The First Few Days

Wow. It has been a little over two years since I have blogged on here, and this post is going to feature a lot of very similar pictures to the last one. 

We arrived in Heathrow Sunday morning (my cousin Crista was delightful enough to accompany me) and waited around to catch a bus to Watford. In a lovely coincidence the bus stop was right in front of the hotel I stayed in when I was here for interviews. It was nice to be dropped off in the middle of the only few blocks I have seen before. From there we took a cab to my new house.

Upon first entering I was, underwhelmed… It is small and old, which is to be expected, but I think I still had some preconceived notions of inherent charm. It is growing on me a bit more every day, and I am planning on liking it a lot (once my room is all organized cuter I will try and remember to post some pictures).

The next few days fluctuated between boring-getting settled-buying sheets-and finding a grocery store kind of stuff, and playing Tourist in London.

Doing the Wall Walk at the Tower 

On our first touristy adventure we enjoyed the Tower of London, a place I have been to before and was just as enchanted with this time. It is so comprehensive and interesting. We spent about 5.5 hours and didn’t get to see everything. An absolute must do when you come visit me.  

After that we went and saw Green Day’s American Idiot, a musical featuring Green Day songs telling the story of  three young men in the year after 9/11. It was intense. I was on the edge of my seat. The whole cast was so talented.

The White Tower- built in 1050

On our next foray into the city we took a bus tour and got to sit on the top deck of a red double decker bus! Awesome. Less awesome when it started to rain.  We got to see a bunch of the major sites, it really is an incredibly city. We went down to Piccadilly Circus for some shopping and then wandering. On our way we saw…

Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace is actually in front of us...

My mom texted me while we were there:

Mom: What are you  doing post lunch?
Erin: It stopped raining so we are going to walk around Buckingham Palace and all that jazz. 
Mom: It sounds like seeing Buckingham Palace is just common place for you now.
Erin: I do like how many times I have been to Buckingham Palace.



I do really really like that.

From there we wandered through Trafalgar Square, past Downing Street and towards Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey.

London is such a fun city to walk around, there is so much to see so close together. Before you know it you've walked all day, but there was never a moment that wasn't beautiful or interesting.

We made our way across the Thames, and went on the London Eye. It is a spectacular view, but I think if I did it again I would want to see it at night. 

View from the top of the London Eye

In the evening we saw Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap. It is the longest running West End show, and is in its 63^rd year. It was ridiculously entertaining. 

The evening was so beautiful that it seemed like a shame to go right from the theatre to the underground, so we walked to Trafalgar Square and spent some time. I love Trafalgar Square.

When we weren’t having fun I was being boring and trying to get organized to start my new adventure over here. Definitely still a work in progress.