London Adventures: Day 1!

Well, after landing in Heathrow, we took a bus for about to hour to the Lancaster Gate Hotel. To our dismay, the rooms were not ready yet. Also, Wi-fi in the hotel cost 14 pounds a night. So naturally we headed to Starbucks to send emails and check Facebook.
Oh, Americans...

My First Foreign McDonald's Experience
Everything really is bigger in America. I got a quarter pounder with cheese, fries and a medium soda. Here is what it looked like: 

The fries weren't as addicting and the bun was way too small for the burger, which didn't even make me feel gross afterwards. Food, cars, streets, sodas...ultimately, people were smaller in London. The McDonald's itself was really cool. Very graphic and modern.

Getting Locked in Kensington Park

My favorite part of the first day was Kensington Park. It was beautiful as the sun was setting; the moon was bright over a small pond with swans and there were no street lights, so the trees were dark, symmetrical and beautiful. We enjoyed the park so much that we kept walking and talking, strolling slowly and enjoying the peace. Until we realized that every gate we were passing was locked. With visions of climbing the fence and risking arrest, or spending our first night abroad sleeping on park benches with hobos, we started to panic. Don't worry; we did get out. There was one main gate open at the far end of the park. They really should put up signs...Oops! 

Side Note: crossing the streets in London is dangerous. In less than a day I almost got hit by a car and a cyclist. Also, I spent most of the bus ride wondering why all of the streets we were one way, until I looked out the windows on the right and saw cars in the opposite direction. Crazy.