Day 1 in London

We successfully made it through our first (long) day! After leaving the house at 6 in the morning on Saturday, we spent the entire day at the Chicago airport and finally arrived in London on Sunday morning with little to no sleep. However, our day was just beginning and we refused to succumb to sleep. Me and Ruby met up with my Aunt Caroline from the airport and spent the afternoon with her and my three cousins in Central London. Busy with tourists like ourselves, the city was bright with colors from a local festival. We walked around the South Bank of the River Thames and saw the London Eye, but didn't have a chance to go up .We crossed over the river to get an up-close view of Big Ben and the beautiful Parliament buildings. A personal favorite was the Westminster Abby where we stared in awe at the intricate design and famous wedding venue of Kate and Prince William. Of course, we had to get our typical tourist pictures with the phone booth and the stoic guards by the Prime Minister's house (who we tried desperately to catch their attention, but inevitably failed). We made our way along the bend of the park where we stopped to grab caffeine in an effort to refuel our empty engines. After a slight wake-up, we finally walked to Buckingham Palace and joined the other hundreds of tourists staring at the guards behind the gates in the hopes of some type of movement (another failed attempt). We took a double decker bus back to the train station where we met up with my grandma. Togther, we all took the train back to our hotel where we enjoyed a delicious dinner and an intense World Cup game! Although we were exhausted from our two-in-one day, it was such a perfect way to start our trip and we can't wait for the rest of the days!











- Sarah and Ruby