A little bit of Britain

London for the weekend!! As soon as I secured my internship in Amsterdam (back in June) I did two things right away: bought tickets to Mamma Mia in London for September, and tickets to the 2010 Gymnastics World Championships in Rotterdam for October. This weekend was Adrienne and my adventure to London. We sailed to England on the Stena Britannica ship (check out the website here)

Journey to London from Amsterdam started on a train to Den Haag...

...where I met up with Adrienne and then we took a train to Hoek van Holland port...

...to board our mini cruise to England...

...we don't pack all that light, unlike someone we met on the train who was in Europe for 3 weeks and had a bag smaller than the average backpack - CRAZY...

...in our cabin READY TO SAIL!!!

The restaurant on board the Stena Britannica

The hall way to our cabin =)

Looking out from the deck, about to leave Holland.

 

We fell asleep in Holland and woke up in England (bright and early at 6:00am)

WELCOME TO LONDON!

Train =)

London Liverpool Street Station

The signature double-decker bus and cute little British car

Our hotel, the Club Quarters Trafalgar Hotel

Inside the hotel

 Our breakfast Saturday morning at Garfunkels - the "Traditional British Breakfast"

Just outside the Canadian Embassy by Trafalgar Square

Everybody drives on the left side in Britain. As a pedestrian that may not seem like it would make a difference. However it is a huge deal when you have to cross the road. I always look the wrong way. Luckily, the British people are kind enough to TELL YOU where to look before crossing the street!

Convent Garden

Leicester Square Gardens 

 Leicester Square Gardens

The ever famous British telephone booths 

My heart started beating twice as fast when I saw this sign. Mamma Mia, here we go again, my my how could I resist ya... yes I've been broken hearted... blue since the day we parted, why why, did I ever let you go... I LOVE ABBA and I LOVE MAMMA MIA! The show was amazing. It gave me the shivers. I've now seen it 9 times. But this was the first time in London!

Adrienne and I treated ourselves to ribs at Mermaids Tail after Mamma Mia!

Underground subway escalators 

Went for a nice walk after dins.

Crossing the Jubilee Bridge

Adrienne, Ben and I (Big Ben that is)

Eye pier

Eye Pier again

London is amazing. Really there's no other way to describe it. It's gorgeous. Tomorrow will be another adventurous day around London then it's back to the ship is sail back to The Netherlands =) Let me tell you, our cabin on the cruise across the English Channel and our super classy hotel room have definitely been an upgrade from the hostel =)