Sunday in London

Sunday was a beautiful day in the city. It was very sunny and may have got into the low 60s. For much of the day I was able to take off my sweatshirt and just walk around in jeans and a t-shirt. My dad even got sunburnt.

We took the subway a few stops and walked down Regent Street, a fancy shopping street with stores like Lacoste, Louis Vuitton, Prada and Burberry. Eventually we reached Picadilly Circus, which is like the Times Square of London. Even during the day it was pretty exciting.

We walked around through the gardens and parks near Buckingham Palace, enjoying the wide streets closed to cars on Sundays, the spring flowers and the warm weather. We missed the changing of the guards, but still got some good glimpses of the palace.

(Flowers in the park)

(Buckingham Palace in the distance)

After seeing the palace (no Queen sightings) we walked a bit further to Trafalgar Square. The size of the square was amazing. It was just on a much larger scale than everything else in London. It was huge and spread out, with tons of people sitting around on steps, eating lunch, and soaking up the sun.

(Posing on one of the square's famous lions)

We dipped into the National Gallery for a while, and the minutes turned into hours.

(The gallery)

It was full of so many amazing works, and some very famous paintings. We were not allowed to take pictures inside, but we did see these:

('Bathers at Asnières' by Seurat)

('Sunflowers' by Van Gogh)

We finally left the museum because our stomachs were growling. We walked across town to Harrods Department Store. It was more amazing than I ever imagined. Harrods has 7 floors, and covers 4.5 acres! It takes up one giant city block, and has been in operation since 1834. But we were most excited about the food halls. They had whatever you could dream of eating. Tons of meats and cheeses, pies, sushi, Indian food, fruits and vegetables, chocolates and pastries, even a real Krispy Kreme operating. It was unbelievable. We got enough for a picnic/mini feast and took it out to Hyde Park to sit and eat in the sunshine.

(Standing outside a side entrance)

We went back to Harrods after lunch, and spent a few more hours walking through various departments. It was larger than most malls I've been in.

After Harrods we went off in search of a certain underground station, but were highly unsuccessful in finding it. We did have a very nice walk through Chelsea, a very exclusive and nice neighborhood. We saw lots of Ferraris and Bentlys.

(Dad consulting a map)

(A charming square)

Eventually we found a good subway station, and hopped on for a quick ride to Westminister Palace- also known as the House of Parliament. We spent quite a while walking around, taking lots of pictures and enjoying the amazing Big Ben clocktower.

Finally we walked back to the hotel and had a very early night. Our legs and feet were hurting and we were just exhausted. We estimate we walked about 10 miles each of the first few days.