August 2017
Coming to London the second time around was not as fun as the first time…for a few reasons. The first time I came was in 2011 and I spent a number of days touring the city and just relaxing. This time however, I had less than 24-hours since I decided to do a day trip from Paris and now thinking about it, I should have gone to Belgium since I’ve never been. Oh well… Secondly, I had a strict agenda of all the places I wanted to go–that I did not see the first time around and things rarely go as you plan. We ran out of time to go deeper into the city farther away from the tourist areas. That sucked…
And since I was traveling with my cousin and he has never been to London, we obviously had to hit up all the popular places first. That set me back, but it was okay. Anyhow, we set out first to go on the London-Eye. Thankfully we arrived to London very early because the line was short! We left Paris at about 7 AM or so and arrived in London at about 9:30 AM. It’s a very short ride. We took the Euro-Star at the Gare Du Nord Train Station from Paris.
Once we arrived in London finally, getting out of the train station was a mess. It was the most confusing adventure during my time abroad. We had an Uber waiting for us. It took us so long to find our way out, the Uber left us. 🙁 But, we finally made it out… lol And then I saw my favorite red metro signs. I’m in London!!!
We caught a new Uber and it took us to the London-Eye. Once we got to there I saw the taxi’s. And of course I had to take a picture with one of them. They are seriously my favorite! 
Now, I have to say, this is actually my first time riding the London-Eye and I was quite impressed. Being able to look out over the entire city was awesome…
Just to let you know, riding the London Eye is not a private experience. You are grouped on the London-Eye with about 8 other people. In my little bubble, there was a British family and I fell in love listening to them talk. The little boy, whom I’m guessing is their son, was so ecstatic about the views. “Look Mom, Look!” I giggled. The British accent will grab your attention immediately!
After riding the London-Eye, we set out to ride along the Thames River on a boat ride. I’ve done this before so I was super happy because my previous experience was awesome! HOWEVER, by the time we got there the boat was nearly full. There was an upper deck and a lower deck–of course the upper deck is full because you are sitting on top with the best views and no windows. The lower deck is awful because you are inside the boat with windows and who says you’ll even get a window seat? When we got up to the front of the line, they allowed us onto the boat but it was the bottom deck. We wanted to be on top–um hello, who comes miles and mies away to sit on the bottom? That changes your ENTIRE Thames River Cruise experience. We got off the boat just before it departed, to speak with a manager or somebody! I told them that I was not going to sit on the bottom deck, that is not what I spent my money on and just to be clear, this was in Pounds! That’s far more than the Dollar. They yelled back at us telling us it’s first come first serve. Oh no! Oh no! No they didn’t. I went to someone else for help and I was determined that I would get back on another boat and on the top deck. When I went to the information desk where tickets were being sold, I explained my situation and the lady was so kind to exchange them for a new time slot and we were the first to stand in line for the next boat with no extra charge. I appreciated her so much and was so glad she actually cared and understood. While we were able to finally take our river cruise, we lost a lot of time. Ouch! But…the views were worth it!
After the river cruise along the Thames river, we walked along the Westminster bridge and went to the Parliament area. That’s always my favorite. ..And of course, Big Ben was there to greet us!
We decided to walk 40 minutes to Buckingham Palace to see the Queen. This area of London always feels so magical and the gates, they remind me of something I’ll see in Heaven.
Along the way, we saw the famous red telephone booths. I love these things! …I’m sure you can tell 🙂
Lastly, we went to the Tower Bridge. The first time I came to London I didn’t walk the bridge so of course this time I had to do it. But when I got there, I was too tired to actually walk across it, so I just went far enough to get some good photos and the experience of actually being on the bridge.
After leaving, we saw a cute pink taxi and it was going so fast I wondered if it was in high demand lol.
We wanted to head back to Paris but decided, well lets hang out a little bit longer. We did… We went to a pub named George Inn. Apparently Shakespeare drank here. My cousin thought the beer was awesome. Me, I can’t do beer. Gross. The location of the pub was in this cute brick area with flower pots everywhere. I loved it!
It started to get dark, so we took a taxi and headed back to the train station for Paris.. Uber was surging so we had to hail down a taxi. In the mean time we stayed posted at the bus stop lol…
The taxi ride was also really fun because they drive on the left side of the street. Watching that while riding was pretty funny.
And that was the end to my London day-trip!
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