I ain't never seen nothin' like a Galway girl: Touring London

We woke up early on our second day in London and got breakfast. After breakfast we went to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guards. It was AMAZING. I absolutely loved it and took way too many pictures of the guards. Unfortunately, the Queen was not in London which was kind of upsetting. I did not know what to expect from the changing of the guards but it was definitely something to see. It was also amazing to see how many people were there to see the changing of the guards. After we spent a significant amount of time watching the changing of the guards we headed to a park to go on a tour of London.

Buckingham Palace.

The new love of my life...a Buckingham Palace Guard.

The changing of the guards.

Danny, Michelle, Me, Liz, and Christine outside of Buckingham Palace.

Just protecting Buckingham Palace. Nbd.

The tour company is called NewEurope Tours and it is a free tour company. It is run by people our age and costs us nothing to go on. They run completely on tips so the tour guides are really good because they want to make some money. The tour took us all around London, we saw Buckingham Palace again, Horse Guards Parade, St. James's Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, among other things. The Horse Guards Parade is where the 2012 Beach Volleyball Olympics will be held. We were standing where they are going to be playing volleyball in a year or so. It was so cool. Our tour guide also told us that they are going to put sand where all the rocks are now to prepare for the beach volleyball games. When we saw Buckingham Palace again we got to take more pictures in front of it. St. James's Palace is the Queen's official royal residence. If you ever want to write to her, you send it to that address even though she does not live there ever. Since the Queen was not in London, there were no guards at St. James's Palace which was upsetting because if she had been in London I could have gotten my picture taken with one of the guards. However, since she was not there and there were no guards we got to go into where the guards stand when they are there and pretend to be guards. Westminster Abbey was awesome to see since Prince William and Catherine Middleton will be getting married there in a little over a month. London was already buzzing with excitement for the wedding which is definitely going to be something to see. Our tour guide told us an interesting story about protestors who protest just about anything and are camped outside near Westminster Abbey. One of the protestors has been there since 9/11 happened and this year would have meant that he had been living on the street for 10 years. However, with the upcoming nuptials all of the protestors are being forced to clear the streets meaning that the protestor will not get his record of being on the street for 10 years.

St. James's Palace.

Practicing to protect The Queen.

Horse Guards Parade.

Christine, Me, and Liz in front of Westminster Abbey.

Westminster Abbey.

Me, Liz, and Christine in front of Big Ben.

William and Kate Forever...a sign from the protestors.

Me in front of Big Ben.

When we thought we had seen everything the tour had to offer we left the group and went to the see the London Eye. It was really expensive to go on and it was already very late in the day and I still had more I wanted to see so Liz, Christine and I decided to not go on the London Eye and instead head the Portobello Road to go to the market. E had told me that Portobello Road was a must-see in London and she was right. The stands were really cool and I even found bar towels for my dad at one of the stands and I had been searching for some for a long time. After we walked all the way down Portobello Road we headed back to the hotel and grabbed sandwiches on the way.

The London Eye.

Portobello Road.

Buildings on Portobello Road.

We then got ready and met back up with Michelle and Danny to go on a pub crawl offered by the same company as we did the tour with. It was called the NewEurope Pub Crawl and although we had to pay for it, it was cool because we got a free shot (if you can call it that) at each venue we went to and we did not have to pay the cover charges to get in anywhere which I am told by people who are studying abroad in London and by my friends who had already visited can add up quickly. Some places charge 15 pounds just to get in! We went to a couple of places on the pub crawl and had a great time. We also got discounted drinks and deals since we were on the pub crawl so in the end it was a great way to spend one of our nights in London. Luckily, the tube was even running when we finished the pub crawl so we were able to hop right on the tube and take it back to our hotel. Once again we had another early morning because we still had lots of sightseeing to do.