Just touched down in London town.

Okay, I lied in the title, I left London a couple of days ago but I felt the need to honor Estelle’s American Boy. My adventure to the south of France began with a two-day stop over in London. I have never been so happy to touch solid ground after getting off of the worst flight I have ever experienced. There was a good amount of turbulence to say the least, but I won’t dwell on that.

After landing in Heathrow we were taken to our hotel, The Holiday Inn Regent’s Park. Being severely jetlagged I wanted to go straight to bed. However, I stuck through it. After a quick bite to eat at Pizza Express with the girls that were on the flight from Atlanta with me, we explored Regent’s Park where Queen Mary’s Gardens and the London Zoo are located. The park was so beautiful in the winter; I can only imagine how gorgeous it will be in the spring when everything is in bloom. After heading back to the hotel for a quick orientation meeting we went out to the Horse & Groom for a couple of drinks. They had cider on draft and I was sold.

The next morning we woke up early to eat the delicious English breakfast at the hotel before almost missing our tour bus. The tour bus we were taking was brand new; we were the first people to ever get a tour on it. I was enjoying myself, laid out on the backseat of the top level when all of a sudden I’m thrown forward into the seats ahead of me. A car had hit us. Long story short: I now have a black and blue bruise the size of an egg on my knee that hurts like hell.

Following our unfortunate accident, we were able to see all the great sites in London including: Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s Cathedral and Royal Albert Hall. While we didn’t get to go inside all of them, stopping for a quick photo opportunity outside was satisfying enough.

After our official tour ended a couple of girls and I decided to visit the London Tower which I found even more interesting after recently becoming obsessed with The Tudors (and watching all 4 seasons in about 3 weeks.) Walking around the Tower we learned about the many prisoners that were kept there, how the Tower was protected in times of battle and so much more.

Some of the highlights for me:
          -Learning the history of the wild beasts housed at the Tower and
           seeing the wire statues of them
          -Seeing the armor of all the kings and the armor for their horses
          -The life-sized models of each King’s personal horse
          -THE CROWN JEWELS (need I explain more?)

After finishing up at the Tower we went for dinner at The Wellington, a great pub that had delicious fish & chips, actually the best fish & chips I’ve ever had, but I suppose that should be expected in London.

Sorry this first post was long and somewhat boring, it was a pain in my ass to write between moving in, getting over jet lag, and exploring Cannes. I absolutely LOVE Cannes and will have a post on it in the next couple of days.