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London after Christmas 2013



So in 2013 Patricia was in London for Christmas since her brother is currently living there for work. Since she didn't have enough time to come to Berlin and visit us we went to London to visit her! I mean London is so close why not? Now it is not my favorite city, I wouldn't want to live there, but we had a great time exploring and eating all the foods. Above was our first stop when we got to the city - vegan milkshakes! They were real milkshakes, not these watery milkshakes you get here so we were happy. And yes, it was quite chilly but vegan milkshakes! The ice cream place was in Camdem Locks Market which was a fun area to walk around and explore. Lots of vendors and food and such.


 
 It was also next to this anti-Christmas zone thing that was kind of strange. I mean what did brussel sprouts ever do to anyone? 
 







Lots of street art in the area



When we were having some tea and snacks that afternoon I saw a flyer for a Bavarian style Christmas market in Hyde Park so I of course made Raymond go and check it out with me. It did look like our German christmas markets, but not enough drink and food stands! 



In the big beer hall there was this awesome German duo singing silly, fun songs. I think they were like children's songs as they were just so simple and ridiculous, but super fun to dance around to. I enjoyed them greatly. 
 

Then outside the beer hall was the "Bavarian Village" stage and this horrible guy singing. He was not good. 
 





The rides were not that expensive so we rode the swings pictured above. They went up really high and were lots of fun! 
 

5 dimensions of fun! 


The next day we met up with Patricia for a day of exploring museums and of course eating delicious food! Above and the next few photos are from the natural history museum 




Lots of people since it was just after Christmas and the museums are free. We tried to go see the dinosaur exhibit and that was a terrible idea! There is a narrow walkway going through the entire thing and the number of people there was a nightmare. We didn't realize until too late that you just get stuck in the walkway forever and cannot go anywhere as people are not really moving along. It was bad. 
 

After lunch we went to the Victoria and Albert museum which I loved! Not as many people there and lots of beautiful/cool things. This was the entryway and it was just a beautiful museum. 
 


Later we went back to the Christmas market and the same two guys were playing in the beer hall! Win! All in all a great day with Patricia! 


The following day was absolutely gorgeous outside so we decided to do the free tour of London and learn a bit more about the city. I love the free tours as I always learn way more history than I knew, plus you see a lot of fun things. 
 

Our tour guide was the guy on the left here with the umbrella. He is an actor and pretty hilarious and just so much fun. 



Trafalgar Square. Such perfect weather! Cool, but sunny. 
 


The National Gallery 





The Mall leading to Buckingham Palace 



Changing of the guards on our walk towards the palace 



The new guards 



A not very good photo of Buckingham Palace 


Look at his feet! After the palace we walked through St. James park which I remember from our last visit. Last time we saw lots of bird fights. 








The park was really lovely 




I believe this was on the outside wall of building the with Churchill's war room, or the building next to it. Look at that texture! 



Westminster Abbey. 
 


We ended our tour across from the houses of parliament with our tour guide telling us what happened with Guy Faux in a fun dramatic reenactment type way. I loved our tour guy. He was hilarious and over the top which made everything better. 
 

Later that night after some foods we got off the bus outside St. Paul's Cathedral and walked from there over the millennium bridge to Tate Modern 




In general I really like Modern Art, but Tate Modern was a bit of a disappointment. It was this huge building, but most of it is the empty entryway or the escalators between floors. So much unused/wasted space and not a lot of art. 
 

The next day we went to the National Gallery and explored. Outside there were lots of people like this Yoda that look like they are just hovering over the ground. Fun. 
 

It was another beautiful day. 
 

Harry Potter alley I am told. I saw one of the movies I think, but that was a long time ago so. 
 

Then up towards Covent Garden as there were lots of market vendors and such set up to wander through 



Our last day the weather was not so nice. It was raining pretty good when we first went outside, but gradually stopped before we had to head to the airport. Not much of a walk around exploring kind of day so we didn't do too much. And that was our fun adventures in London!

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