Cheerio... off to London!

A few weeks ago, Joe and I spent 5 days in London with our friends Mark and Lacy.  Mark and Joe were there to visit banks for potential internships and Lacy and I were there just for fun.  The guys still got to partake in the fun, just not as fully as the ladies. 

Let me just say, I LOVED London - period!  I think I loved London even more simply because I was not expecting to love London.  Many of our friends/family had been to London before, yet no one seemed to rave about it the way they did Paris, Florence, or Barcelona.

First and foremost, I was extremely impressed by the architecture (as is evidenced by the 500 photos we now have of London buildings and homes).  Furthermore, everything was so clean and well-kept and construction-free!  In Barcelona, it seems the city is perpetually under construction - yet in London everything was so accessible and ready-to-view.

I also loved the people. I know I probably just got sucked into the accent, but everyone seemed so classy!  We walked out of our apartment on the first day to a group of construction workers that said, 'Cheerio - fine day, isn't it'?  But then by night everyone was, for lack of a better word, gritty.  They really went out hard... instead of 'cheerio' it was 'bloody this and bloody that'!

Speaking of the language... it was actually really, really nice to have 5 days of complete english.  It took almost 2 hours before it sunk in that I could say whatever I wanted to whomever I wanted with complete confidence that they would understand me.  I don't think I realized how tiring it had been always translating before speaking... especially since I love to talk! 

While Mark and Joe were visiting banks, Lacy and I explored Hyde Park and Knotting Hill.  I was pretty excited to see Knotting Hill because I had just watched the move for the first time... albeit, the Spanish version.  Below is a picture of us at the infamous bookshop!  Sadly, Hugh and Julia weren't in that day.

While out one night we met this guy Jeremy.  Or I should say Jeremy met us.  We were enjoying a drink at the bar when Jeremy, a Londonite, approached us to hang out.  After a few minutes we found out Jeremy was a Free Mason and offered us a private tour.  Being a little creeped out, we declined.  But still made for some good laughs.  See Jeremy and Joe below:

I was sad to say goodbye to London, but maybe we'll be back again someday!  Click HERE to see the rest of our London photos.  Enjoy!