London - Day 2

As our second day comes to an end Paige and I are getting in arguments with our feet and Arin is talking about living abroad. All in all, we're in love and easily burned twice as many calories walking than we ate today! In the morning we enjoyed a complimentary breakfast of fresh bread and nutella and cereal at our hostel. When we departed in the morning we walked straight to Buckingham Palace passing the Royal Mews and The Queen's Gallery along the way. The flag was up at the palace, which means the queen was home!

Directly behind us was the Queen Victoria memorial.

We then took a beautiful walk down the mall which was lined with flags. We passed the Lancaster house, St James's Palace, Marlborough House and St James's Park all during the short walk down the Mall. Paige and I were bursting at the seems to get to the Horse Guards in time for the change of guards ceremony at 11am! It was so worth it (for a horse lover)!

This is Godfrey (I got a picture with him and Paige on my real camera).

Posed we these guys and they didn't flinch!

Shout out to Arin for being so patient with Paige and I's obsession with horses.

Next we stopped by Trafalgar Square. I got some awesome panorama photos, but those were on my camera... However I got this awesome photo!

Great picture right? Want to see how it came about? Well it started with a girl and her dream to get a picture on the lion. She quickly conquered the 5ft wall, but realized the lion was too slippery to be mounted without help...

So she called in back up.

Who also conquered the wall!

I automatically offered a leg for a leg up... Forgetting that not everyone rides horses/ knows what it meant.

But we figured it out...

It was really slippery and kinda scary high!

But I pulled it together to take the final photo (I posted first).

The square had the National Gallery, The Portrait Gallery, The 185ft monument/ column for Admiral Nelson, and The Saint Martins in-the-fields church.

We retraced our steps a little then took Green Park to get to Hyde Park, but it was totally worth it! We got super lucky and right as we were heading by the palace again a procession of guards passed along with VIPs in a horse drawn carriages! In Hyde park I must have stopped to smell the flowers (mainly roses) at least 20 times!

As Paige so perfectly said, it looked like the garden of Adam and Eve. I also fed a squirrel (pictures to come).

We stopped by a cafe/ restaurant on the Long Water that connects Hype park and the Kensington Gardens.

 We just grabbed some premade sandwiches and I was in heaven with my Brie, pesto, tomato and spring greens on a baguette (and Arin's hot chocolate was delicious too)! We walked along the long water looked at all the swans, geese, pigeons and other types of birds I don't know the names of. Once we made it into the gardens we went straight to the Peter Pan statue (Mary-Kate and Ashely's meeting place).

We wandered to Kensington palace, but after seeing Buckingham Palace we weren't too impressed. However, we full on ran to the landing lawn as a helicopter landed delivering one of the royal family you the estate!!! We believe it was Prince Charles!!! His dogs ran out to greet the helicopter.

Feeling in the royal spirit we stopped by the Orangery for high tea.

It was a restored green house and absolutely beautiful! I had the lemon ginger tea and tried all the variety of sandwiches like smoked salmon and cream cheese, egg salad, cucumber and ham and mustard. My favorite thing may have been the cream in the bowl next to the biscuits it literally tasted like whipping cream with the consistency of butter.

Next we hiked to Notting Hill. Yes it really is a hill. The town houses were gorgeous and pastel and kind of reminded me of San Francisco. We then went to Portobello market, but it was closing down so we decided to come back on Saturday because it looked like so much fun. Next came the big hike... We walked from Notting Hill through Kensington, South Kensington all the way to Chelsea. We passed the gorgeous Science Museum, Natural History Museum and Victoria and Albert Museum along with a variety of cool stores including some like London classics like Top Shop, Zara, Reiss and Uni Qlo. We also passed L.K.Bennett which I thought was really funny bc my initials are LKZ and my cousins last name is Bennett.

Looked cute! But our intended destination was Harrods!

The walk paid off because it was epic. All the glitz and glamour I expected from London! They had gourmet food on the first floor, luxury washrooms, Egyptian themed escalator stairwells and for the two seconds I looked around I saw the cream of the crop fashion brands (hello Louis Vuitton)! As night fell they turned the lights on!

We were exhausted, starving and thirty so we went somewhere we knew we'd get a good meal... Indian food! You know the restaurants good when it's full of locals and people of Indian decent. I'd recommend Haardi if anyone is in Chelsea (although we had to pay for rice separately from our main meal and that's tuff when you're on a tight budget!). It was another awesome day and we are exhausted. We're going to sleep in a little tomorrow and try to not cover quite as much ground. 

London Day 1

I was feeling a little bit like my favorite childhood actresses, Mary Kate and Ashley and Amanda Bynes, after exploring London for the first time today! We arrived after a pretty smooth flight (thank you ambian my John Mayer playlist and individual movie screens). Paige and I were happy to see our matching (and my matching I meant identical) luggage arrive (since we weren't as cool as Arin who carried all hers on).

Oh but not after getting put down by customs...

"Do you have a job?"

"No, I'm a student."

"Then how are you paying for this trip?"

"My parents..."

And she continued to ask us what each of our parents do. We were automatically labeled in that custom girl's mind as spoiled college kids.

Next stop was the tube!

Which we handled like pros even with the extreme crowds, 12 stops and two train changes! 

We were so impressed with our little hostel the Astor Victoria! The girl at the front desk recommended a little market at the corner at Tachbrook and Churton to get some lunch at and it was awesome! They had such a variety of ethnic food for such a small market, but we decided on some falafel wraps for three pounds each! 

I was proud of myself because I didn't make any special edits to my order I took it with everything and it was so worth it! It had some spicy stuff some pickled stuff and some other deliciousness all wrapped up together. After unpacking and locking our stuff up we set out to explore! Our first stop was the Tate Museum. It was an amazing museum with some many exhibits especially since it was free! Here were my favorite pieces (don't tell anyone I took pictures, but I promise I didn't use the flash!)

