London at night, Edinburgh by day

So yesterday we was our big day in London. I got up really early after a pretty good sleep (5am). Really I got up because I had to go to the bathroom but we were sharing our room with 4 other people so I didn't know when I would get another chance to use the shower. After breakfast we headed down to Tower Bridge where we took a tour. It turned out to be an amazing day so we were looking forward to a nice walk across the top of it, BUT it turns out, and it makes sense too, that it was all enclosed. Still the scenery was great. London is so beautiful and you can see so much from there. It was actually really interesting too, to learn about the other designs that had been proposed for the bridge.
After that Cheryl and I headed to the London Monument. Oh and when we first got down there we found this cute walk way along the water. It was really pretty and we got some good pictures of the bridge. Sorry, back to the monument...

The Monument is 311 steps up this very tiny tower, which gets smaller as you go up. It was quite the hike but well worth it for the scenery when you get to the top. The worst part of it was the wind. It was sooo windy I felt like I was going to fly off of it. Going back down the stairs wasn't any better.

After we recovered from our climb, we went down to the London Eye to check out the area. We sat for a bit along the river Thames doing what I do best, making fun of the people who were walking by. We saw quite a few interesting characters. We then went on a boat tour of the Thames and met up with a girl and guy doing the same SWAP program that we're doing. From there we went to The Hole In The Wall (literally) and had some beer called London Pride. We all thought it should have instead been called the Shame of London, because it was sooo gross, but it kind of went with the atmosphere of the bar.

Around 8pm we went on the London Eye. All of London was lit up and it was amazing. I can't even describe it, but when I have more time I'll post my pictures.

Early this morning we got on a plane (with slight delays) to Edinburgh. It was a very bumpy ride and Cheryl and I didn't get to sit together. I almost had a seat beside a hot British guy, but being better looking than intelligent, he sat down in the wrong seat.

Edinburgh so far is amazing. After a bit (ha) of stress finding the hostel and then dragging ourselves up a HUGE hill we found our hostel (which we don't recommend to others, it has 8 people a room with no space and one bathroom a floor below us for all the females. Oh and don't forget the 3 showers). Other than that the city is BEAUTIFUL!!! It's amazing here. The landscape from every direction is breathtaking.

Well my time is running out, so I have to go. Hopefully pictures will be coming soon!!
Cheers.

Packed and ready to go...almost

Here's a pic of me all packed up with my suitcase/backpack on my back. If it looks like I'm wincing I am...it's very heavy!!! Then again it's carrying everything I need for the next 2 years of my life.

4 days

I leave for the UK in 4 days. I still have tons of stuff to do and lots of people to say goodbye to. Good thing I can leave the stuff behind and avoid the people until I leave.

So here is the plan so far. Our flight leaves on Wed, Sept. 27th at 10:45pm. My friend Cheryl and I will then be arriving in London sometime in the morning. The plan for Day 1 of our journey is to find the hostel, maybe grab a nap, then explore the city. Because we'll be tired we aren't planning on doing any heavy site seeing. I'm really excited for Day 2. On this day we will hit as much of London that we didn't see the last time we came. This includes a tour of the Tower Bridge, then a hike up The Great Monument, followed by a boat cruise around the Thames River. We will then finish off the night on the London Eye at its best time of day... at night!!

The next day we take a short flight out of London and into Edinburgh...and from there? Who knows, which is all part of the fun!!