england & france vacation, part one

I meant to write about this trip a while ago. It was going to be one of the first posts written, but life got in the way, and I just never got around to it. Until now!

In May, I traveled with Matt and his family to England and France for a week. The excuse of the trip was to see Matt’s younger brother Cooper, who was studying abroad in London for the semester. It was the first time I had ever been overseas to Europe and the UK, and I was so excited. The trip did not disappoint! We packed in quite a bit into our eight days over there, which was exhausting, but the only way to do everything that we wanted to do.

On the first day we visited Hampton Court Palace, King Henry VIII’s favorite castle. We didn't go into the palace, just the gardens. They were so beautiful, and I understand now why English roses have the distinction they do. After that we were pretty much sleeping on our feet, so we called it a day.

Yes, I was that American girl going around taking pictures of phone booths, taxicabs, mailboxes, Underground signs and the Queen's Guard…

Hey Harry Potter fans, do you recognize that train platform? The opening scene with Harry and Dumbledore from Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was filmed there. I didn't notice it was the same until Matt's brother Cooper pointed it out to me. The magic of the movies, huh?

The next day was non-stop of all of the most touristy things you can imagine to do in London. We visited Piccadilly Circus, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, The Tower of London, Tower Bridge, Parliament, Big Ben, Kensington Palace (where Will, Kate, baby George, and Baby #2 live!), Prince Albert Music Hall, and the Albert Memorial. We rode a double-decker bus. We took a boat ride town the River Thames. It was an awesome and very tiring day.

One of the craziest things about London was how early the sunrise was. One morning I woke up, thinking that it was maybe around 6am judging by the light, and looked at the clock to see that it was only 4:30am! Since it’s so far north, London’s spring and summer days are super long. The sun didn't set until around 9:30pm or so – in France, which is an hour ahead, it didn't set until after 10pm!

Also, since we were traveling in the middle of May, I was expecting the weather in London to be chilly, rainy, and a bit dreary. I purchased some packable tour Hunter boots that I was expecting to wear almost every day, and in fact I only wore them once! The weather was amazing – sunny, mid to upper 70’s, not a cloud in the sky. The weather in France was the complete opposite, ha.

Stay tuned for part two next Monday!