Hey Everyone,

Ok, so obviously I am not in London anymore...but I do have a weeks worth of stuff to blog....so I am going to do the best I can.

Mallory and I got into London really late and took a bus into the middle of the city. The man who owns the company my mom works for was generous enough to let Mallory and I stay in his flat between Leicester Square and Tottenham Court...by the Soho area. As soon as we opened the door, we couldn't believe how nice it was! It had a master and guest bedroom...both with bathrooms on the 4th floor. Then, there were stairs up to the 5th floor where the kitchen, living room, tv, computer and another bathroom were. Both floors had balconies and the floors were even heated! It was beautiful. We were so lucky to be able to stay there in such a nice place. It was in a great, busy, fun area too!

We were both really tired when we got in, so we basically just went to bed. The next day, we slept in..which was much needed! After we got up, we ate at a cool restaurant and got the most delicious vanilla cheesecake we have ever eaten...ever. We both really wanted to go to the Jack the Ripper Museum, so we headed over to the east side. We got there pretty late and only had about a half hour to do see it, but it was still really interesting to see and hear about that time in history. It was in an area where there were a ton of big businesses and we left right around rush hour. It was hilarious, because EVERYONE hits up Happy Hour after work. The pubs were all filled with men and women in their suits. The tube was packed and really hot, but we made it to Piccadilly Circus. Mallory wanted to show me this club/bar that called Tiger Tiger that had these drinks called Jugs. Since it was happy hour we got them really cheap and they were so good! They were basically big pitchers filled with certain kinds of drinks. We got a Mai Tai and one called Passionate. They were both delicious. After taking a picture out front, Mallory wanted to show me the tree bar. She forgot the name of it and where it was located, but we found it just fine. The guy working the front was nice enough to take a picture of us in front of the pub. When we got in, I tried some more beer that I had never had before. Unfortunately, we wrote the names of them on a napkin which I mistakenly threw out. :( The pub was really cool! It looked like an old church and had this big tree in the middle of it. Last time Mallory was there, she got into the tree and decided she wanted to do it again. This time she thought she better ask someone who works there or the manager. She ended up asking the manager...who said yes and that he would just turn his head. A guy that worked there helped her up and I took some funny pictures. It started to get late and we knew we wanted to go to the clubs, so we walked home. There were a ton of people handing out fliers for different places to go that night. When we got home, Mallory looked up some places and we ended up going to the Zoo Bar. We were able to jump the line again, which was very convenient. We started a tab and went to the basement. (all the clubs in London are underground so they can stay open late). When we got down there, we realized it was student night...and since you can drink when you are 18 in England....you can guess the age group that we were surrounded by. We hung out by the bar and got our drinks. We didn't really dance, but we still had fun! When we were ready to leave, we picked up our tab and saw that it was only 19.50 pounds for the entire night. We couldn't believe it and thought that the bar tender liked us and didn't charge us. Well the next day I looked at the receipt again and realized that because it was student night, they discounted our tab...by ALOT. haha

Unfortunately, the next day Mallory had to leave for the States :( We got up really really early and took the tube to Heathrow. She got all checked in and I slept the entire tube ride back to Leicester Square. After taking a nap, I got up and got something eat. I was all by myself, so I was thinking of things to do. I have always wanted to see "Wicked", so I looked it up and luckily there was a show at 2:30pm that day! I bought tickets and went. I think I was the only person over 15 there, but it was still fun. :) The show was really good and so cute how everything came together. I would definitely recommend it. That night, after little sleep the night before, I went to bed pretty early.

I was only alone that one day because Liz was coming to town. She was going to just stay in Oxford, but when she found out I was in London, she decided to stay with me. I picked her up at Paddington Station and we headed back to the place. By the time I picked her up, it was getting kind of late, so we just went and ate. We ate at the same place Mallory and I did...and of course, I had to get the delicious cheesecake. I had a whole one to myself this time, which ended up being a bit much...but it was still really good! We went to a pub after that and had a couple beers. While we were there, we discovered this thing called the Ale Trail. In about 6-7 different parts of London, there are these pub crawl Ale Trails that you can go on. Whenever you buy food or a drink, they stamp this piece of paper and after 5, you get a free t-shirt. We were definitely up for that and decided to wait until the next day. Liz was pretty tired after traveling all day, so we just hung out and watched tv that night.

The next day, we got up and did all the touristy stuff. We rode on the Big Bus Tour, saw Big Ben and the Tower Bridge and even rode on the London Eye. That was pretty cool because you can see all of London. At the end, they take an optional picture of the thing we were in. I figured it is fun to take the picture and see it even if you don't buy it....but we ended up liking it and buying it. We were the only 2 in the picture, so that was nice. After doing all the touristy stuff, we decided it was time to hit up the Ale Trail. We were in the Big Ben/Westminster area, so we decided to do that one. The first place we started at, I ordered a beer and fish and chips. I had to try it sometime, and it was well worth it! When I asked our waitress if we could have a stamp, she stamped all 5 and told me to go downstairs and get our t-shirts. We thought that was really nice. We gave our cards to the guy downstairs and he grabbed our t-shirts. They are cute, but unfortunately, mine was a ladies medium...which is a bit small for me. But hey...I basically got it free with my meal, so I can't complain! After that, we went around to some others and tried to get more stamps. I tried a different beer at each place, and they were all really good. Dad, you really need to come to London and do this....it's definitely something you would love.

The next day, we went to Buckingham Palace and did the Tower of London. At the Tower of London, we were able to see the Crown Jewels, which were absolutely gorgeous. It was so neat to see them and know that they still use some of them today. Buckingham Palace and the guards with their huge black fuzzy hats were cool to see, but we couldn't go in..so we didn't stay long. We were leaving for Oxford the next morning, so we thought it would be a good idea to go back and pack for the night. It took me a while to get everything together and do laundry. I also was up really late trying to catch up on my blog, so I didn't get much sleep. Sunday, we got up, got ready...cleaned up the flat and took a cab to the bus station. We hopped on the bus to Oxford...and I slept. Of course. That's all for now...not much detail in this one..but I am crunched for time and already behind!! My Oxford ones will have more detail..I promise :)

Love and miss you all!

Sarah