Six Days in London, Four Days with Lauren, 162 Days Left in Munich

Okay, I’m not really counting down the days until I leave Munich but, to be fair, it’s really hard to come back to my normal life after I’ve spent two weeks on vacation. And what an amazing vacation it was, too. I really needed it. After spending four incredibly boring days alone in Munich with nothing to do and no one in town to see, I left for London to spend six days with my friend, Fionnuala, and her lovely family. I was treated to some proper Irish hospitality by her mother and I really enjoyed all of the homecooked meals and conversation. Fio and I ventured into the city everyday and had the perfect New Years Eve celebration on Friday night. And remember when I posted my list of London resolutions? Well, I met almost all of them! Also, my best friend from college, Lauren, came to visit me for a few days while she was in England visiting her boyfriend and it was like nothing had changed – except that we were in a foreign country and she refused to learn German and speak it at Starbucks or the bars. Ha. I had so much fun seeing her again and look forward to the summer when I’m back in California and can see her (and all of my other friends) more often!

Now… for the pictures…

My London Vacation resolutions:

• Visit as many of the free museums as is possible: Fio and I went to the British Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, and the Natural History Museum. My favorite the three was the Natural History Museum. We visited the dinosaur exhibit first which wasn’t really that cool – I think dinosaurs are fake, someone made them up. Ha. But the human biology exhibit was really cool. Especially because I got to learn how babies are made! I really didn’t know! Haha.

The Natural History Museum

This is how it works, apparently. It took Fio and I about 1 minute to
figure out what we were looking at though. Haha.

• Take pictures with the British Royal Guards (make him laugh!) and, if possible, watch the changing of the guard: I didn’t get a picture with a guard (unless you count the one that I took with the guard at Madame Tussaud’s. Haha. They stand really far away from the crowds so it’s pretty much impossible but I did the change of the guards in Buckingham Palace.

• Have fish and chips with English beer: Delicious. Of course.

• Take pictures with all of the major London monuments: I managed to get most of them!

Buckingham Palace

The London Eye


a red London phone box

Big Ben and House of Parliament

West Minister Abbey

• Have a proper English breakfast: Fio and I made one our first morning and pretty much every morning thereafter. Delicious! Although I did miss out on the baked beans!

• Get drunk in a REAL English pub: If you count Wetherspoons as a real one then yes, I did!

• Watch the fireworks on New Year’s Eve.

• Eat Indian food with Fio.

And it was delicious. I am a believer.

• Ice skate at Somerset House. I don’t even remember why I put this on there. Haha.
  
• Meet a handsome British man (Jude Law, anyone?) and make him fall in love with me: Not Jude Law, okay, and really no one fell in love with anyone else but I did meet them. Kind of.

 

And then there was Lauren!