We headed out at staggered times, and most of us ended at the Tower eventually. The deciding factor? Sleeping in a couple extra hours!

Saturday was our first day completely free of company visits, so we decided to fill it up to the brim to make the most of the trip. We began with the Tower of London, and a sky to match the mood: overcast and pending rain.

Here is a rather side-swiped view of the Tower of London. There were no lines, strangely, probably because the weather got so horrid.

We made a beeline for the Crown Jewels before we headed back to the entrance to join a Beefeater tour. I heard that they’d instated their first female Beefeater recently, and the men were giving her a bad time. We did not see her though.

This nice Beefeater guide put up with us through our dancing umbrellas and ushered us into the chapel when the rain came down too hard.

The Tower Bridge

After we left, we saw this parade heading into the tower.

A couple hours of that and we were all ready to get inside and eat something warm. Naturally, we chose the Wagamama’s right outside the Tower complex.

One restaurant that was perfectly okay with accommodating 15 of us. A couple boys went to get Subway, heh.

The secret to not getting fat on vacation? Lots and lots of walking. Also, skimping on less necessary meals by getting Tesco pastries for breakfast so as to conserve my sterling for more touristy adventures.

London Bridge is most certainly not falling down, and if we hadn't already known it to be a disappointment, we would have been disappointed.

We had better formation in the first shot, though I was instructed not to show that one because of strange facial expressions and unposed and therefore awkward hand positioning.

This walk was directed towards the Tate Modern, but a few of us took a short detour and headed through the Borough Markets. So delicious with so much food, but alas, we could not tarry.

Squid on a stick?

Hmm, cider. A-hem.

The Millennium Bridge in front of the Tate Modern, however, did meet its demise in the sixth Harry Potter film. Look at that spindly thing!

The Tate Modern boasted free entry and massive architecture. Tate 2 - MoMA - 0.

Space! Lots and lots of it inside the museum.

My favorite tate installation. The weird lumps on the ground are primordial beings, and the big thing is a lightning representation of some sort. Also, I appreciated the context the Tate provided for most of their exhibits, something the MoMA refuses to do. Again, Tate - 3, MoMA - 0. I like art with some intent, because it focuses emotion.

We headed to the Globe Theatre to pick up the tickets our director reserved for us to watch Macbeth. Excitement!

The actual replica, and not the ticket office.

So we had what is technically considered the “cheap seats” – at 5 pounds per person with standing room only. However, I considered it to be the best seats, because they provided this mysterious head canopy for the audience to poke their head through and watch [and experience] the show up close and personal. Meaning when there was fake blood, that got splattered on us. When the witches moved? Our legs got brushed against. When a bucket of water was thrown at the audience? Oh, that landed on me. My fault really, I shouldn’t have made us a target by ducking.

These canopies were definitely not waterproof, however, since the weather, continuing with its pathetic fallacies, decided to match the play. It was pouring throughout the last few acts. But since I'd been soaked early on and had ducked under the overhang to dry after my spot was stolen during intermission, I remained relatively ok.

The second day of London consisted of a company visit. Our first stop? Chelsea Football Club. Shh,don’t tell. As much as my friend Kate could kiss me for bringing her back a Chelsea souvenir, my friend Scott was ready to kill me for not going Manchester United instead.

We actually began with a presentation on promotion and sponsorship for the club (not teams, clubs), now one of the wealthiest and best-sponsored in the U.K., thanks in part due to wealthy Russian owner, Roman Abramovich. Not only is this a field (pitch to the English), it’s also several hotels, a gym, shopping and apartments. They really don’t waste a spick of space or money-making potential. Perhaps the U.S. should take a cue?

Practicing my professional image in the official conference room, where the club provides more than healthy amounts of alcohol for the press before a game. Strategizing begins off the field.

Ending some time after noon, we head off for a quick lunch before meeting up again. Half of us stop by a nearby pub with a feel as traditional as they come and munch on some fish and chips.

Our next route takes us through Hyde Park, headed for Buckingham Palace. Lots of pictures follow.