Classic and beautiful!

There was probably some elaborate meaning behind this that was beyond me but I still loved it!

Much better in person, but I just love the look!

"No woman no cry" with materials ranging from glitter to elephant poo.

I was looking through a whole room full of African inspired masked and it took me a second to realize what this one was holding...

Next was the big sites!!

The House of Parliament! Including...

Big Ben and...

It looking like I was about to be hit by a classic London double decker bus!

*I'd like to point out I took much higher quality photos on my real camera this are just ones from my phone

We also stopped by Westminster Abby!

Yup my eyes are closed...

We were absolutely exhausted by this point and decided to start our way back home. On the way home we stopped by the coolest bar I've ever been too with the best drinks! It is called Cinnamon Club and it is located in the old Westminster Library! Books still line the walls with tall ceilings and only a full leather chairs in the whole room and one wooden bar.

This is my knickbocker and it was magical. However, Paige's French 75 took the cake.

Next was dinner! We decided to end a great first day with a great British tradition !

Fish N chips at Sea Fresh. I am happy to say it was the best Fish n chips I've ever had and most likely ever will! Simple and fresh.

We already have lots more planned for tomorrow, but we are really embracing the laid back take your time and explore vibe! I cannot wait for the days to come!

The big day has arrived!

Here's my first attempt at a mobile post! The journey has begun! I got all packed with no help from this guy...

Or any of the other assortment of animals I call pets. Drove 4 hours up to Dulles and decided I wanted Mexican food as my last meal before I left the country. My mom (also known as my driver) and I have a tradition of going to Moe's before any (afternoon/evening) flights out of Dulles. Who doesn't love a restaurant that has to yell "Welcome to Moooooe's!" every time a new customer walks in?

After finishing my entire chicken burrito (please don't tell any of the 28 chickens I live with) I'm pretty happy I had about 5 hours to digest before take off.

After stalling in the car during a classic Virginia summer storm, wandering to three different check in counters and almost misplacing my phone I checked in and made it to my gate. I have to give a shout out to my dad for picking out this awesome bag that can either be a back packing backpack...

Or a rolly bag and day back...

Pretty nifty if you ask me! And the crews all here!!

Next stop London! ✈🇬🇧

Here We Lo-A-gan...

Hi I'm Logan and I'm taking a shot at this blog stuff. A big chapter of my life, college, just ended and I'm on to new and exciting adventures. I named this blog Coast to Coast because I was born and raised in California, but my mom moved to Virginia when I was in 4th grade. I spent my school breaks in Virginia until I decided to attend the University of Virginia. Now that I have worn the honors of honor I am heading back west, but not all the way to CA. My boyfriend of 6.5 years, Mike, has another year at the University of Arizona, so I decided to ween myself off the college scene and join him in the desert! I am hoping to go into Physical Therapy, so I will be taking some more classes at the local community college and applying to graduate schools throughout the next year. (Who knows what coast graduate school will take me too!) Oh, I will also be living in a house with 6 college guys. Yup. That's why I thought this blog might end up being a pretty good read. Before the big move to AZ I'll be heading to Europe for a month with some of my best friends (hopefully I'll be able to figure out how to post from my phone while I'm aboard)! Overall this will probably be a mix of food, exercise and the day to day adventures of being a college grad in a new town!  Here is a little photo background:

This is one of my litter sisters, Maddy. She started a blog (The Cakery), which motivated me to do the same. She's got a serious passion for baking... read at your own weight's risk!

These are my best friends! From left to right we have Paige, Caitlin, Me, Brooke, Arin and Mabry. I've known all these girls since my first year, but we all have different special connections. Paige and I were on the Virginia Riding team together and the same floor in our first year dorms. There's a bond that horse people share that no one else can understand. Caitlin is pretty much my sassy other half who is the first to jump to my side in hard times! We were on the same hall our first year and lived together another two years on top of that. Brooke is my famous friend (she was a member of the Virginia Dance team) who enjoys Thai food and murder mystery shows just as much as I do! Arin and I met by sharing the same floor in first year dorms and we fell in love over Zumba. There is no girl that can make you smile the way Arin does. She's goofy and the most sincere person I've ever met. And last but not least there's Mabry. Mabry and I were random roommates first year and share the same birthday. There is no one like her with her innocence's and a splash of beer, puns and black and white french movies. We've each changed so much in our college careers, but nothing has affected our friendship. I don't know where or who I'd be without these girls!

This is my boy. We went to Marin Catholic High School together and decided to stay together even though we were going to different universities. I absolutely cannot wait to finally to be not only in the same state as him, but the same house! We love How I Met Your Mother and the San Francisco Giants (among other things). I can't wait to try new things (like all the recipes I found on pintrest) in Tucson with Mike next year!

The University of Virginia. "Remembering the purple shadows of the lawn, the majesty of the colonnades, and the dream of your youth, you may say in reverence and thankfulness: 'I have worn the honors of Honor, I graduated from Virginia.'"Lefevre Dorm, Virginia Riding, Delta Zeta, the Rotunda, Rugby Road, Kinesiology, the Corner and more. I have so many memories at this amazing university I can't believe the four years flew by so quickly!

My sport of choice is horse back riding. I have been riding since I was a baby and competed on the Virginia Riding show team all four years of college. My sister and I share a horse named Lewis, but the horse in the picture above is Medrano who I rode at ANRCs this year. I am hoping to be able to ride into my future!

Well this was a very brief overview of me and a kind of boring first post, but hopefully it will set the basis for the rest of my blog!