Day 2: Wednesday, May 14

I am officially declaring London as perfect. It is only day 2 and I feel like I could stay in England for the entire 17 day trip and be perfectly content. Today was the first actual day of exploring and we started off strong; taking a behind the scenes tour of Wembley Stadium. If you don't know, it is a gigantic stadium that fits 90,000 fans and housed the finals of the soccer (football) game during the 2012 London Summer Olympics. It is also one of the most world renown stadiums in both the sport and music world. After stepping out of the train station, the stadiums' iconic and distinguishable arch was in full glorious view. Inside, it was nothing short of amazing. You know the stadium is huge, but one you actually get inside, you can't help but be amazed. Our enthusiastic tour guide, Ansley, took us to get amazing pictures in the stands, and even got to walk inside the Wembley and Royal Suites; both extremely exclusive and invite-only areas. I couldn't help thinking that maybe the Queen or William and Kate sat in the same seat as I did. That's not all though, we even got an inside look into the locker room, which were prepped for the upcoming FA Cup, therefore the jerseys of some of the best soccer players in the world were hanging up. Along with seeing many other amazing things in Wembley, I can't help but agree with Ansley that "Wembley Stadium is the most fantastic stadium in the world!"

After the awesome tour, we headed to The British Museum. It was there that we saw important sports-related artifacts, including a vase with 2 boxers on it from 1300-1250 B.C. We also saw a lot of the original statues and wall art that once lined the Parthenon in Greece. Did you know that most of the artwork on the actual Parthenon are just replicas? I definitely didn't! The Parthenon marbles and all the pieces were so well preserved, it's impossible to say that The British Museum wasn't great! 

The last event of the night was the group dinner at an American sports bar in "the Times Square of London". Their crowning jewel was the HamDog. This 11-inch hotdog was wrapped in a hamburger and topped with beans, chili, French fries, and a fried egg. Both Alex and Bryson decided to go for it and I was disturbed to say the least. They both walked away victorious but I'm skeptical if that's a good thing or not. It proved to be a fun bonding experience for the whole group at least! We finished dinner and walked back to the hotel, all while taking in the energetic and fun nightlife. 

It has been such an exciting and eventful day, I can't even imagine what the next two and a half weeks will bring. Stay tuned!