London, England

Hey Friends and Family!
So, Tyler and I went to Europe! It was the most amazing trip that I have ever been on. This sounds corny, but I've been wanting to travel Europe since I was little, so for us to have been able to make it happen was incredible. We visited London, Paris and Madrid and spent three days in each city. We took so many photos and did so many things, so I feel like the best way to cover this trip is to divide it up by cities that we visited. I also tried hard to weed out photos so that this post wouldn't take an hour to skim through, so you can let me know how I did. :)

So we arrived in London at 11am and we had a full day to enjoy before giving into our jet-lag and going to sleep. We stayed in a Flat in the West End of London that we snagged it on airbnb.com. We seriously lucked out on the location being so perfect and having such a helpful "host" (he just owns the flat, he wasn't staying there with us). Here is a picture outside our flat:

 So, if you're like me and have never been to London and don't know, the West End is pretty much this incredible shopping district. It's blocks and blocks and blocks of shopping, food and entertainment. So much fun! I feel like we could have stayed there for a week and still not have seen all of that area.

So one thing that we loved about London: FISH AND CHIPS! Gah! Just seeing these pictures again is making my mouth water! YUM.

This is inside our Flat

 So on our first day in London we just explored West End, chomped on some delicious fish & chips, and then topped the evening off at the theater district (which conveniently was a few short blocks away from our flat).

After hearing some raving reviews from my sister in law, Courtney, we had previously, and eagerly reserved some tickets to see Les Miserables. Boy, was that a way to start off our trip! It was INCREDIBLE. Honestly. Even Tyler was singing the songs afterwards, raving about it show and dying to see it again. Even weeks later we are still awe-stuck from it and craving it. Can you tell that we thoroughly enjoyed it? :)

 The next day we took a tour of historical London. As soon as we came up from the metro we immediately saw Big Ben. The whole day I felt surreal, seeing all of these things I have only ever seen in pictures and movies. Definitely a great day!

Here's my handsome husband, fresh off the subway and taking in the sites. 

Behind Tyler is the London Eye Ferris Wheel 

Big Ben!! 

One of the first stops on our tour was Westminster Abbey. It was amazing, gorgeous and much bigger and detailed than I thought it would be.

 

After thoroughly exploring Westminster Abbey, continued on our tour. We walked past the Churchill War-rooms, enjoyed the Royal Gardens and seeing Buckingham Palace. Afterwards we gorged on some more fish and chips, bought some postcards, and then headed back to the flat to get ready for the Theater that night. We saw Phantom of the Opera. Once again, it deserves raving reviews and, even weeks later, we still have the songs stuck in our heads.

Near the Churchill War Rooms

Royal Gardens

Royal Gardens

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace

So the next day, on Sunday, we went to church in the morning, and then took a nice stroll around Hyde Park. The entire time that we were there we were missing Max. We saw so many dogs having a great dog day with their owners their. Max would have been in Heaven. Sorry, Max! 

Hyde Park is FULL of cool sites.. like this spot! 

 After Hyde Park, we changed and then headed off to see the Tower of London. That place was amazing! In a nutshell, it's pretty much the spot of all the medieval history of London, as well as the crown jewels. That was one of the most interesting places that we saw on our trip. We really enjoyed exploring it and learning about it's crazy history. One thing that I didn't realize was that it is its own little city within the walls, full of little alleyways and nooks and crannies.

I can't remember what he was doing here, but I can assure you that he wasn't spitting or screaming off the wall.

This is the execution spot of prisoners, like Joan of Arc. 

Tower Bridge

 We were going to go on a Jack the Ripper walking tour after seeing Tower of London, but we were exhausted. We ended up going back to the flat and getting all of our bags ready for our trip to Paris the next day. Post about that to come!

Thanks for reading and keeping up with our adventures! We appreciate it!

With love,