 5 minutes across the river from our hotel. We even had a view of it from our window....

By the way, we stayed at the Royal Horseguards Hotel, which really gave us the honeymoon treatment. I highly recommend this hotel just because it was awesome!

The London Eye is the famous ferris wheel where you can oversee London. It takes about a half hour to go completely around and you're fully enclosed in a glass orb so you can really see a lot of the city. Let's begin.

Of course you can see Parliament and Big Ben.

Unfortunately we didn't get to hear Big Ben while we were in London because they are doing a renovation project. Luckily, the scaffolding was not up all the way so we still got to see Big Ben's beautiful face! We could also see Westminster Abbey standing proudly behind Big Ben:

Then you could also see Buckingham Palace (it's literally a palace in the middle of the city). I couldn't wait to see it up close!

What was neat about the London Eye was that it had various iPads that told you about the buildings you were looking at. I could pick out the big stuff but there were quite a few buildings I would never have recognized. This is when we were nearing the top! It's also a good photo to show you what the pod looks like.

We then walked to Trafalgar Squarea and found an amazing pub called The Admiralty.

At the Admiralty, I got fish and chips....because when in London!

It was delicious. Mashed peas aren't a thing here in the States but I enjoyed them very much! Andrew got a burger, which was also tasty! But seriously, look how big this fish of mine was! I was disappointed it did not have the traditional round "chips" but it's was all good so I got over it. We enjoyed the food very very much.

Just a quick little vent about English service though. I was warned before going to Europe that European service is different than American service. In America we want to be waited on immediately, food ordered all at once, delivered quickly, and the bill brought to us without asking toward the end. However, I quickly learned that in Europe you have to actually ask for the bill. They do not walk up and ask you if you are finished. We spent SO much time in this pub just waiting for the waiter to walk up to give us our tab before realizing this crucial difference in countries. Good thing we were enjoying the food and drink! Also, this pub had the smallest and most narrow bathroom stalls ever....and they were one of those old types with the pull chain. I HAD to take a photo.

After dinner we walked around the to take in the sights. I saw Westminster Abbey -- which looked quite daunting against the black sky. See what I mean?

Bummer we didn't get married there! Lol. I stood there for a little too long thinking to myself Kate Middleton was right here! I am literally standing where she stood! Then we continued with our night time tour. We saw a glowing red London Eye.

Question: Does the London Eye always glow red? We weren't sure. It's owner or sponsor or whatever is Coca Cola so we were thinking it always glows red. Does anyone know?

Then I saw a red phone booth and a double decker bus! Selfie moments.