“I don’t know what it is about this city, but I find it so charismatic. Maybe it’s the clear-cut, pristine white buildings with pops of vibrant red double-decker buses or the sound of British accents drifting through the air as I pass people by on the sidewalk. Regardless, I love everything about London.”
Excerpt from 2/4/19
London was the first excursion of my study abroad experience, but it was my second time visiting this exquisite city. Somehow, it was exactly how I remembered and at the same time entirely new and exciting.
My three closest friends/roommates from college accompanied me on this trip (as well as almost every other trip). We arrived bright and early to Stansted Airport, hopped on a bus that brought us to the Victoria Station, and walked about ten minutes to where we stayed for the weekend. All the hotels on the street were boutique in size, charming and inviting. The Blades Hotel was no exception. The lobby was adorned with purple carpet that felt lavish yet modest at the same time. The friendly owner greeted us at the door and showed us to our room where we dropped off our things and immediately set out again.
Places
Tower Bridge
Although the weather was cold and the sky was bleak, it honestly made the turquoise blue of the Tower Bridge pop that much more. I purchased tickets in advance online to walk across the glass walkway inside the bridge. I definitely recommend doing the same because the minute we got there we avoided the line and took the elevator straight up. Once there, I hesitantly took that first step onto the glass. Peering straight down, I saw the Thames River beneath my feet and a steady stream of cars whizzing by.
At the base of the other side of the bridge was a small museum that was included in the price of the ticket. It contained information about the engineering and history of the bridge, but my favorite part was this tidbit pictured below. Just imagining this unlikely scene unfold was enough to make my friends and me chuckle.
Big Ben
You can’t really travel to London and not see Big Ben, but I definitely wasn’t expecting to arrive and see it completely covered in scaffolding. Signs posted all around indicated that the iconic landmark has been undergoing renovation since 2017 and won’t be completed until 2020-2021. Somehow I managed to miss that piece of information in preparation for the trip. Nonetheless, it is nice to see the city taking the time to preserve this piece of history for generations to come.
London Eye
The first time I was in London, I had the opportunity to actually ride inside one of the capsules all the way around the London Eye. The experience is definitely worth it, but with so much else to see I didn’t feel the need to do it again. In my opinion, you can get even better views from the Shard which I talk about later in this post.
National Gallery
I genuinely enjoy going to museums, but sometimes hefty admissions prices discourage me from going. One of the fantastic things about London is the museums are free to the public. The two I visited were the National Gallery near Trafalgar Square and the British Museum.
The British Museum
Out of the two museums, I spent more time at the British Museum. Its claim to fame is the Rosetta Stone, but I was also able to see exhibits with ancient Greek and Roman ruins and even a cash register from the original Tiffany & Co. I wish I could have spent more time in there, but with only three days in London and lots to see I only spent a few hours there.
Piccadilly Circus
This square is considered the heart of London, so naturally it is chock full of traffic, shopping, and tourists. The energy is exciting, and you’ll never run out of places to look and people to observe.
Kensington Palace
Situated next to Hyde Park, this architectural masterpiece is quite the sight to behold. It was fun trying to imagine what might be going on inside those stately gates. There is the option to take guided tours inside, which is something I would love to do if I ever make it back to London.
Buckingham Palace
In contrast to Kensington Palace, Buckingham Palace is situated in the heart of the city. Normally there are tons of tourists trying to take pictures in front of the gates, but my friends and I walked by later at night while it also happened to be raining so we were the only ones there.
Activities
Harry Potter Walking Tour
This ended up as one of my favorite parts of the trip! There is a company called Strawberry Tours that offers all different kinds of free walking tours around the city, and this happened to be one of them. I’ve read all the books and seen all the movies so I was definitely geeking out. During the tour, we walked by several of the places J.K. Rowling drew inspiration from while working in London. For example, the candy shop Honeydukes was based on the Hardy’s Original Sweetshop and Gringotts Bank was modeled after the South African Embassy. This tour was also a great way to get familiar with city. The guide even pointed out additional things that I would have otherwise overlooked like Benjamin Franklin’s house .
