The Tube, Tours, and Tea-Time

Can't believe it's already our last day in London. Yes, it does feel like we've been here forever, but I hadn't really given much thought to the next parts of our trip, especially Austria, which is where we're headed next.

I found out later that today, June 5th, was National Running Day back in the US, and I definitely unknowingly celebrated it! I got up a couple hours early with Kelsey, and we took the Tube to Tower Hill station by the Tower of London. We ran from there , over Tower Bridge and along the Southbank, all the way to Westminster station, which ended up being about 3 miles, perfect for my stupid reduced running IT band situation. But I won't get into that. I got to do a run I really wanted to do last year but wasn't able to do, so I was pretty psyched. And I was really glad to have company with Kelsey for it. We also got day passes for the Tube, which ended up comind in handy throughout the day. 

Running by Big Ben!

We went to the National Gallery before hitting up Westminster Abbey. Basically I was really tired, like my feet ached horribly, so I sat down on a bench whenever I could and looked at the paintings from there. I hadn't been to this part of the gallery for the most part--I can't believe how big the place is!! My favorite piece by far was Monet's "The Water Lily Pond". I'd seen the picture before, but seeing the real-life painting, the ACTUAL piece, was incredible. I didn't want to leave. But we had to go grab lunch (went to Pret...the McDonald's of England) and hurry off to meet the rest of our group for our tour at Westminster Abbey!

I found myself in a very cranky mood, probably from sleep deprivation, so I was really happy that I'd been here before and taken the time to appreciate everything because I really do like Westminster Abbey. I'm no history person, but I love the history of this city, and Westminster is jam-packed with it. But today people were tired and complaining and I don't think we necessarily had an accurate look at the place because of these other factors.

Tube with Emily and Kelsey!

I was thrilled to break off the huge group with Kelsey, Emily, and Hannah to have the afternoon to ourselves. Kelsey and Hannah wanted to go back to Kensington Palace to get a few things in the gift shop, so we got to take the Tube again. After that we ended up in Convent Garden, and I was so so excited to be back in that particular part of London. There are tourists here too, but it's a bit more off the beaten path than Big Ben or the Tower of London. We saw a few street performers and walked through the market before stopping for tea and scones. Yum. That might have been my favorite part of London--getting away from the hustle and bustle of the city and regimented schedule of our program and just getting to relax.

Street performer in Convent Garden

Tea time!

 We had dinner at the hotel again, and then I retreated to Starbucks in search of Wi-Fi, where I was promptly kicked out at 10 o'clock when it closed.

Lots of packing, then 3am wake-up call and it's off to Salzburg! 

Until next time.