Kelly Around the World: London (Part II)

So maybe staying out until 430am wasnt the best idea, but we figured we only live once, and we werent planning on going out any other night while we were there so we went for it! The next morning we woke up around 10 and got on the bus outside our hostel and headed to the Westminster area. We stumbled into the Westminster Catherdral right as mass was beginning (I had forgot it was even Sunday). We ended up staying for the 1.5 hour (Latin) mass, and both of us really enjoyed it! The choir was amazing, and the church was incredible! After mass we walked around Westminster and saw Westminster Abby, Big Ben, the London Eye, as well as many other sites. We snapped lots and lots of pictures even though we werent quite sure why most of them were famous at this point. After a couple hours our lack of sleep began to sink in and we went into a pub for lunch, which was again decent, but nothing too special. After we headed back around to where our hostel was to grad a sweater and check our email. We then went over to the Covent Garden and Soho areas to see what was around. We found out not much was going on Sunday night so we ended up having dinner and heading back. The next morning we woke up early and got on the Big Bus Tours red bus where we were able to hop on and off the 26 stops as we wanted. Here we learned all about the sites we were unsure about the previous day. Our tour also included a boat tour of the Thames River where we were able to get a close up look at The London Bridge and London Eye. We got off at the Tower of London stop and went on the tour there. Inside the Tower of London we saw the royal jewels, WOW, I never thought I would see a 500+ karat diamond! GORGEOUS and HUGE!! haha a girl can dream! After the tower came our favorite stop, TEA! We had both been wanting to go for "English Tea" since arriving in England, and we finally did. We looked up a place online the day before called Beas of Bloomsbury in the Soho area and we made a reservation. So we sat with a cupcake, scone, and cup of tea on the rainy Monday afternoon and people watched! That night we wanted to get to bed early and be ready for our trip to Italy in the morning so we headed back to Bayswater for dinner. Since getting into Bayswater we had been asking every shop owner (Indian) we saw of a good Indian place to eat and also about "Kahn" (reccomended by Uncle Tim), and had no luck! That night after looking at a few places and not being too excited by the menus, we tried one last night and he knew of Kahn!!! We were SO excited. Once we got there we knew we were at the right place, it was packed! It was AMAZING!!! I could have eaten it everynight. love love loved it! Thanks Uncle Tim!!
The next morning was yet another adventure....the tubes went on STRIKE!!!!! We were depending on the tube to get the the Stansted airport which was a good 1.5-2 hrs away to make our 11am flight. Everyone else was also depending on the tube to get to work.....so after deciding against paying the 75£ for a taxi we attempted the bus! After about five bus23 went past us without stopping because they were so full we finally got on one around 7am and stood with our HUUUUGE backpacks for over two hours to get to Liverpool street and switch to an above the ground train. We FINALLY got there ( I was worried!) literally 10 minutes before the Stansted Express left at 930. We got to the airport just in time and were the last ones to board the flight, but we made it!!! OFF TO PISA, ITALY! WHOO