Walking Around Carnaby Street
Carnaby Street is full of charming shops and restaurants. You never know what artistic displays you might see as you walk by. Some of my favorites are pictured below.
Drinks at the Shard
The Shard is London’s tallest skyscraper, and it really does look like a shard of glass piercing through the sky. Inside, there is a series of elegant restaurants that have some of the best views of London.
My friends and I are frugal college students so we couldn’t quite justify splurging on an expensive dinner there. We still wanted to be able to enjoy the view though, so we ended up ordering drinks at one of the restaurant bars and found open seating by the windows. The cocktails were artfully crafted and almost too pretty to drink. I don’t remember the exact name of mine, but it had hints of hibiscus, fruit, and the rim was lined with a bright pink salt (pictured on the left).
Afternoon Tea
This experience was unlike anything I’d encountered. I had never before gone somewhere just to sit and chat over tea and dessert, but I fell in love with the concept very quickly. I’ll be the first to admit I have a massive sweet tooth. It’s no surprise then that I loved getting to try the extensive assortment of beautifully decorated chocolate and fruit pastries. There are many different places around London were you can enjoy afternoon tea, but we chose Cafe Concerto. It had the elegant atmosphere we were looking for, and it was reasonably priced compared to many other places we looked at.
Food
You don’t have to travel far to stumble across a pub in London. There is something so comforting about them. Especially the first day when it was cold and rainy, the pubs felt even more warm and inviting. Here are two dishes I tried from two different pubs. Unfortunately I don’t remember the name of the second pub.
CASK Pub & Kitchen
Meatpie & Mashed Potatoes
Tapas
Although pubs are iconic in London, the food scene is much more diverse than that. I especially picked up on that when walking through Carnaby Street. We ate at a tapas restaurant with a concept that was very unique and interactive. All the different tapas were showcased at the front of the restaurant, and you just went up and selected the ones you wanted. Each dish had a different size stick signifying the price. At the end, your bill was the total of all the different sticks. I often have trouble deciding on a single item on a menu, so this was a great way to try many different dishes. I recommend a place like this for lunch since it would take a lot of the individual dishes to be adequate enough for dinner.
Memories
- Getting locked out of our hotel…
Because we picked a boutique hotel rather than a large chain, the doors were not open 24/7. The entrance had two sets of doors, and at a certain time of the night the doors locked. We were only given one set of keys for the four of us. One night, my friend and I ended up staying out later than our other two friends. When we eventually came back, we realized we didn’t have a key to get inside the entrance. Luckily, we called one of them and they came out to let us inside. The problem was, she didn’t bring the key with her either. Instead of trying to prop the second door open with something concrete, she stuck a thin piece of paper in the crack thinking that would prevent the door from shutting. Well, it didn’t. So then we were all locked out of the second door and our fourth friend was fast asleep in the room. I honestly thought we were going to have to spend the night in that tiny entryway. We could not stop laughing about the whole situation though. Luckily, our calls woke up our friend and she eventually let us in. It was quite the ordeal.
- Almost missing the flight back to Rome…
We were scheduled to fly back to Rome on a Sunday night. Since Stansted Airport is a ways outside the city, we had to allot adequate time for transportation back to the airport. The two modes of public transportation to get there are by bus and an express train. We rode the bus when we arrived to London, but on the way back we wanted to take the express train so we would have more time to explore on our last day. We bought tickets online, but when we showed up to the station we were told that the express train did not run on Sundays. We were shocked because the online portal allowed us to buy tickets for a day that the train wasn’t even running! We panicked because our only other option was to take a bus, which took much longer than the train would have. We literally had to sprint through the airport, but we made it just in time. I seriously felt like the McCallister family in Home Alone. Talk about cutting it close.
Conclusion
London will always have a special place in my heart. I love how comfortable I feel there. The culture is similar enough to America where I don’t feel like a complete fish-out-of-water. At the same time, it is different enough that I know I am in a completely different country. The pace of life is also slower than many other large cities I’ve been to, which makes it a lot easier to stop and appreciate the little things. I have a feeling I’ll be back.
Check out my podcast episode about this trip:
