We had our first group excursion today! Yeehaw! We started with heading from our hotel to the Tube. We totally did not say “da tube” a million times. When we reached the Tube, Shawn stopped us, and held up his Oyster card. “Ready?” Oh boy were we! Emma and I held hands nearly the whole time. We hopped onto the Piccadilly Line and were on our little London way.
Something that was much appreciated about the Tube was how efficient it runs. It is always on time, it arrives within minutes of each other, and they are CLEAN! Public transport, as us Americans know, is incredibly germy in the States. Everything associated with the Tube is contactless. Yay, no germs! While everyone had places to be, the Londoners were very respectful of personal space as they could be on public transportation. I do not like strangers bumping into me and I cannot remember a time it happened! They just brush past and say “sorry!” The Tube is definitely accessible and I will understand it better once we go through it a couple of times.
Our excursions included Russell Square, Leicester Square, and Piccadilly Circus. I was sad that Piccadilly Circus did not include an actual circus. I was also a little upset with myself because I forgot my umbrella. Thankfully, the Weather Gods were on my side and it only spit on us a wee bit. Moving along, we saw a massive M&M store! I mean, it was huge! We also saw some restaurants from across the pond which include: Burger King, McDonalds, and Fridays. I got my eyes on Fridays, their beyond burgers are delicious. We stopped by Buckingham Palace as well. King Charles was actually at the palace at the time and we knew this because the Royal Standard flag was flying on the building. Courtneay is our British Royal go-to, so she was able to tell everyone some of the little quirks! We threatened to call the Hogs to get King Charles to come out and say hi.
Tonight, we get to experience our first ever show in London! It is called Boys from the Blackstuff at the National Theatre. I am so excited, a wee jet legged, but looking forward to my next post. See y’all then!
Theatre in London U of A 