London definitely didn’t live up to its cool, rainy reputation. London was going through one of its hottest streaks of the last few years while we were there. I was surprised at how many places didn’t have any air conditioning at all (I, Ryan, am new to Europe travel). One of the big concerts we attended was in an unairconditioned concert hall that was 95F+ inside! We definitely appreciated sun over rain, but the experience made us appreciate our AC at home! 🙂

Emily had spent time in London in college, but this was my first time in the city. I was excited to catch up on seeing the main sites. In case you are interested, here are some of the highlights (we promise not to bore you with every trip detail!):

Westminster Abbey: After our flight landed, we headed straight to the Sunday morning church service at Westminster Abbey (the travel pros say to hit the ground running, right?). The service was very interesting as was seeing the abbey itself and the famous black and white tile floor we’ve seen so many times in royal events.

Harrods: We explored Harrods department store which sells everything from dogs to food to clothes to musical instruments! We were most interested in the food hall. Of particular interest and fun is that the pastry counter puts lots of their amazing desserts on Buy One, Get One Free in the last hour before closing 🙂 We enjoyed finding a fun spot to eat these delicious pastries in Kensington Garden.

The Proms: For eight weeks during the summer, the BBC sponsors a daily concert in Royal Albert Hall that is very popular. We went to a great concert by the US National Youth Orchestra with guest soloist Josh Bell. I can only give the concert an A- though given the extent that I sweated during the concert! 🙂

Changing of the Guard & Tower of London: Having been in Ohio State’s Marching Band, I found the ceremony quite interesting and was surprised to hear the Royal Band playing pop songs! We rounded out our classic tour of London with a tour of the Tower of London and enjoyed looking at the Crown Jewels.

Les Miserables: Somehow we had managed to never see this popular musical (or the movie… I guess that’s what 3 years of grad school does!) so what better place to see it than the West End!?

English Tea: One must have a tea while in England, right? We had tea at the Orangerie at Kensington Palace. There were lots of media types hanging out hoping to see the Royal Family arrive home. In fact, William and Kate arrived the evening that we had visited.

The Royal Baby: We made an impromptu post given that people might find it interesting! It was quite a mob of people, but it was definitely an interesting local experience to see.

It was a quick tour of London, but we enjoyed it! We are now off to France to begin the main portion of our Europe trip.