We started Wednesday with a visit to Buckingham Palace. It was packed with tourists. I could only imagine how busy it will be during the royal wedding. Speaking of the royal wedding, I was taken aback by how many souvenirs there were of William and Kate. You could get anything you could possibly imagine with their faces on it. I saw tea towels, tea cups, plates, flags, t-shirts etc. But anyway, after seeing Buckingham Palace we went to the nearby Hyde park to explore. We got so lucky with the weather, it was sunny and warm out so our stroll through the park was perfectly pleasant. After that we made our way back to see the changing of the guards. It was even more packed now and we really couldn't see anything. I wasn't very impressed but we gave it a good try!
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Buckingham Palace
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Then we walked to Big Ben, Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey. All of them were absolutely beautiful. Big Ben was my favorite because all of the gold on the clock reflected in the sunlight and looked so pretty.
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Big Ben with the London Eye in the background
After that we hiked over to Trafalgar square where we ate some lunch..outside...in the sun! Amazing. I attempted to climb up and get a picture with one of the lions but lacked the upper body strength to do so. I got a nice picture with it anyway.
Our last stop of the day was Camden Lock Market. It was so cool there. Its basically just a bunch of little stands where people are selling anything and everything. I bought a really beautiful silk scarf at one of the vintage shops. |
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Camden Lock Market |
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One of my favorite stands at Camden Market, this guy made old bottles into wall clocks! |
Alaina and I were exhausted after walking London south to north so we decided to hop on a double decker bus and head back to the hostel to freshen up for dinner. For dinner we went to The Shakespeare, a bar/restaurant not too far from our hostel. We had some delicious fish and chips there.
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Fish and Chips |
After dinner we decided to hit up a sports bar to watch a football game and have a drink. The bar we went to was called The Victoria and it had a surprisingly similar menu to The Shakespeare. Alaina and I quickly figured out that most of the bars named after famous Brits and with signs saying 'Real British Food Served Here' were all selling the same exact food at slightly different prices. Oh well..it was still delicious! Anyway, this bar was quite funny. Our orders of a chardonnay and cuba libre were too complicated for the bar tender. I was first asked if chardonnay was a red or white wine and then he proceeded to hold up the bottle asking 'is this right?'. Then he said they couldn't make a cuba libre (rum and coke)...so he just whipped up something special for Alaina. After our 20 minute, rather hilarious, drink order we sat down and enjoyed a bit of football. Then it was time to rest our feet and hit the hay.
On Thursday we decided to buy a day pass for the Tube so we could go to a lot of the further away sites in a more efficient manner. In the morning we hit up 221 Baker Street to see Sherlock Holmes' office, Abbey road to get a picture of us imitating the Beatles, and then to the Tower of London.
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Knocking on Sherlock Holmes' door at 221 Baker Street
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The Tower of London was really interesting. My favorite part was seeing all of the crown jewels and everything they use in the coronation ceremony for crowning new kings and queens. It's amazing how extravagant everything was. I think the coolest things included the largest diamond in the world, the ceremonial robe that weighed something like 12 lbs, and a golden tub that held 144 bottles of wine used at some ceremonial dinner.
Right outside the Tower of London was a great view of the Tower Bridge (not to be confused with the London Bridge which isn't cool at all) so we got our pictures with the bridge there.
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The King, Queen and myself in the Tower of London
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After our tour through the Tower of London we headed over to St. Paul's cathedral. It was enormous and absolutely beautiful, but it costs way too much money to go inside so we went in as far as we could to get a peek of the inside which is also huge and really pretty. There is a cafe in the crypt of the cathedral so we decided to take a break and get some afternoon tea there. After that we checked out the Globe Theater and then headed back to get ready for dinner.
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St. Paul's Cathedral |
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Having afternoon tea in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral |
For dinner we went to the S&M cafe for some bangers and mash (sausage and mashed potatoes). It was another delicious meal...I don't understand why everyone says that food in England isn't anything special because I thought it was all absolutely perfect!
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Bangers and Mash |
After dinner we checked out a bar called Dirty Dicks. We saw that almost everyone in there was in a suit and there were hardly any women so we thought we would check something else out. On our way out we got pulled into a conversation with a couple of Barclays Bankers. They were quite entertaining. The one was trying to find the other (his assistant at Barclays) a nice girlfriend...so obviously Alaina and I became the targets. It was all good fun though. We learned a little bit more about the Brits and got some advice on not taking Ryanair unless you can hold your breath for the duration of the flight.
Our last day in London was a bit more relaxed. We had kept so busy the first two days and were rather exhausted so being able to move slowly was nice.
We first went to Hyde Park and walked a bit further in to see the Princess Diana Memorial fountain. It was really nice and the park just gets more beautiful as you get further in. One of my favorite parts about the park was that they have a walking path and a bike path like most parks but they also have a horse riding path. Very cool.
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At the Princess Diana Memorial fountain in Hyde Park |
Then we walked to the Tate modern to check out some modern art. Some of it was really cool...but most of it was over my head. One of the pieces reminded me of the painting Karston made for me this Christmas ... maybe we've got a future artist on our hands?
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Getting a cheese and mushroom crepe on our way to Tate Modern
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What surprised me the most about our trip to London was how hard it was to communicate with people. I figured there wouldn't be too much of a language barrier seeing as we were going to an English speaking country but I swear I was misunderstood more in London than I am in Copenhagen or even in Prague for that matter. It must be the American accent (which someone, to my surprise, told me they very much liked while in Camden Lock Market). Also, it was very difficult getting used to crossing the street and which way you are supposed to look. If it wasn't for the reminders on the street I think I may have walked right into a moving vehicle.
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These reminders were surprisingly useful |
All in all London was a success. All the walking was exhausting but definitely worth it. We got to see so much of the city which is really beautiful and we got to avoid the Tube, which is actually pretty miserable, cramped and hot.
Now it's back to Copenhagen and the real world of studying for finals...at least until the Oslo Cruise!
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| London Eye and the Aquarium at night |
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| Alaina and myself |
