The Perks of Being in England: A Heart Full of Love (for London)

Yesterday morning, we went out to get a "full English breakfast." A full (non-vegetarian) English breakfast consists of: bacon, sausage, eggs, toast, beans, grilled tomato, and mushrooms. Stefanie's vegetarian version just substituted a ton of veggies for the meats.

Stefanie's

Nicole's

We set off for Topshop Oxford Circus, which we'd heard about from the vlogger Zoella and Game of Thrones star, Maisie Williams. It has five stories (3 for Topshop, 2 for Topman) and yet somehow still seems fairly organized. Since the clothing is a bit out of our price range, we decided to put together crazy outfits for the other to try on. The results were pretty fabulous.

We found an adorable Disney store!

Then we braved the Oxford Street Primark which was very overwhelming. I've never seen so many people in a store so crowded! But it was a successful trip because we found presents, a small suitcase for Nicole, and the Ravenclaw t-shirt Nicole had been wanting.

We walked from the hotel to Kensington Palace through Hyde Park, which was lovely. Kensington Palace has been home to many important members of the British Royal Family from Queen Victoria to Princess Diana. Today, William and Kate and baby George live in one wing of the Palace.

Me with my girl, Queen Victoria

We toured part of the Palace (King George II's rooms, Queen Anne's rooms, and the fashion exhibit) before heading to Afternoon Tea in the Orangery. Stefanie even found a tea that she liked: mixed berry!

Once every piece of food on our plates had been eaten and Nicole had somehow managed to drink five cups of tea, we returned to the Palace to tour the Victoria exhibit. Nicole may have gotten a little teary eyed over Victoria and Albert.

Before we knew it, it was time to head off to the West End! Because the Queen's Theatre is a little ways away from the Prince Edward and the Palace Theatres where we'd been going, we got off at a different tube stop and quickly found ourselves in the middle of...Chinatown? The streets were lined with Asian restaurants of all types.

After getting our tickets from the Box Office (and seeing the Enjolras, Michael Colburne heading to the theatre!), we picked a little dumpling place. Nicole had pork bao and Stefanie had tofu and broccoli.

Nicole's bao!

We were so excited to finally be in the Queen's Theatre! Our seats in row V of the stalls weren't ideal, as we missed the top of the barricade at times but they weren't too bad! The show was absolutely incredible and we were both blown away by the entire cast. Our favorites were Carrie Hope Fletcher as Eponine and... wait... we can't pick a second favorite because all of the men were so wonderful!

Stage door was super incredible as well. We were both impressed by how long Carrie stayed talking to fans! She even agreed to film a little bit of our vlog with us. We missed David Thaxton (who was one of the best Javerts ever), which was sad, but got selfies with the Valjean, Enjolras, and Marius!