We didn’t get to catch the changing of the guards, though we managed to see a lot of the guards, mostly because the Queen was in and they were doing some marching practices. I really feel like we didn’t miss that much.

Buckingham Palace.

We make a pit stop in a small garden park on our return trip for some modelling and camwhoring.

Being much less jetlagged that night, we headed out after dinner. Since it was a Tuesday night, our local pub, the Zetland Arms, was bountiful in the older generation. Nevertheless, we had a fun time just chatting with each other. If you’re of age in London when you visit, make sure to try Strongbow Cider – its delicious! Remember that all pubs close at midnight in London, so don’t plan on going out too late.

That’s it for our second day – Cheerio!

So my posts have been getting sparser and sparser, so I thought I’d remedy that, especially since I promised my mother that I’d make her a photo album with informative descriptions about all my travels every time I go somewhere new.

So a little background on this London-Paris trip: I’m a part of a global business program at my university which involves traveling to a different continent/country every day for our first three years and getting to know not only a bit about the culture of the land, but also to get a taste for businesses in the country and a bit about how they operate within their economy. Our first year trip takes place for about two weeks in the summer, after school ends, this year from May 23th-June 7th. We spent 10 days in London and got a obligation-free two-daycation in Paris.

We begin our journey about 5pm at JFK, where some of the group gathers outside before heading in to join the larger group - all told, we're 17 plus 1.

It took us 9 hours of flying time to arrive at Heathrow, around 11am local time. This meant we had an entire day to power through before we could get some real sleep. After waiting much too long for our chartered bus, we piled on and headed for our assigned student housing.

We lived in posh South Kensington for the 10 days of our stay, a stone’s throw from femme fatal Anna Chapman’s residence behind the South Kensington tube station. Russian spies? Check. Bentleys parked on the street and Lamborghini dealers? Check. Echoing streets and sensitive neighbors with a street-wide quiet hour of 11pm? Oh, it all comes with the territory.

South Kensington streets had strange trees and a lot of white wash (not here, obviously).

The first thing we did was head out in search of food. We were instructed by our upperclassmen to run (don’t walk) to Nando’s Chicken. Since we saw one from the bus on the way, that was exactly what we did, arriving at the chain restaurant shortly after its 11:30 opening time.

Nando's Chicken - I had spicy rice and wings. I have to say, the British know how to blend fast food and sit-down ding. At this establishment, you are first seated and given menu's, and at your own leisure, you can head up to the counter, queue up (what else?), and order your food, which is later brought to you at your table.

Next we attended a few orientation sessions at the London branch of our university. We received a few safety tips, mostly regarding pickpockets and false ATM machine openings which allow your card entrance but deny all exits. Speaking of ATMs, for those of you with Bank of America checking accounts, did you know that with the ATM Alliance you can withdraw cash from any Barclay’s ATM free of charge? They don’t even charge you conversion! I could pull out 20 pounds and have exactly $29USD withdrawn from my account (the conversion rate being 1:1.49 at the time).

Hungry again after orientation, we were treated at Pizza Express–another well-known London franchise that is much fancier than its name suggests.

Yum, lemonade.

For those who decided we wanted to see London before we crashed and succumb to jet lag, the post 24th hours of our day consisted of a lot of walking and ground-breaking coverage of the must-see tourist sites. We began with Piccadilly Circus.

Picadilly Circus had the biggest Ripley's I'd ever seen. But of course, different city, similar sights. Like Times Square, the Circus hosts a variety of brightly lit signs and musicals.

From there we walked all the way to Trafalgar Square, the heart of London–for tourists, at least.

F

Nelson's Column at the Square.

Boys on the Column's base.

Lions! We had so many group photos - it was ridiculous. Good thing our chaperone was a good sport about it; he was handling 3 to 5 cameras at any given photo opportunity!

Next top: Parliament and every edging closer to Big Ben.

Where parliament resides...

...demonstrators follow, right across the street in their specially allotted square.

Big Ben. Need I say more?

The London Eye, which we skipped because no one felt it was worth shelling out 20 pounds for.

We took the tube back, because by then, we were too exhausted to move. Sleep was fast and the flat was very silent that first night.