THE THAMES, LONDON.

Hello there! I know I haven't posted anything in a while, which is purely down to writers block and laziness which aren't a very good combination.

So a few weeks ago, one of my very good friends graduated from Uni in London, and his whole family came down from Texas and Washington to celebrate with him. My mum, brother and I aren't technically family but it sure feels like it, so of course, we were invited too.

I had been looking forward to this trip soooo much, especially seeing as I hadn't seen this family for a good few years give the distance between us, and I was doubly excited because it was the perfect opportunity for me to try out my new camera that I got for my birthday.

Seeing as I pretty much photographed everything in sight, I'm going to divide this into multiple posts, so that you're not scrolling for hours.

I'll start from the beginning. Much like my last visit to London, I took the Eurostar from Brussels to London St Pancras. It was a bit of a job getting to the Brussels train station in the first place, because not only was my bag pretty heavy, but the trains decided to just switch platforms without informing anyone. I therefore found myself on a train heading for the Brussels airport, after a bit of a panic, I was glad to find out that it also went to the train station, so I knew I wasn't on the wrong train!
Once I got to Brussels, I rushed over to the Eurostar check in desk and waited for my train to leave!

This was my seat on the train, thankfully I didn't have anyone sitting next to me for most of the journey so I could pop to the loo and stretch as I pleased.

When I arrived at St Pancras, my mum and brother were waiting for me in Costa. After hugs and kisses, we headed outside to grab a taxi, and set off to our apartment.

Driving around in the taxi was so much fun. We went right through central London, so it was great snapping away with my camera.

After about a half hour in the taxi, we were finally dropped off at our apartment. Our friends were out shopping so we had to sit and wait for a while until they arrived. The wait was definitely worth it because the apartment was absolutely amazing. Everything in it was UK and London themed, I'm talking pillows, pictures, coasters, toasters, mugs, plates..everything!

Here's the view of our lounge. I absolutely loved this view, especially the little apartments opposite us.

This is the view I had from my bedroom window. It doesn't look like much, but it was so nice to wake up in the morning and have London right outside my window.

We had such an amazing balcony. Sadly it was too cold to get any use out of, but it was so pretty and would've been great during the summer.

I warned you about the whole UK London themed things in the apartment!

After exploring the apartment and choosing our beds, we relaxed with some delicious dinner made by my friends, had a few hundred cups of tea, and then off we popped to bed.

The next day was the day of the graduation party. My friends parents had invited family and friends from all around the country. They moved to Texas about 13 years ago, so obviously it became very difficult to see family and friends, so seeing as they were in London for a few days, they decided to invite pretty much everyone they knew, so that we could all get together again like the old days!

One of the best things about this graduation party, was that my friends parents rented a boat on the Thames!

Here we all are, squeezed into the taxi on our way to the boat!

A bit blurry because it was taken from the taxi, but I'm proud of it nonetheless!

Cheeky snap of my brother taking a photo!

Before getting on the boat, we went into The Walkabout, which is an Australian bar in London next to the Thames. It was such a great bar with a really nice atmosphere. And to top things off, the barmen were all Australian! (Either that or they were extremely good at accents.)

Just had to take a photo of the cool tables inside The Walkabout!

Here I am with my dear dear lovely amazing friend Evie!

After having asked for a "red Redbull", this is what my friend came back from the bar with. Although it was absolutely massive and I only had about 15 minutes to drink it in, it was really delicious and I'm so sad that you can't get it here in Belgium!

We made it onto the boat, and the views were breathtaking! I took so many photos of London bridge it's unreal, but this is by far my favourite.

Another snap of Evie and I in front of London bridge.

This photo always makes me smile. The bad weather had just started, and as I was trying to get a photo of Big Ben, my camera went out of focus and got this really nice shot. 

It's Big Ben!!!

And this ladies and gentlemen, is a shot of where Sherlock Holmes jumped out of a window into the Thames in the first Sherlock Holmes movie! (I think)

Finishing off the boat photos, we went past the London Eye probably about 10 times, yet I only took one photo!

Once our lovely boat trip was over, we all staggered off of the boat (yes, a lot of us were feeling a bit dizzy after all of the free drinks!) and went back to The Walkabout for some more drinks and a chat.

Prepare yourselves for "Gina's drunk picture taking skills" in the next blog post!

Gx