Just got back from a week in London 🙂
We flew in and out of Stansted Airport and overall it wasn’t as expensive as people go on about. The only thing we found to be pricy was the long-term accommodation for people looking to live there, other than that it was quiet a manageable trip.
Thursday 19th January:
When we arrived we got the train to Liverpool Street Station and walked through the city and saw along the way the outside of the Tower of London and Tower Bridge (that is the better bridge, not London Bridge). We got an Airbnb place in the suburb of Bermondsey, then we walked back into the city and had dinner at a german restaurant.
Friday 20th January:
We walked to the Imperial War Museum and spent an hour or two there and then went and looked around Westminster, saw the palace and abbey plus Big Ben. We then went to Trafalgar Square, followed by a stroll through St James’s Park to Buckingham Palace. It was the first time I saw a lake that was partially covered in ice! We then wandered off towards Downing Street and saw that the place was cut off with large black metal barricades and armed with armed men. Afterwards we met up with friend and had a lovely french meal in Soho.
Saturday 21st January:
We met up with the same friend from last night and another to go to a wonderful market near Bethnal Green. We used public transport for the first time, taking the train to Bethnal Green tube station. Afterwards we went to The British Museum.
Sunday 22nd January:
Visited the Natural History Museum (with another friend) and spent a good four hours there. I really liked all the taxidermy animals they had on display, but the place was packed and we even had to line up to get in. That night we had dinner at a BBQ restaurant and returned home via the tube.
Monday 23rd January:
We leisurely walked into the city along the river and explored the streets around us (four hours!) and for dinner met up with another friend at Imperial College. After that we hung out in the student bar and then with a fourth person we walked along ‘Embassy Row’, a street that had extravagant houses along Hyde Park. We went to a wonderful Japanese Sushi restaurant and took a bus back.
Tuesday 24th January:
Terrible day. We booked a return bus trip to Cambridge via National Express. But three times they screwed us with directions. The first time they failed to inform us of a change in location. The second time we were given the wrong location and when we rang up again the person on the line didn’t even know the stop we were at, so we were told to go back to the first stop and the bus never came. It was terrible, hopefully we’ll get a refund. I check them out on Trip Advisor and half their reviews are one star ratings. In the end we went back home and de-stressed.
Wednesday 25th January:
After a sleep in we went and saw the Wellcome Trust followed by the Grant Museum of Zoology. That place was amazing. The zoology building isn’t that big, but it is packed with skeletons and specimens of all types of animals and critters. It was so much fun to look at.
Thursday 26th January:
Last day, walked into London and then met up for lunch with another two other people at the same german restaurant we had dinner at on our first day. Then we went to The Alchemist and had a waffles and sticky date pudding. Then we got the train from Liverpool Street Station back to Stansted.
Stephanie Haggarty 