Twenty-one and in LONDON!

After many hours and many modes of transportation, I finally found myself to the hotel in London, took a shower, and ordered room service. Ah, what a life. Brittany and Faith came home from the Lion King show after a few hours, while I was kicking back eating chocolate and watching How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It was so nice to see them again! We exchanged Christmas/birthday presents, caught up a bit, and got some sleep!

The next day was my infamous, however anti-climactic when spent in Europe, twenty-first birthday! We slept in and then went for breakfast and champagne on the club level (hoo hoo) of the hotel. Here's some engagement photos of me and Britt from that morning (note the special birthday beads from Cheryl):


We went to Hampton Court Palace for the day, looking at the gardens, the kitchens, and the grounds. There was a small event happening in the Great Hall that afternoon called 'gift-giving' for Christmas. There were all these characters from back then, including the audience in their act. Towards the end, they decided to have a Christmas dance, which we all participated in. One of the actors, Sir Thomas Cottonpeppersomething, asked me to dance and took me to the front of the line near the Queen especially because it was my birthday :). Then we danced in a line with all the others and he was super flirtatious (as his character was supposed to be) and said sweet things such as, ''I've never had the pleasure of dancing with such a lovely gentlewoman'' or complimentary things such as, 'your gown flares just beautifully as you twirl' or hilarious things such as (to the Queen), ''It's Kelly's birthday, but I don't think I'll have the pleasure of seeing her in her birthday suit'' or naughty things such as, "If only I were able to do a different dance with her later" !!! It was too funny. Pretty sure I blushed the whole time.


That evening, Faith joined us for dinner and a drink in Soho and then decided to return to the hotel. Brittany and I spent the next few hours wandering London most constructively. We went from Soho to Picadilly Circus to Leicester Square to Trafalgar Square to The Thames to Big Ben! We got this one cooky but harmless guy asking us how many curly-haired people we know. He was stressing to us that they were a 'dying breed' and thus he started a facebook group titled, 'Curly of Hair, Whirly of Mind' in order to 'raise awareness'. Later, we looked it up and it doesn't exist. Too bad! Hehe...Anyways, it was a lovely tour of London at night on foot! After Big Ben we finally grabbed a taxi home and got off our feet! Here's the pics:

In front of some horse statue

I like this one because it looks like the tree is growing out of her head!

With the London Eye

Me and the Benjamin

This morning Faith's cousin, Andi, and her family came into London to meet up with us. Before they arrived, we stopped into Harrod's for a moment, but since it was just when they were opening, we had to push our way in through a throng of people!

Attempting to enter Harrod's

After we met up with the fam, we spent the rest of the day more or less wandering again. We went through Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, rode the London Eye, and walked over the Tower Bridge. Tonight we are going to relax in the hotel--I'm pooped! And here's the pics of today's grand tour:

In Kensington Gardens

On our way to the Eye
Here follows a few pictures from the ride:


In front of tower bridge, annoying me again

A more normal pic with the bridge

Andi and family

While on the bridge, they had to lift if for a boat...
it was really neat to watch from up close.