Father-Daughter Trip: London Day 1

Greetings! Sorry for the bit of the delay in the running blog posts about the adventures that my Dad and I are doing. We've got a lot to see, and we find ourselves a bit sleepy at the end of each day.

Monday morning, my Dad landed at Heathrow around 7am. By 8am, he had found me once he cleared the border, and we set off for Central London.  Our hotel is right by Paddington in W2. We picked that location to be close to a neighborhood I know as well as tons of options for public transport into Central London.  We were able to check in early which was great to let my Dad begin to get over jet leg. But, after a short break, we set off to begin the tourist activities.

Name was all over the Tower of London

We purchased the Hop-On Hop Off bus for the day to allow us to get to see more of the city, especially since we only really have four days here. We stayed on the bus for a few hours allowing it to make a full circuit before disembarking to check out the Tower of London. It may have been freezing cold in the wind, but we wanted to see the must-sees!  We passed by the Crown Jewels, saw the famous ravens, found the name "Walpole" numerous times in the torture chamber exhibit, and checked out the view across to Tower Bridge.

Outside the Tower of London- Tower Bridge in the Background

From there, we hopped on the tube and headed down to Westminster. Stopping along to see the war memorials, Big Ben, and Downing Street, we ended up trying to get into the Churchill War Rooms. Unfortunately, they were closing early that day.

We took an early dinner before heading off to the London Ice Bar. It was my third Ice Bar experience across Europe, and Dad's first one ever. A bit cold, but well worth the experience.

It was a somewhat calm first day, but that was mainly because of the cold weather and my Dad's jet lag. Stay tuned!

A Birthday Celebration, a Walking Tour, and a lot of Homework!

Well, it is hard to believe that in two short weeks, I'll be on a plane back home to the US for a three week break before returning for the next term. Michaelmas term has flown by. I feel like I just got here the other day, began the pre-semester math course, and now, I'm working on two group projects and final STATA problem sets before they are due in week ten. Nevertheless, it's clear that I made the correct decision by choosing to attend LSE. And, thank goodness, weekly adventures have been able to balance the hectic crazy work schedule that I find myself in.

This past week was my friend, Kaitlyn's 23rd birthday. We planned a mini-celebration post economics Tuesday morning with mimosas, balloons, and some Krispy Kreme donuts. 

Friday evening, we all went out to dinner for her birthday followed by a few drinks to celebrate.  We went to the Blue Lagoon Restaurant on High Street Kensington followed by drinks down in Shoreditch. Here are some photos from the evening!

Birthday Girl, Emma, and me

Arielle and me

On Saturday, Jenny and I met up to use this Groupon tour that we had bought several weeks ago. We spent 10 pounds in total for what we expected to be a guided tour about the royals  of England. Yet, what we got yesterday was little emphasis on the royals. Rather, our tour focused on Coco Chanel, the pelicans in St. James's Park, and Downing Street. It was interesting and fun, but not really what we paid for. 

Hanging out at New Scotland Yard 

Buckingham Palace

Big Ben

View of the Eye from the Downing Street Entrance

Today, I'm in the library trying to finish a lot of work, so that is the reason why this post concentrates more on photos than an actual weekend re-cap. Stay tuned this week for some interesting wrap-up posts to the semester!