Strolling Around London

I just had the best time in London over this past weekend! My mother and I left early Friday morning and got to London around 8am. I, being the smart one I am, chose to just pull an all-nighter so I didn't have to bother with an alarm clock that morning. That bit me in the butt big time later on that day. Anyway, we checked into the hotel and, right off the bat, the fun began.

Day One:

The Elevator
As my mom and I try to get up to our room on the seventh floor, we encountered some problems. We go into the first "lift" that's available and continuously hit the '7' button. It never lights up. My mom looks at me and says, "Did it work?" It obviously didn't because we shot up to the 22nd floor so a flight attendant could get on and ride back down to the ground floor to check out. Lovely. So then we get into a different "lift" and my mom says to the buttons in a British accent, "Can you take me to the seventh floor?" She hits the button and nothing happens. "Apparently not," she says and we hop into a another "lift". This time more people get on with us and, as my mom is pushing the '7' button, a man says, "No, no, no. You have to put the room card into the slot first." How security-ful of the British. Now the buttons are working. Everyone is saying the floor number they want and my mom is pushing the buttons. A man in the back says, "Just hit all the buttons!" Obviously kidding. My mom says, "Okay!" and makes a whooshing noise pretending to hit the buttons. She then says, "Ooooh, it's like a Christmas tree!" If you don't get that movie reference, you're no longer my friend.
The whole situation reminded me of this youtube video:

Helping the Poor? Not Our Style.
It was freeezing in London! I was taking so many pictures, mainly because I'm in love with my dad's camera, and my hands were practically numb. My mom gave me her mittens to wear for a while. As we are turning a corner, a lady starts to ask me if I can take a picture for her and her friend but sees my mittens and decides it wouldn't be a good idea. Good thinking, stranger! My mom sees this going down and offers to take the picture for them. This leaves me to fend for myself for a minute. Shouldn't be hard, right? Wrong. I get into a lovely conversation with some poor lady who is handing out pink flowers. She puts one on my coat and then asks if I will be willing to donate to the poor. I tell her I have no money but my mother does. My mom comes back, sees what I have done and rolls her eyes. My mother is asked if she is willing to donate to the poor and my mom says, "Uhm. No!" The lady came and took her flower back. How sad.

Big Ben? Who's That?
As we are walking down some random road, a lady approaches us and asks if Big Ben is in the direction we are coming from. My mom says, "I wouldn't know. I never met him." She cracks herself up.

Pictures from Day One:

The London Eye

St. James's Park

Buckingham Palace

Fish & Chips! Yuum.

St. James's Park

Big Ben

My Photogenic Self

Day Two:


Snow!
We woke up to a good 4 inches of snow! I thought it made everything look so pretty. My mother thought it made everything look dreadful. She was not looking forward to walking around in the snow all day. It didn't bother me though. I loved it :)

That's Awkward
On one of the bus tours, a tour guide came up to us and said to me, "I'm going to take your beautiful sister out to dinner tonight. I'll give you my number so you can get ahold of her or myself if you need anything, okay?" Awkwaaaard. He then goes on asking where we are from and so on. I tell him we are from New York and he says, "Oh! You guys have guns!" and walks away.

I Want Hard Rock!
I reallllly wanted to go to the Hard Rock Cafe while we were in London. We saw it from the bus tour that morning. I looked at a map and thought we could cut through Hyde Park from one of the bus stops and get to the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch. I tell my mom that I want to get off the bus at the park and we do. As we are cutting through the park, it becomes clear that the walk is pretty much...Hell. It was icy, slushy and puddles were everywhere. My mom wasn't wearing snow shoes so her feet were soaked! She looks at me and says, "WHY did you want to walk in the park?!" I say, "I thought we could walk through it and get to the Hard Rock." At the time I didn't know it was a good half hour walk...in sunshine. She looks at me and says, "You're such an ass!" and turns around and starts walking back to the bus stop. I follow. A minute later she turns around and says, "I'm pissed!" As if I couldn't tell by her previous comment. She starts doing her "I'm mad" walk that so many mothers have perfected. It was making me laugh so I took a picture...

"I'm PISSED!"

The Hard Rock Cafe

We finally got there around 5:30pm. We had to do the whole tour of London over again on the bus in order to get back to the stop for the Cafe. The food was delicious! My hamburger was huge though. The waiter asked if I liked my meal 'cause he didn't think I ate a lot. I was actually proud of how my plate looked when I was done. I thought I put a real dent in the food. I guess not.

Pictures from Day Two:

Lovely!

Tower Bridge

Big Ben and...Such

The Tower of London