Our European Adventure: Part 1 - England |Justine Christal Photography

We are back from our belated honeymoon! My husband and I booked this vacation a year ago as a honeymoon for ourselves. We traveled with EF College Break- a travel company for people 28 and younger. We paid extra for our own room and did a combination of our own activities and group activities. We traveled to England and France. We were impressed with the organization and ease the company provided in country. We also had a blast! I took the majority of the photos with my Sony A55.

This first post is about our adventures in England!

We were based at our hostel in London in area called Elephant and Castle. This was not the stereotypical hostel image that often comes to mind- We had our own room and bathroom. Everything was clean and modern.

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Our first day Josh and I explored on our own the Elephant and Castle area and sipped coffee at a cafe. We walked to the Palace at Westminster and the Parliament houses. In the evening we walked more with the group and had a welcome mixer at a pub near Piccadilly. Josh and I don't drink, but this did not stop us from enjoying something as iconically English as the pubs.

We had a bus tour and local guide for the rest of London in next morning. We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Saint Paul's Cathedral, the Globe Theater, and ended in Borough Market. At the market we bought tea and fish and chips!

In the afternoon, Josh and I explored the Tower of London and London Bridge. Then we took the tube (their underground transit) to Kings Cross Station where I took my picture at Platform 9 3/4 in a Gryffindor house scarf.

Josh and I splurged on high tea in the later afternoon at Fortnum and Mason, an iconic establishment where the Queen buys her tea! After tea, we walked through Kensington park and view the palace where William and Kate live.

Our third day in England we traveled to Oxford. We saw the university and the quaint little shops and museums of the town. Oxford was my favorite part of England! We saw places where the Harry Potter series was filmed in the university- Very cool!

So many influential and famous people graced the halls of Oxford, including my favorite- C.S. Lewis. In the second picture group you can see Josh and I standing in doorway of the influence to The Chronicles of Narnia. The legend goes that C.S. Lewis was singing in a Christmas choir, but needed to leave early. He saw that the back door leading to the alley was blocked by the coat racks. He pushed his way through the coats and made it into the wintery streets where you can see the lamp post in my picture. On the door the lion is carved and the fauns surround the posts. I got goosebumps hearing the story!

We also traveled to Stonehenge after Oxford. This historical site predates written history so noone really knows what it was used for. However, scientists know that the rocks came 150 miles from now Scotland. I think the site was used for healing rituals because there have been people buried near the sites that came from all over with various ailments.