About two weeks ago one of my best friends, Mallory, was able to come visit me for her spring break. We spent the first half of the week in London where I got to show her around all of the major tourist attractions plus some of the smaller places around my school. Then in the middle of the week we flew to Rome for a couple days before Mal headed back to the States.
After picking Mallory up from the airport and getting settled in at my flat, we headed out to explore some of London’s most popular areas. We first went to Leicester Square, and from there were able to walk to a lot of the surrounding areas including Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and Covent Garden. We just ended up walking through the streets of London exploring (i.e. getting lost), taking pictures, and catching up for most of the night. We headed back to Mile End (where my uni is) and ate dinner at a really yummy restaurant around the corner from campus. We both ended up getting burgers and these amazing desserts. The food has been one of the biggest highlights of my semester here so far. Sort of kidding… but not really.
The next day we got up a little earlier to make our way to Buckingham Palace for the Changing of the Guard ceremony. Buckingham Palace was beautiful, as always. We walked around the area a bit and had fish and chips for lunch at a restaurant down the street from Trafalgar Square. Then we walked over towards the Palace of Westminster and Big Ben. Our timing was perfect, and we got there right as Big Ben struck 2:00. Then we crossed the River Thames and headed over to the London Eye where we got to see some of the best views of the city. Of course, we had to take a double decker bus ride, so we hopped on the bus and headed over to St. Paul’s Cathedral. We spent some time inside the cathedral and each lit a votive candle for our loved ones. We took another bus over towards the Tower of London and walked along Tower Bridge. The sun had set by that point, and the bridge along with the entire skyline was all lit up. London is just too beautiful. After a quick dinner, we walked along Regent Street and went to the ice bar. Again, it’s super fun in there but VERY cold. We didn’t stay too long. Afterwards, we met my friend Allana at a dessert place in Whitechapel where the three of us hung out and talked and ate entirely too much dessert. I love that Mallory was able to hang out with my close friends here in London!
Monday was not as busy as the previous two days had been because I actually had to go to class. Contrary to popular belief, I do actually have to go to school while I’m here. After I was done with class, Mallory and I went to Covent Garden to kill some time and do a little shopping before going to dinner with my Golden Apple roommate Jaden and her friend Maddie who is studying abroad in Canterbury, England. The four of us went out to dinner together, and it was SO good to see them! Being the only ISU student in my program, it was so nice to be able to hang out with some other Redbirds for a little bit. And of course, I had to snapchat nearly every Golden Apple person a picture of me and Jaden because come on… how often do you reunite with fellow Gapples in London?!
On Tuesday, Mallory and I spent the day exploring the Kensington Gardens. We walked all around the area and checked out the Kensington Palace, the Albert Memorial, and the Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain. After all that exploring, we made our way to a pizza place for dinner. Even though we were going to Italy the next day, we still agreed that pizza was the way to go. My parents were so sweet and generous enough to treat us to tickets to see the Lion King, which is one of our favorite movies. The show was amazing, and it was such a fun night for both of us. Thank you again Mom and Dad!! Love you so much! (P.S. See you in Italy in 25 days!!!)
We made reservations to go to the Sky Garden on Wednesday morning before going to Rome. The Sky Garden is basically a public space at the top of London’s “walkie talkie” building. It’s free entry and you get to see a panoramic view of the entire city. Plus, the entire area is an indoor garden that is really cool. It’s unlike anywhere I’ve been before. Then later that afternoon we headed to the airport for our flight to Rome! Mallory’s good friend Zaskhia, who is from France but lived with Mallory during sophomore year of high school as part of a foreign exchange program, was able to meet us in Rome for the two days that we were there. Mallory and Zaskhia hadn’t seen each other in four years, so it was really awesome that it worked out for us to all travel together.
Our first full day in Rome started off with a visit to the Colosseum. We LOVED the Colosseum. It’s crazy visiting all of these big cities in Europe and visiting these kinds of sites. They are the places you have heard about and seen pictures of your whole life, so actually being able to see them in person is so surreal. We toured the Colosseum as well as Palatine Hill and the Roman Forum. We also went to the Vatican City and went on a tour of the Museum and Sistine Chapel. We weren’t allowed to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel, but I can assure you that it is as incredible and awe-inspiring as you would imagine. We also went inside St. Peter’s Basilica, which was absolutely breathtaking. The architecture is just unbelievable. We were in awe. We all went out for dinner and then headed to Trevi Fountain for our first visit. The Trevi Fountain is stunning at night. It was everything the Lizzie McGuire movie led me to believe it was and more.
The next day we made our way to the Pantheon. The Pantheon was awesome! Again, it was so crazy actually visiting these places because I vividly remember discussing them in school growing up. Luckily, it was a beautiful day so we sat outside at a restaurant just in front of the Pantheon and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine. We headed back to Trevi Fountain afterwards because of course we had to take pictures of us throwing our coins and making a wish. I’m glad that we were able to see Trevi Fountain both at night and during the day. It is just so beautiful. I don’t think I could have gotten sick of that view. Zaskhia had to leave earlier than us to catch her flight back to France, so after parting ways with her Mallory and I had some time to kill. We ended up just going back to the Colosseum and hanging out there for a while. We sat on a ledge overlooking the Colosseum and the Roman Forum and enjoyed the sunshine. No joke, I’m pretty sure it was in the high 60’s or low 70’s. Such a perfect day. We made one more gelato stop, and then made our way to the airport to fly back to London.
We were both so exhausted after a jam-packed week, but it was so fun getting to explore London and Rome with one of my best friends. Mallory and I have a long list of places that we want to travel to together, and in one week we were able to cross two cities off of our list. It was so much fun to have Mallory here, and I know it’s a trip that the two of us will remember forever 🙂
Also, throughout the week Mallory and I put together footage to create a little music video to document our trip… Enjoy!
Eva Around the World 