March 4, 2012-River Thames Boat Tour & Platform 9 3/4

We got off the bus and went down to the River Thames to catch our boat. We were standing right beside Parliament and Big Ben and could see a bit of West Minster Abbey!

We got on the boat and it was warm! Happiness!!! It went slowly and we had a tour guide. We saw London Bridge and Tower Bridge and the guide explained the difference (they are not the same bridge).

We saw the London Eye and were just right next to the enormous structure....can't wait to go to the top!

Once the boat ride was over we went to catch the Underground for the first time. We all had our own passes. The Tube Stations were crazy busy, people everywhere! We had to put our card in the little slot and it would pop back up in another slot and the little gates would open and we would rush though. You had to be quick and know where you put your little card or you might get trampled. Once I realized which station we would be in I flipped out. We had to pass through King's Cross Station. Which if you have read Harry Potter...you know that is where Platform 9 3/4 is!!! I woke back up and knew I had to find it! Jenn B. said "Sure, we can do this!" So, off we went.

We found it!!!!!!! I wasn't the only nerdy tourist who had to find it. When we got there, there was a line. lol So we had to give it a shot...total photo op :)

We then walked back through the station and realized it was beautiful in and of it self.

So exciting!!
We headed back to our station and then to our hotel. We stayed in the Royal National Hotel. It was huge. There were so many students there from all over the world....France, Germany, Spain, and even Australia. We got checked into our little dorm like rooms. Melisha crashed for the day and the rest of us went to find some food. We had been awake for more than 24 hours at this point. I was becoming a bit delirious :/ We found The London Pub which was just beside our hotel. We thought, awesome, we don't even have to cross the street! We ordered some food and waited to see what "chips" looked like....guess what? they look like french fries! lol I knew they were potatoes but I thought they might be at least shaped a little different?? Oh well...yummy!

It was then about 6:30 pm London time and I went back to room because I just couldn't stay awake anymore!! Feel asleep and woke back up about 9:30pm...started making plans and looking at the map with Melisha and went back to sleep around 2:00 am London time.