Thursday, May 30, 2013

UK 2013, Part 2: London & the Lake District

I already talked about our Iceland layover, but I guess I should back up a little and mention what we were doing on this trip in the first place. One of my friends from high school recently moved in with her boyfriend in London, so another high school friend, my husband, and I decided to go visit them and do a road trip around the country. We had such an amazing time! Once we met up with them, the first part of the trip included some sightseeing in London followed by a visit to the Lake District in northern England.

London & the Lake District

By the time we landed in London on Sunday night, we were pretty exhausted, so we met up with our friends for a very quick hello before calling it a night. On Monday, we spent a touristy day exploring the sights in London...
London

We ended the tour by checking out Buckingham Palace. Then we headed back to our friends' apartment, piled in the car, and drove up to the Lake District. This was the longest leg of our road trip, so it was nice to get it out of the way early on.
Buckingham Palace

My friend's boyfriend grew up in the Lake District, and his parents graciously offered to house all five of us for two nights and stuff us with tons of delicious food! They were such nice people and had a beautiful home, and we were definitely spoiled while staying with them! We arrived late on Monday night, so we just enjoyed some food and drinks at the house. On Tuesday, we went out to explore the area and saw Castlerigg Stone Circle.
Lake District

And wandered around some of the cute little villages in the area like Keswick & Grasmere.
Lake District Towns

In the afternoon, we decided to get some exercise and go on a run by one of the lakes. The boys did a crazy run that went straight up a huge hill, while the girls did a much more leisurely one around it. I wish I had my camera for this part, since we had some really stunning views of the lake! After our run, we stopped by the beautiful Aira Force waterfall before making our way back to the house.
Lake District Scenery

We ended the Lake District portion of the trip with another great evening of food and drinks courtesy of our wonderful hosts. 

Next up: Scotland
Previous: Iceland

3 comments:

  1. Great pictures! I studied abroad in London as an undergrad and then went back to do research for my Master's thesis. I love traveling to Europe in general, it is so much fun!

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    1. Thanks, Ann! That's so awesome you got to spend so much time there! I did a brief winter break study abroad thing in Italy, which was great, but I wish I would have studied abroad for a longer period of time!

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  2. Enjoyed reading about your adventures! I was in England the same time you were last year. I go to the Lake District every year at least once!

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