ally, our trip started the night before. About 2 weeks ago, we found round trip airfare to London for 11 dollars, so we just HAD to go. I mean come on... it's 11 dollars. The catch is that we have to fly out from the smaller airport south of Brussels at 10:30 at night. So, all of us met at the train station in our little town of Louvain-la-Neuve, took the train to Charleroi, and from there took the bus to the airport. It's surprising how much I miss my car at times like this. Anyway, we got to the airport, a couple hours early since this was all of our first flights out of Belgium and we wanted it to go smoothly. It did, and we were in London less than one hour after we left the ground. Unfortunately, we also flew into a small airport, and had another hour bus ride into the center of London. We were dropped off at Victoria station, which is a central bus, tube, and train station. Too bad none of us knew where to go from there. We wandered around London for a while at about 2 in the morning before figuring out which line to take to our hotel. We finally got checked into the hotel and made it to bed around 4 in the morning!
Even though we didn't get to bed until late, we had to get an early start because really, how often are you in London? So we a
sked breakfast to be delivered at 8. The first thing we did was go to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. We got there around 10:30 and thought there weren't many people there, so we wandered around the park and monuments there while we waited. Before we knew it, the people had all filed in and we had lost our spots near the gates. Bummer. Anyways, the ceremony is kind of cool. The guards are ushered in by two "royal bands". Then, the new guards march towards each other and the old guard ceremoniously hands off a key to the new guard before marching off with the rest of the soldiers. Too bad we didn't go see it on Sunday or we would have seen the red costumes with the big fuzzy hats! 
Well, after the ceremony was finally done (we were there for almost 3 hours!) we decided to head off and see some other sites. First along the way was the Westminster Abbey. Wikipedia says it's the traditional location of coronation and burial of Monarchs. The original was built around 1045, but was renovated and restored in the 1500s. However, the two tower weren't built until the 1700s. Basically it's really regal looking from the front, really beautiful from the side, and houses a ton of really old, important dead people.Next on
our route was just walking by a couple of things. We didn't actually go in, but 
we walked by Big Ben and the Parliament buildings along the Thames river. As a reference, Big Ben is 96 meters, or a little over 300 feet tall, with the largest 4-faced chiming clock in the world. It wasn't completed until the late 1800s. Also, from where we were, we could see the London Eye. It's basically a 450 foot Ferris Wheel that gives you a great view of the city. As a guide, each of those little cars holds 25 people. However, it was starting to rain by this point, and it was 15 pounds to ride it. We opted out, and instead decided to grab some lunch since it was already approaching 2 o'clock. No photo for this one, BUT I did try fish and chips in London. Not the best, but not terrible, and at least I can say I tried it, right?
our route was just walking by a couple of things. We didn't actually go in, but 
we walked by Big Ben and the Parliament buildings along the Thames river. As a reference, Big Ben is 96 meters, or a little over 300 feet tall, with the largest 4-faced chiming clock in the world. It wasn't completed until the late 1800s. Also, from where we were, we could see the London Eye. It's basically a 450 foot Ferris Wheel that gives you a great view of the city. As a guide, each of those little cars holds 25 people. However, it was starting to rain by this point, and it was 15 pounds to ride it. We opted out, and instead decided to grab some lunch since it was already approaching 2 o'clock. No photo for this one, BUT I did try fish and chips in London. Not the best, but not terrible, and at least I can say I tried it, right? We
ll, it was still raining after lunch, we we decided to check out the nearest museum. That ended up being the Museum of London, which like all the museums in London, was free. It was all about the history of London, which was a g
ood way to start our trip. We were all kind of exhausted from not sleeping, so we took advantage of the displays for children. That picture on the left is supposed to be a replica of some of the original housing styles in London from hundreds of years ago. From the museum, we left and headed to Picadilly Circus, which is not a circus. It's like London's version of Times Square. We walked around for a while, and eventually ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe at around 10:30. We missed the last tube that left at around midnight, so we wandered around trying to figure out which night bus to take home and made it back to the hotel around 2 again.
ll, it was still raining after lunch, we we decided to check out the nearest museum. That ended up being the Museum of London, which like all the museums in London, was free. It was all about the history of London, which was a g
ood way to start our trip. We were all kind of exhausted from not sleeping, so we took advantage of the displays for children. That picture on the left is supposed to be a replica of some of the original housing styles in London from hundreds of years ago. From the museum, we left and headed to Picadilly Circus, which is not a circus. It's like London's version of Times Square. We walked around for a while, and eventually ended up eating at the Hard Rock Cafe at around 10:30. We missed the last tube that left at around midnight, so we wandered around trying to figure out which night bus to take home and made it back to the hotel around 2 again. 
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