london | buckingham palace & harrods

4218 miles.

that is approximately how far dan & i had to travel

to be closer than we have ever been before.

for the past three years or so,

dan has been driving up about once a month 

from columbus, ga
to see me.

that's two hours worth of drive time (one-way).

this past summer, we calculated how many miles he has driven so far.

and it came out to being nearly as much as a 

roundtrip, cross-continental-u.s. road trip.

& he has never complained, ever.

currently, while i am studying in Oxford,

he is in London at Queen Mary, University of London.

technically, we are closer in distance;
however, due to the sometimes awful traffic coming in and out of London,

it can take between a 1.5-2 hour bus ride from one city to the other.

as can be imagined, 

naps make the time go by a much faster, indeed.

for my first trip to london,

we decided to plan something along the lines of

a fancy date.

oh! and in comparison to my previous posts,

this one will have a significantly larger number of

people pictures.

upon discovering that we arrived at 

buckingham palace too late - all the entrance tickets were sold out,

we sat outside a deliberated a bit about what to do next.

of course, we took pictures.

the queen was actually at her summer palace,

so visitors were able to take tours throughout the place.

she's back at home now, i believe.

it was extremely crowded.

so many people everywhere!

and horse poo.

yes, it was left by the horses that were part

of the changing of the guards procession.

victoria memorial

dan's photography skills are steadily improving.

it seems i have taught him well! ;)

when i first met dan at governor's honors program

during the summer of 2009,

i called him a polo model because he always dressed so nicely.

so now, i often jokingly refer to him

as my own model.

he is always very cooperative whenever i want 

someone to photograph.

a little higher up from the ground.

here is a better view of the palace.

these gates aren't actually part of the palace,

but they were very majestic and beautiful in appearance.

they make me look so small.

and finally, harrods!

this is the largest department store in all of europe.

it occupies 5 acres of land

and has one million square feet of selling space.

it literally felt like walking into a palace

(so, in a sense, it made up for not getting to go into buckingham. haha)

it was hall after hall after hall 

of extravagance.

clothes, jewelry, cosmetics, food, and tea/coffee.

my jaw dropped,

my eyes grew big and probably sparkled.

it was like a dream come true.

& my pictures simply do not do it justice.

this was one of the first cosmetic halls

that the main entrance opened up into.

such a classy ralph lauren store.

fancy ceiling decor.

and another huge cosmetic hall.

chanel, ysl, dior, georgio armani, lancome, la mer, etc.

there were several different chanel and louis vuitton shops.

one mainly for purses, another for shoes, and even one for clothing!

oh my goodness, and the food.

it goes without saying that their food hall is actually

world famous.

we were both quite hungry by the time we finally got around to eating.

let's just say, i got a little carried away while looking around,

and next thing we knew, almost an hour and a half had passed!

because there are no places to sit down inside,

we had to eat outside on a bench.

regardless, it was one of my favorite sandwiches

that i've had so far in england.

[prosciutto, cheese, and tomato]

& i think dan's was some kind of asian chicken.

the desserts!

we were so full by the time we finished our sandwiches,

but of course we had to take some home ;)

creme brulee is my favorite dessert of all time.

fancy bar-style restaurants.

this was part of the chocolate/tea hall,

which contained so many flavors and brands

from countries all over the world!

our last stop was the ice cream parlor on the third floor.

it was such a cute place to sit and talk and relax.

our nutella ice cream.

i imagine the place looks even more wonderful when it is lit

on the outside at night.

the shoe hall.

it was nothing short of amazing.

jimmy choo, louis vuitton, 

& the tory burch flats that i love.

mirror, mirror on the wall.

after a couple of weeks away from home,

we were both missing traditional asian food.

so, we ate at a korean restaurant for dinner!

we also had a galbi dish, but the picture came out blurry. 

it was quite expensive,

but very worth it!

neatly cut orange pieces.

and last but not least, 

our dessert from harrods!

we decided to save it as our post-dinner dessert.

(creme brulee & cappuccino cheesecake)

if i could bring some back to america with me,

i would.

we often have people ask us

if we chose to come to england because of the other person.

and honestly, the answer is no.

we have both always dreamed of studying abroad

for a semester in england.

& somehow, it all worked out perfectly

that we are both able to be here

at the exact same time.

it's truly a blessing.