london, england

On the Nov. 24th, we flew through Dublin into London Gatwick. This was to facilitate the round trip airfare with RyanAir. (more on that later) Arriving in the city around 1:00, we made our way to the hostel. In this case, by hostel, I mean bed in someone's house. Anyway, the weather was overcast but we still left quickly after dropping off our things to meet friends studying in London.

We spent the next day walking around London and using the underground when available. We saw just about everything we could and the weather was great. Stopping at the London Eye, we realized that a weekend afternoon wasn't the best time.

The next morning, we got up early and made the trip down to the Eye. Arriving at 9:30 when tickets went on sale, we were the first up and had our own 'pod'. The view was incredible and the weather was great while we were up there. We spent the rest of the day wandering town and taking pictures. Tower Bridge was a favorite.

We then wandered farther East on the south bank of the River Thames and found the London Design Museum. We gladly paid admission and waded through the hipster art crowd towards the exhibits. One of the themes was 'space'. This included furniture, lighting, and vehicles.

There was also some fashion design exhibit that we wandered through on the way out. The colors were very bright and the pictures showed them well, so I thought I'd share.

At night, we spent our time walking through the theater district with another friend studying in London. The fountains in Trafalgar Square provided a great opportunity for us to just hang around and wander.

There are plenty more pictures of this part of the trip (400 or so), and when I've got time to sift through them more carefully, I'll put up a full gallery. Overall, our time in London was great. Our hostel was just a couple blocks from Victoria Station and that meant it was easy to get anywhere. The only part of the trip that began to wear on us is the exchange rate. Things seemed to be priced the same as they are at home. The only problem with that is, the 2:1 exchange rate. No big deal though! We made due on a few meals out and plenty of food from the grocery store.

An update on our time in Edinburgh, Scotland will come as soon as I've got the time to sort out some photos and write a summary.