European Tour, My Own Way #1: First stop: London – London, England

First stop: London

It is now Sunday and I have pretty done about as much sightseeing as I could on my own for the last three days. On Friday, the day I arrived, I tried without much success to do some sightseeing. I don’t think the near 13 hour flight gave me jet lag but not having slept in over 24 hours really made me feel like crap.

However, I did make it to the Natural History Museum. If I was five years old I’d love it, but I’m 25 and I was ready to swat the little buggards out of my way to see things. I actually didn’t stay too long because the crowds were virtually impossible to move around in.

I was going to go back to the hostel (St Christopher’s Village, very nice place) but then I saw that I could go to Buckingham Palace. It was not quite what I have expected, kind of boring looking but I took pictures and I can live my days knowing that I went there. Now during my first day of excursions, I wasted a fair amount of money using the Tube. On the second day I was to some too the wiser.

On Saturday, I went to a store called the WHSmith where I bought the “Time Out” magazine. This magazine saved my life. It had everything and it costs �4. I also learned to buy the Day Travelcard at the Ticket Office or Ticket machines at the Tube. The transportation in London is fantastic in comparison to that of the United States. It was a beautiful that day unlike the day before which was cold and damp. I went to the Tower of London and would have taken the Beefeaters tour but I was crunched for time. I did take the Audio Tour which was very good. The Tower of London has a miserable history but was very interesting.

Next I went to the Westminster Abbey and visited the Chapter House. That was also a very interesting little place and had a lot of history. Be sure to ask about the place because there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. I then saw the London Eye but it was too late in the day and tickets had sold out. Now, if you can tell the day is beautiful in the beginning and would like to take the London Eye (close to the Parliament House and Westminster Abbey) then do it, you’ll get some great photo opportunities.

Later on that night I decided to see the Millenium Dome of Greenwich. It cost �20 to get in and I was not willing to pay that so I just took pictures of it from the outside. It was worth the trip to just see it considering it doesn’t take long on the Tube.

On Sunday, I returned to the London Eye which is just this enormous Ferris wheel looking thing that takes 30 minutes to go around once. That is all there is BUT you do get some great bird’s eye view of London along with some great photo shots. Unfortunately it was raining again that day.

Next I went to the Jewel Tower where King Henry VIII kept his “junk.” I then went to the what I consider the highlight of my stay in London. The Victoria & Albert Museum. Costs only �5 and is one of the most exquisite museums that I have ever been too. I spent nearly 4 hours there and I even cheated a little. There are something like 140 galleries and I managed to use up 2 rolls of film. There are some of the most exquisite artifacts from all over the world spanning 15 centuries. From stone sculptures as big as a house (which I found amusing to try and take a picture of), paintings through the different ages, to tiny artifacts that survived all of time. I would love to come back to London just to see this museum again. One does have to spend the weekend just to get a decent grasp on the history of the artifacts. I just merely browsed through the place taking pictures of things that I thought were pretty cool.

Before I went back to the hostel I went to Kensington Park and saw Kensington Palace which was far more beautiful (and interesting) to look at in comparison to Buckingham Palace. Later on I chilled out at the bar and had a beer. By the way, forget about eating a meal in London because it don’t come cheap. I mostly ate bread and spread and water.

Well, that just about wraps up my trip to London. Tomorrow I am off to Amsterdam where I am actually going to take a train to Brussels.

Until then, happy travels!!!!

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