Day 10

Finally, our trip was coming to an end, our last day in London is today... We got up and had breakfast at the hotel. Afterwards, we split up into two groups, as some of us were going on the bike tour around London.
My group and I took a tube to the place where we were going to meet out tour guide, Chris, for the bike tour. After a while of waiting, he finally met us and we walked around the block into this tunnel that was covered in graffitti... every inch of the tunnel wall was covered with colorful spraypaint! Usually it's illegal to spraypaint around the city; however, in this tunnel, it was legal, which was kind of cool, actually!

I personally thought that this bike tour was a lot of fun and definitely worth it! We rode our bikes around London, around the streets full of people and cars, and really got to see this wonderful city from a different perspective! :) The bikes were a little different than what I'm used to, as the brakes were switched around... The back wheel break is on the right in America, where here it was on the left, as the roads are flip-flopped, too. So, it definitely took me a while to get used to that, but other than this, it was loads of fun!
Our first stop was the London Eye, which is one of the biggest ferris wheels in the world! It's huge! Currently, the world is constantly competing for who can build the biggest structure... Man, if this one is huge, how big are all the other ones?! haha
We drove down a couple of streets to a wonderful view of the parliament palace and Big Ben. Big Ben, the clocktower, is one of the most well-known icons of London! And here I was, staring at its beauty... We didn't get up to it real close, but it was close enough for me to take it all in- the view.
As we rode through some small alleys, the streets were still covered with festive decorations and it was pretty cool to see it all!
We even got to see the church where the Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate was held last year! I thought that this was pretty unique! I mean, I've seent the church on TV, but to see it in real life... Wow. It had such great detail and everything was so decorative, it was hard to believe that I was standing in the very spot where the married couple walked through. It was an amazing feeling!

We stopped by a couple of other places, too, including ones we saw yesterday, like the Trafalgar Square. If I could, I'd go there everyday and visit :) We saw the famous Savoy Hotel, too, where famous celebrities come, as well as the Royal Ballet School!

The bike tour was loads of fun and definitely gave me a different view of the city. Because there's so many cars here in London, no wonder that a lot people ride their bikes around town. And I have to admit, it's pretty fun, actually! I loved it!

After we dropped off our bikes, we took another tube to the other side of the main city, were we met the other half of our group (which went to a couple museums and just walked around the streets).

Together, we walked down the big market street, where there was a store, after store, after store, I think you get the point... The place was completely crowded by people! There's hundreds of people here! You could barely get through! Thinking it'd be easier, our tour guide led us through one of the big market places, walking through a bunch of little vendors... It took a while to get through... We even lost some of our group along the way! As half of us were waiting outside the market, the other half was inside, crazily trying to make it out on the street and find us. I thought it was pretty funny! But I could tell that the teachers were a bit mad that they didn't stick to the group... It's definitely hard to.

After walking a long time, we finally stopped and got at least 3 hours to shop around the area and grab something to eat for lunch. There were so many stores here! I was glad I had some time to get my souvenirs from London, as the other day we didn't have much time... My group and I (Maureen, Hannah, Jessi, Joe, Joe, and Jack) grabbed some pizza and chinese food for lunch. I was amazed at all of the options they had to eat here! It was like every culture was crammed into a small space! The chinese food tasted funny to me, but that's probably cause it was made differently here than in the US. After our wonderful shopping spree in Camden Market, where I bought a bunch of stuff, we walked to another part of the city. Here, we walked into a huge tunnel that seemed ENDLESS... But we were walking under the Thames River! I thought that was pretty cool! But it was neverending... when we got back out, it seemed as if we never saw daylight haha :P The view from the river was breathtaking!

We took yet another tube after tube after tube... Truly saying, tubes are a big part of the city's way of life! If it weren't for them, I don't know how people would get around. However, everytime we took it, it was completely packed, always trying to find some seats to sit down... And if it weren't for the teachers and tour guide, I would probably be lost by now, trying to find my way back. There are so many routes, it's ridiculous!
Anyways, we finally got off at our stop, right in front of the London 2012 Olympics Stadium! I couldn't believe that I was looking at where the Opening Ceremony would take place in a couple of weeks! It was amazing! I saw the Track and Field area, the swimming pools, the town the athletes were going to stay in... It was... WOW. This was definitely a highlight of the day!!! No doubt about it :)
Then, most of us went to the Jack the Ripper tour. I have to admit, the guy who led us definitely played his part! He appeared as a really creepy, old, mysterious guy... and in real life, he was really funny and nice! He told us a lot about the history of London, which was cool.
We had dinner at an Indian restaurant... It was definitely a different experience. I mean, I've never really had Indian cuisine before. And I thought it was kind of weird how England adopted Curry as their national dish, but I can see why, as there are so many cultures here! I thought I wasn't going to like Curry, but I tried it. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, actually! Which was good :) trying new things!
And that was how my last day in London ended! I had lots of fun with my wonderful friends! :D We couldn't stop laughing and having the time of our lives!
London is definitely on the top of my list :) I wanna come back here again.
As for now, I can't believe we'll be leaving here tomorrow... It's all too fast! haha
But I love every second of it!!!