London Town

Since I have been running behind on blog posts, now is the time to talk about London.

I went to London with my roommate two weeks ago. Thought it was only a weekend trip, and there is so much more to see in London, we still had an amazing time!

We arrived in London Thursday night. Once we were settled at our lodgings we took the underground into Westminster to see the London Eye at night and find a bite to eat. We also got to walk past Big Ben and Westminster Abby, but we did not go inside. You can also see in my pictures that the clock tower is currently covered up by scaffolding for repairs. It was unfortunate, but at least I have another excuse to return to London!

 

 

 

 

Our hostel was also very close to Hyde Park.

 

The next day we had a long journey ahead of us. We had planned to go on a tour around the countryside, including stops in Windsor, Bath, and Stonehenge.

 

 

After visiting the palace in Windsor, our second stop was Bath, known for very well preserved Roman baths.

 

A side note, the water is very warm and nice. They even let you have a taste of the water. Tasting the water is not as nice as feeling the water. Warm mineral water is not very refreshing!

 

 

 

Once we returned to London, we took some advice from our tour guide. He suggested an amazing fish and chips restaurant to eat at for dinner. The portion was absolutely massive but very delicious!

 

As you can see from the pictures, we actually were very lucky during our vacation. Though England is known for rainy, overcast weather, it was actually very sunny almost the entire time we were in London.

The next day we spent viewing a few museums. The Natural History Museum was a short walk away from our hostel, so we started there. Then we took a quick detour to see Buckingham Palace. Afterwards, we went to Baker Street to grab some lunch and then tour the Sherlock Holmes museum. This was my idea, once again, because I am a huge geek.

I found the Sherlock Holmes Museum to be particularly interesting because it is a book accurate recreation of the Victorian style townhouse as described in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's beloved series. This includes 'artifacts' from the cases solved by Sherlock and Watson, recreations of famous scenes from some of the stories, and authentic Victorian decor. It was a very thematic experience.

However, this was not the most exciting stop of the day. We had saved the best for last. Jakota and I had reserved tickets to see a Shakespeare play in the Globe Theatre! Because of our good luck with the weather, we were not rained on even though we were standing in the outdoor area of the beautiful recreation of the same theatre that Shakespeare's plays were originally performed in. I was not allowed to take pictures during the performance, not that I would anyways because taking photos during a theatre performance is rude. The night we went to the Globe was actually an audience choice night. At the beginning of the show, the cast members would ask us what play we wanted to see, and you would shout loudly for they play you wanted. Our choices were between Twelfth Night, Pericles, and Comedy of Errors. I really wanted Twelfth Night because I particularly love that play. It ended up being Comedy of Errors, but I didn't mind so much since it is still a classic mistaken identity story, and the actors and atmosphere were so engaging. I didn't even mind standing on my feet for three hours!

With a magnificent close to a wonderful evening, Jakota and I returned to our hostel and prepared our things for our early Sunday morning flight back to Spain. It was unfortunate that we had to leave so soon, but we still had work on Monday morning. I would consider my first time in London to be a roaring success, and I have a whole list of things I want to do the next time I can catch a cheap flight to London. I would even consider living there if it wasn't so expensive!