The first exciting thing of the day at 6am London time? Going through customs as a British citizen! Thank you newly acquired British Passport, yes I will skip that line of hundreds of people and go instead to the line where I have to wait for one person. Win!
Ah, the success was short lived though as my bag was one of the last to arrive – suspenseful times! Not long afterwards I got off the Tube and headed towards my hostel in what I thought seemed like a very quiet area near Oxford St (that was a bad assumption, I forgot it was still 8.30am when I arrived).
Looking very unassuming and uninviting from the outside I am actually quite content with this place- apart from the fact that despite being a youth hostel everyone seems to be over 40? Hmmm.
After dumping my bag in a locker I headed out into cold, foggy, drizzly London. Unfortunately no shower was to be had, so I spent the day feeling incredibly feral :S Off to the tube and Westminster Station…
The first thing I saw stepping out onto the street was London Eye and then I turned around and there was Big Ben! I wasn’t expecting that at all and got a big thrill from seeing it, its very beautiful! In fact, I spent the first hour (and then some) wandering around in awe at the old architecture and history everywhere I looked… and spent a good deal of time wondering why I don’t live here??
I should mention at some point that there are Union Jacks draped absolutely EVERYWHERE here. Its very excessive and I’m assuming its to do with the Jubilee/Olympics and not their everyday decoration. I love it though, it makes me feel so… patriotic (is that possible?)
Anyhoo, after seeing Big Ben I headed around the corner to Westminster Abbey, which again, is beautiful and so historically significant (weddings, funerals, coronations etc. etc. the list goes on). I was on a very tight schedule so flicked very quickly through their audio guide – highlights included seeing the tombs of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots (thank you Horrible History books for getting me interested in all this again!)
From there I walked up to Buckingham Palace with a quick look at a heavily guarded Downing St. The plan was to see the changing of the guards, but I soon found the Mall to be blocked off… for a big parade of soldiers on horses which started 5 minutes after I got there! The actual palace was blocked off for the Jubilee celebrations there on Monday so after the parade I wandered around Green Park and St James Park instead, complete with a soundtrack of Jubilee brass bands in the background!
Next Trafalgar Square, which was in a similar state to the palace – nothing to see there except trucks and scaffolding. Whilst there, I did what must have been the worlds quickest whizz around the National Art Gallery. Not knowing what to expect I got very excited to find a big George Seurat painting, Van Gogh’s sunflowers AND Monet’s famous water lily bridge painting (the garden of which I have a tour booked to see in Paris!)
And THEN on to St Pauls, which I’ve mentioned before was mostly exciting to me because its in Mary Poppins ;) It would have been a relatively quick visit had I decided that I couldn’t go there and not climb the 528 steps to the very chilly top of the dome. It was very big and impressive, although I have seen my fair share of big impressive churches now. Then, because I could and because I hadn’t eaten all day, I sat in the St Paul’s crypt and had macaroni and cheese and homemade lemonade.
By now it was about 2pm, my feet and legs were complaining but I ignored them and headed to the Tower of London (I was looking forward to this one a lot, ever since receiving my ticket in the post 6 months ago!). I thoroughly enjoyed it although I don’t have an awful lot to write about it – I saw the shiny crown jewels, the armour collection and went on a funny guided tour. I was mostly excited about seeing the plain area of grass where Anne Boleyn (and countless others) was executed. I was also very excited when the sun finally came out!!
Finally back to the hostel for a glorious hour of showering and freshening up. One of the best showers I’ve had in my lifetime. All too soon, out again, this time to the Cambridge Theatre to see Matilda! I was utterly exhausted at this point so had to work hard at staying awake – that being said I enjoyed the show a lot! I thought the story was slow at some points and it certainly takes some liberties with the original but it had the most amazing group songs with stupdily good children and some of the best choreography I have ever seen. Certainly deserved the standing ovation it got at the end.
I left the theatre to find it pouring with rain… I had to give in and grab a “taxi bike” (a group on Indian men with bike-pulled seats that all the locals seemed to be avoiding). 15 pounds was perhaps a little steep but I actually really enjoyed cycling through the West End and seeing all the big signs (Les Mis, The Mousetrap) and I also thoroughly enjoyed not getting wet!
FINALLY it was time to sleep, since being awake since 3am London Time. I could barely walk at this point, and within 30 seconds of my head touching the pillow, I was asleep!
No comments:
Post a Comment