Guest Blogger #1: European Vacation

Guest Blogger #1:  Hilary McCorkindale & Collin Mayo

Blog Entry Courtesy of:  "A Blog of Mayo"

Trip to London

After Paris, we boarded the chunnel train (which travels underneath the English Channel and can get up to 186mph!!!) and arrived in London. The trip only took about 2.5 hours. The tickets are expensive ($200) but its so easy and the trains are really comfortable.

We got to London and went straight to the hostel after a stop at McDonalds. McDonalds was our restaurant of choice because it was still reasonably priced. I remember paying 1.5 pounds for a snickers bar, thats almost $3 for a Snickers bar! We arrived at the hostel in a black cab and found out how small our room would be, the toilet was practically in the shower! We still paid a hefty amount for the room, the exchange rate for the pound to the dollar on the trip was around 1.6. A $60 a charge whenever pulling out 100 pounds from the ATM is madness. We Americans need to get our economy back on track!!

After we woke up, I went down the street in the rain to get some breakfast. I bought two muffins and an orange juice for 6 pounds ($10). We decided to get a tour bus pass to get acquainted with the city. This would have been great in the summer, but in the winter it looks like this:

We went by the Buckingham Palace and saw some guards standing out front, which was pretty neat. We didnt have a chance to see the changing of the guards, because it was way too cold and rainy to wait.

After we saw the palace, we got back on the bus and got a good look at the fogged up windows from the lower section of the tour bus. We headed to St.Paul's Cathedral (built during the 17th century), which was used for the marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer. It was pretty impressive.

We got back on the bus and headed for the Houses of Parliament and to see the famous clock tower of London, Big Ben. You can actually sit in on a court hearing if you pay some pounds! The Parliament is the center of political life for the UK.

The Big Ben Clock tower.

Thanks, Hilary & Collin for sharing!  More guest travel posts tomorrow!