All Good Things Come to an End

Okay okay, I know I didn't post the last few days of my trip. I was busy enjoying the sites and the rest of my days in London. Here's a review of what I was up to:

First and foremost was class. We spent the rest of our week at the Dickens Inn, just a cobblestone walk from our hotel. It also has a traditional pub and a pizza place inside!

 We had class right behind the huge windows. It was a really great setup! We were very thankful for the unlimited supply of coffee too.

And of course we were VERY thankful for the TWO starbux right next to the hotel. This one was our fav, located right across the docks from the Dickens Inn.

Wednesday night we went to the spa, and it was AMAZING! Definitely the coolest spa I'd ever been in. It was 4 stories of serenity. We did a "sleep retreat" which is essentialy a meditation session, and then we each had a 50 minute massage. It was fantastic! Exactly what we needed in the middle of our busy week.

On Thursday night we went on a dinner cruise down the Thames River. We left from Embankment Pier and spent 3 hours with some of our classmates eating, drinking and taking a TON of pictures! Here is a picture of Kristen and I after boarding the boat and finding our seats.

A toast to a fantastic trip with some of our classmates! We had a wonderful evening with them!

 Here is a view of the London skyline from the Thames River. Pretty impressive :)

We came back inside to warm up from taking pictures up on the observation deck. At this point in time Kristen was probably telling me to man up since I live in MN afterall. The temps that night were probably in the forties.

The green laser light represents the Prime Meridian. One night. Two Hemispheres.

 We cruised right under Tower Bridge on our boat cruise! Some sights really just never get old. :)

 A picture on the tube is a must - it was our main source of transporation afterall!

We walked back to our hotel from the Tower Hill Station. The green grass is the moat around the Tower of London, home of the crown jewels and the original castle for the royal family.

Like I said, some views never get old. :) This is right outside the front door of our hotel (there is also a Starbux directly behind me) Simply amazing.

Unfortunately, there was a casualty on my trip - my heels. Turns out Cobblestone is KILLER on heels. The shoe further in the back wore down and around the nail in the heel, and the stems were ripped completely thru. Needless to say they didn't make the trip back to the US.

Friday we had class and presentations all day and our class celebratory evening that night. It was really fun, but unfortunately(?) not too many pictures were taken. On Saturday we took a boat taxi down to the Westminister to see the big sites and do some shopping on Regents Street. Here is our view headed down the river - Big Ben and House of Parliment on the right...

 ... and the London Eye on the left!

 The sun started coming out as we started walking around - thank goodness! It made for some good photo opportunities! :)

 As we were walking down Regents Street (part of the West End shopping district) down one of the side streets was a small sections of these unique buildings. I couldn't get enough of the amazing architecture in London!

We (well okay, I) bought a few things on our shopping tour before we headed back to the Tower of London. Unfortunately we got back too late to go inside, so we'll definitely have to do that next time we're in town. :) We took pictures on the outside anyway.

 Here's panoram of one side of the Tower of London.

We took our little bit of free time to buy some souveniors and sit by the river, looking at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, drinking of favorite HC from PAUL. We found PAUL in Paris, and visited there almost daily during our stay. They have the best hot chocolate ever!!

On our last evening we took one last look over the whole city on the London Eye. These are the pods you stand in as you go up and around the giant ferris wheel. the London Eye never stops - you get on and off while it's still moving - it's very slow and takes about 30 min to make one complete rotation.

 Here's a snapshot of the view out our pod on the way up and around!

 The city skyline is beautiful! You can see St. Paul's Cathedral in the middle

 House of Parliment from the top!

It was a great ride, and a great way to close out the trip. All in all, it was a fabulous 2 weeks. Coming home has been bittersweet. I have 1,367 pictures to help remember all of the amazing sights and experiences I had during my time there. Definitely a trip I would recommend to all of you! :)