London á la Charlotte!

Selfie in Trafalgar Square

This past (long) weekend, I was welcomed with my first official visitor, my cousin Charlotte, who is studying abroad in Prague and just happened to stop in London before! Since I have no Thursday or Friday classes, it worked out perfectly to keep her good company.

So much better looking in person

The first day began with National Gallery in Trafalgar Square which I had not been to yet. There were so many types of paintings and artists. My favorite are the impressionists since I had learned about many of the different artists in high school. However, my overall favorite painting was Cognoscenti in a Room Hung with Pictures. There is just do much detail put into the work, it blew my mind. We then enjoyed lunch at a nearby pub and continued to walk around and get your typical photos with the landmarks.

As we were walking across Westminster Bridge, we had our first "pinch me" moment. To our amazement, right over the London, Eye was a rainbow stretched from the north bank to the south bank. It was in believable. So along with every other tourist on the bridge, we all stopped in our paths for a photo op before the rainbow vanished.

We then continued to walk along the south bank to see more of London until our Mexican dinner with Charlotte's friend from school who was studying at another university in London. Charlotte could not stop raving about her hibiscus margarita so I of course had to try, and I sure do not blame her.

As Charlotte and I can tell you, our Grandma is obsessed with London. For the month I was home for break, A conversation with grandma was not spent without mention of London, especially the Museum of London so, we made sure the two of us went together. As my grandmother kept telling me, it is great because you travel through time throughout the museum starting from the pre-Roman era all the way to modern day. Even though I have not had many classes yet, I can already recognize information from my History of London walks that I initially learned in the museum.

Pinky out!

We officially ended the weekend with my Christmas gift from my aunt and cousins of tea at Fortnum & Mason! It was soooooooo good. I had a pot of tea (of course) with 2 scones with jam and cream, and 3 mini ice cream cakes of different favors, raspberry being my favorite. I could have tea and treats for days! And of course, we then walked around the store and pretended we could afford anything (on top of the really poor dollar to proud exchange rate). I guess I will have to wait to buy those chocolates when I actually have an income, or not eat for a week.