Two for one: London and Normandy!

I'm being terribly slow with my blogging (my apologies) so I'm just going to tell you about London and Normandy at the same time. Otherwise, who know how long it will take?

LONDON:
We were only in London for 2 days, but it was a great time. We got into London in the afternoon and after finding our way to the Hotel, we went for lunch. After lunch, we walked around for a while and went to the National Gallery. Besides losing Jason for about an hour, it was great. There was a lovely impressionism exhibit and I got to see so many of my favorite artists- including Monet :)
Once we were all arted out we walked around London and took a look at the shops near Picadilly Circus and Soho. We walked through Chinatown (and somehow made it out without buying any food). We explored the underground, which is pretty idiot proof, thank goodness.

We were absolutely exhausted after our crazy weekend in Dublin and traveling all day, so we took it easy the first night in London. We got some beer and cider from a store, got a couple take out pizzas and just relaxed in the hotel- ready to get an early start in the morning.

Our first stop in the morning was St. Paul's Cathedral, which was absolutely gorgeous. We got the London Pass, so at St. Paul's we got a free audio guide which explained so much really interesting information about the Cathedral and it's history. The art inside is absolutely gorgeous. I have no pictures of the inside because you weren't allowed to take any, but we climbed about 500 steps to go up to the upper dome and there was quite a nice view there.

Afterwards, we went to the Tower of London, which was also really cool. We skipped the audio guides and the tour books at this one because they were really expensive. Also, Rick Steve's London tourism book includes his own little tour of the Tower of London, which was really helpful. I thought we were going to an actual tower, but it's this ridiculously old castle that's full of historical artifacts. It's just so crazy to me how old everything is in Europe. In the US, the oldest things we have are from the 1700's pretty much and there I was looking at things from like... 200 AD. It was unbelievable. We also decided not to see the Crown Jewels because the line was super long and we wanted to get to some other places as well. 

Before heading into Westminster Abbey, we stopped and took some pictures of Parliament and Big Ben. 

 At Westminster, they have this cool tour set up that you can walk along and just play the audio guide, depending on what you want to learn about. Seeing as Jason and I are nerds, it took us a while to get through, but you could do it faster. It was really cool because when we where there, the choir sang evening songs and it was so lovely. It's just hard for me to comprehend how one building can hold so much history. 

As we were leaving, there was a line forming for the 5:00 mass and it was going all the way around the building. There wasn't much daylight left at this point, so we had to get on our way. (Once again no inside pictures!)

After Westminster, we didn't have much of a plan and a lot of the museums were closing soon, so we headed to the underground without much in mind besides a cold beer. We ended up making our own little pub crawl, which was delicious and very fun. We had dinner at this incredible place called "Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese" which was this ridiculously old building turned bar/restaurant. The food was so good and I had one of the best beers I've ever had. We also went to the financial district, which was really cool because there were these old, fancy banks that are now pubs. So you're in a bar, but it's beautiful and has incredible architecture. (Though we did feel a bit under dressed).

And I also got to do what I've been dreaming of my whole life. (Or at least since I started reading Harry Potter) I went to platform 9 3/4!!

We were on our feet the entire day, so I was ready to call it a night around 11. We got up nice and early to walk to the underground and make our way to the airport. This took a bit longer than the express train we took into the city, but it was MUCH less expensive. 

NORMANDY: 

We were in Normandy for even less time, but it was still amazing. After making a much too long and unnecessary walk to our hotel from the train station, we got checked in and then set out to find some food. This was the first time Jason was in France and the lack of English was a bit overwhelming for him, so we found a pizza place and ended up with a cheese plate appetizer, pizza, and dessert. It was so yummy. We had another early night and got up early for our D-Day tour in the morning.

Before the tour, we stopped by the HUGE cathedral in Bayeux, which was about 1 minute from our hotel. It's called Notre Dame, but not the one in Paris, of course. I was actually allowed to take pictures inside, which was surprising. It was such a beautiful place.

If you're ever in Bayeux, I recommend you do the same exact thing we did. 

Stay here:

It's a great value and has a yummy restaurant and helpful staff!

Go on a D-Day tour with Victory Tours:

http://victorytours.com/

Our tour guide's name was Roel and he was so knowledgeable and very very funny! It was just me and Jason, so we pretty much had a private tour at a reasonable price!

We went on the full day tour and went to so many incredible places:

-Gold Beach

-a German Battery with the original guns still there

-Omaha Beach (which was so eerie and peaceful)

-The American Military War Museum (once again... just an incredibly powerful experience)

-Pointe du Hoc (where the Rangers scaled the cliffs)

-German Military War Cemetary (not included in the tour, but we finished early so we got a freebie)

I honestly can't even attempt to describe this day to you. I feel like I was in awe the entire time. It was beautiful, but incredibly sad and emotional at the same time. You can't help, but be touched by the history and by the sacrifices that were made by people younger than I am now. If you ever have the chance, I really recommend doing this. It puts a lot of things in perspective.

After the tour, we got dinner at the hotel and went to the train station for a long night of traveling back to Toulouse. It was an incredible experience I'll never forget.