Our Second European Vacation, 2014 England

The 2nd half of our trip was to England.  We left Edinburgh and took the train down to Grantham to stay at Harlaxton for the night.  I studied abroad in 2004 at Harlaxton and Spencer has "gotten" to hear stories from that semester for the last 10 years.  It was fun to be back in the town and school 10 years later.  Seeing how the Manor changed over a decade was interesting, the computer labs were gone and they have wifi throughout the school now, the group that was there that semester didn't seem as rambunctious as I remember our group being in 2004!

Without a doubt some of my favorite college memories were made at this location.

The next day we took the train into London and checked into the London Marriott County Hall.  After getting settled into the hotel we took a the Beatles Magical Mystery Tour with London Walks.
That night it was back to our fav London bar, Euston Tap for some beverages and people watching. 

a view from Westminster Bridge looking at the hotel

during the tour we stopped at Abbey Road, getting a picture w out any cars was kind of a miracle!

Our favorite London bar!

Over the next few days in London we had a blast.  We went to the Tower of London (last time we walked around the outside but didn't go in) and saw the poppies being planted.  The poppies represent the soldiers that died during WWI.  It was overwhelming to see the numbers represented like that.  We also did an afternoon tea, it was a theme where all the foods that looked like they should be sweets were savories and vice versa.  Spence was a trooper, I think the champagne helped immensely.  Later that night we went out and saw 39 Steps, hilarious comedy show.  I found out via facebook that my cousins husband Mike was in town for business, he was staying pretty close to us so we decided to meet up after the show for a few drinks!  There's something really fun about getting to see people when you are on vacation that you normally don't get to hang out with.

A view from the Tower of London

A selfie at 39 Steps, such a funny show!

Our afternoon tea set up

The ravens at the Tower of London

the Poppies at the Tower of London

The next day we started the day at the Churchill War Rooms.  Both of us thought it was really interesting to see how they converted it to a museum and were still able to keep the "feel" of what it might have been like during the war.  We took a ton of photos because I knew my step dad would love it!  After the war rooms we walked through St. James park, did some people watching (my favorite pastime) caught the end of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, wandered around Trafalgar Square and finally settled into our afternoon routine of pub hopping.  After that we went back to the hotel and got changed for dinner and to go see Book of Mormon.  We were quite excited about this show, several of our friends had seen it and we knew we were in for a good night!

End of the changing of the guard

pub hopping!

such a good show!

The next day we met up with a friend who was living in the UK that I know from Baker and that Spencer knows from high school (small world right?).  She and her husband were living overseas because he plays soccer.  Kristin played soccer at Baker and was friends with another BU grad living in Oxford Kim.  Kim and I are sorority sisters  and figured that it was the perfect opportunity for all of us to get together, so we planned a day trip for Kristin Spencer and I to head down to Oxford!
We did a walking tour of the city when we first got into town and then Kim took us on a pub tour of the city in the afternoon, it was about the perfect way to see a city!

One of the main things we did on our last day in town was to head out of the city and do the Harry Potter tour at Universal Studios.  Spencer and I are both HUGE HP fans, we watch the movies at least once a year and I've read the books more times than I will admit.  It was awesome to see the props and sets and get a real understanding of how the "movie magic" happened for these films.  After the Harry Potter tour we went to Brew Dog in Camden for a few drinks

OMG its starting!

Harry Potter lived here!

I could go for a meal in the great hall...

Ahhhh we're here!

so many cool things to see

Who is up for some potions work?

refreshing butterbear for a break!

Diagon Alley!

After the end of the trip it was another SUPER  early flight home, we both look sad to leave the UK and exhausted from the trip, so I think the best image to leave is of us at a bar having  grand time!