Its so crazy to think that just 36 hours ago, I graduated from the University of Kentucky with a degree in Chemical Engineering. My lovely family, both immediate and extended, joined me for the ceremony!!! Then an unfortunately brief mothers day celebration was had before my journey would begin. Now I would have loved to have spent more time with my mom, auntie neezy and crazy on mothers day since it was the first one we have had together since 1992, but they were all there to see me off to the airport where Chelsea and I met up with Brandon to head to London!!!!
The flights were and Virgin Airlines is fantastic about service. The gave little care bags with a sleep mask and socks and even tooth brush and tooth paste! Plus alcohol and food was free! We met up with Adam at the airport after I made it through customs and collected my baggage.
Upon leaving the Airport, oyster cards in hand, we hopped in
the underground to Queensway, where our Hostel was located. We stayed at the
Queensway Astor Hostel which was surprisingly nice! We had a room to ourselves
with 4 beds so we didn’t have to share. The shower and sink were in our room
but the toilet were a flight down. The only truly inconvenient thing was the
five flights of stairs up and down with our luggage.
We decided to be ambitious and cover quite bit a ground our
first day, 10.3 miles of ground to be exact! We wandered all through Kensington
Gardens, the Kensington Palace and some of the Princess Diana memorial walk
since it was so near to our hostel. It was absolutely stunning!!! The gardens
were by far my favorite. The shrubs were nicely trimmed plus bright green while
the flowers were in full bloom! The trees were so large and there were plenty of
people just hanging out on the lawn. The Palace was rather large and had really
cool exhibits. We wandered through the kings rooms with and interactive “smell”
map, complete with lovely scratch and sniff spots. We saw the fashion of
royalty, including some of Princess Diana’s signature gowns. The beading and
patterns on h gown were so beautiful. My favorite part of the palace however
was the reveling of Queen Victoria and King Albert’s love story. There were
quotes all through their estate that showed they has such a strong, deep love.
It was inspiring!!! The memorial walk was along the water where there were
plenty of birds around. They made the place feel alive and exciting! But, maybe
that was because I kept trying to dodge the pigeons.
After a quick stop off at the Hostel, we headed back out to Piccadilly
Circus and Convent Gardens for diner and an evening stroll. We ate at a
recommended pub for traditional fish and chips. The whole place was wood
paneled making it cozy and warm. Each room had a theme: cottage, lodge-ish, and
the church room. We ate down in the church room. The booth has high backs that
were pointed like a gothic church and there were strange faces hanging on the
wall. Everywhere you looked there was something different! I had an English
Lager called Carling with dinner that was excellent. All four of us got the
fish and chips. The fish was crunchy and obviously fresh. I added malt vinegar
to the top, as tradition dictates, and it added a certain something special to
the already delicious dish. The chips were crisp on the outside and soft in the
middle. They were the best dipped I their house Tartar Sauce. I don’t
traditionally eat tartar sauce because it’s so mayo-ey, but this one was so
good, I cleared the dish and almost asked for more! It was tangier than the US
and it was a little thinner, almost like ketchup consistency. After dinner we
wandered the streets of London looking at the closed shops and letting the
streets guide us. We ended up in Covenant Gardens, but most everything was
closed. We were serenaded on the way back to the tube by a man singing into a
traffic cone, such musical talent.
Day 1 was a success and utterly exhausting. Day 2 proved to
be just as full of London sites.
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