Alright, so London. London was definitely an experience for me. Honestly, it was not the best trip I've ever taken. I was still recovering and we hit a couple of bumps while there, but it was a good trip.
We flew Ryan Air. This was my first experience with a budget airline. It was great for what it was. Just a short hour and a half trip. But I definitely wouldn't fly anything overseas that way. Seats are not assigned, you get to the gate, wait in line, and grab the first seat you can find. Then the seats don't even have basic things like pockets on the back or the ability to recline. But the worst part to me was that the stewardesses try to sell you stuff the whole time. From suitcases to drinks (no, they're not free) to tickets to attractions in your destination city. I seriously just wanted them to sit down and shut up for a little bit.
So we arrived pretty late in the afternoon. By the time we got to our hostel I think it was like 7:00 or 8:00pm. The hostel was actually the biggest problem with the whole trip. It was a huge let down from what was advertised. It was not close to anything, though they'd promised a 15 minute walk to huge attractions (It was a 15 minute walk to the underground station where you could catch a train to attractions. Not the same.) They had promised a bar, but what they meant was that they sold a few overpriced drinks from a fridge behind the main desk. The staff did their jobs, but definitely didn't make any effort to be helpful or even friendly. And our room. Well. I'd never stay there again. There were four sets of three high bunks beds crammed into a room small enough that there wasn't enough space after the beds for all of the tenants to still stand in the room. And it was hot. Unbearably hot. I hardly slept the entire time because I was melting. I spent most of the nights roaming the hallways. Oh, and to top it all off, there was only one toilet on our floor for about 50 people. And it was broken most of the time. So in case anyone's planning a trip to London, please do not ever make a reservation at the London Eye Hostel.
Well once we'd checked in we found a restaurant that Martina had looked up to have dinner. It was a traditional fish and chips place. I had the chicken and mushroom pie (you all know how I feel about fish). But I did try Martina's fish and it wasn't half bad. Plus the place gave you shrimps and pickled onions and pickles and bread, all for free. And the portions were huge, so that was nice.
The next day we headed out to the National Observatory because we're nerds and wanted to see the Prime Meridian. It took us ages to get there due to closures from the Olympics. We had to walk up this huge hill of doom to get there. It sucked really bad. After that we went to the Tower of London. Ended up spending all afternoon there. I didn't realize it was a whole complex, not just a tower. But it was a really cool site, probably my favorite of the "must see" sites that we saw. And then that evening we did a Grim Reaper tour. Our tour guide was awesome. She enthusiastically told us all about the dark history of London while still be respectful of the history and the victims. After the tour our guide directed us to Brick Lane, a street full of Indian food restaurants. I do love my curry, so it was awesome.
On Friday we got started early with the free walking tour of London. This is one thing that I'd highly suggest to anyone going to London. There's no charge, but they ask that you leave tips at the end depending on how much you thought it was worth. And believe me, it is worth it. It's a great tour and you get a good overview of all the main sites. After the tour we were pretty exhausted, so we took it easy. We took the train up to King's Cross Station to be nerdy tourists and get a picture of the Platform 9 3/4 thing (it's not actually inside with the platforms, as you need to buy a train ticket to get in there.) And that night we had Groupons for Rodizio for dinner. It was so delicious. We spent a couple hours there just stuffing ourselves with the best, most flavorful cuts of meat I'd had since leaving home. I freaking love Rodizio.
Saturday we set out for Regent's Park with some sandwiches and the intention of having a picnic on Primrose Hill, where the views of the city are supposed to be spectacular. Unfortunately, we were pretty tired from our full days before and the lack of sleep we'd been getting. We ended up crashing somewhere in Regent's Park to eat. And then I passed out in the middle of the park and got an hour of sleep in so that I wouldn't be cranky the whole rest of the day. So I guess I can add London to my list of cities where I've slept in parks, lol. After the park we went to Hard Rock so I could buy my shot glass and get pictures. Then we went to Madame Tussaud's, where we had pre-purchased reservation tickets to get in. If you're going to go, then that's definitely the best plan. The line for regular tickets was crazy long. As usual, we had a great time at the wax museum. This is the third one I've been to, and by far the best. We even braved the Scream portion. I want to say it wasn't that bad, but I think my eyes were closed the whole time, lol. I did appreciate that once you got through the live actors part there was a section about the old beheadings and stuff, with replicas of a few of Madame Tussaud's original death masks. I know it's morbid, but I find that stuff so interesting. I also liked that this wax museum had a part called The Spirit of London. It was a ride where you sat in these taxes and were taken through the history of London. Very cool. When we finally left after three whole hours in the museum we headed to Piccadilly Circus to check it off of our places to see. At this point I was so hungry that I could no longer function. I grumpily stomped around until we ended up at an "American" diner. It was hokey and not the best food I've ever had, but I was so hungry that it didn't matter. And we had a great time making up backgrounds for all of the staff, who were some of the most varied men I've ever seen. After food we were going to go on a Pub Crawl, but we were just too tired. We ended up sitting there at Piccadilly Circus just watching the people and the street performers. There was a really great drum group and this dude who could limbo like nobody's business. I've always loved people watching, so this was totally great.
Sunday we planned to hit the free museums. Apparently museums are paid for with taxes in England, so entrance to a lot of them was free. We started at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Martina had wanted to see the old clothes exhibit for ages. We also wandered around to some of the other exhibits, but we honestly hardly saw any of what they had to offer. Next we went to the Natural History Museum. It was awesome, with a huge range of exhibits, though it did look a bit like it could use some updating. By the time we got done there though, it seemed too late to go the Science Museum, so we decided to put that off until the next day. We ended up at a Japanese place for dinner, where I had some absolutely wonderful ramen. I seriously wish there was a ramen place somewhere near me, either in Berlin or Spokane. And then that evening we walked along the Thames to see the bridges all lit up at night. We walked across London Bridge and the Millenium Bridge. And we got to see the Globe Theater, at least from the outside. It was a wondeful little walk. Another thing that I'd highly suggest to anyone heading to London. There were other tourists along the walk, so it felt plenty safe, but it was also quiet and not at all crowded. And the city lights over the water are beautiful.
On our last day in London we went to the Science Museum. I. Loved. It. We spent like seven hours in that museum. It was full of interactive exhibits and really interesting things to learn. I wish we had something like that in Spokane that I could take Harper to when she gets a little bit older. It was so wonderful and totally inspiring. After we finally escaped from the museum (at closing time, lol), we wandered over to check Harrod's. Definitely not my kind of store. I looked at a few articles of clothing and nearly had a heart attack. There was a hat, an ugly one in my opinion, that cost more than what I made in the last year. And they have a year round Christmas section. I feel so terrible for the employees that work there. Can you imagine having to listen to Christmas music ALL YEAR? Now that sounds like torture to me. So after we left Harrod's we had nothing planned. We went to the station where we would be catching our bus to the airport and traded in our Oyster cards to get our deposits back. I didn't mention the Oyster cards before, but they were absolutely invaluable. We loaded ours with a one week pass (which cost nearly as much as my one month pass for Berlin) and then we had access to all of the buses and trains by just swiping in and out of every station. I have to say, I much prefer Berlin's systems. And our underground trains are only a little bit underground. They never make me feel nearly as claustrophobic or get nearly as stiflingly hot as the ones in London. Anyway, we ate at a pizza bar that night because we couldn't find anything else and a buffet is a good way to waste time. Our bus picked us up at 9:30 and we got back to our airport at 11:00pm. Then we had a nice long night of sleeping on the airport floor ahead of us, since our plane didn't depart until 6:00am. By that time I was nearly ecstatic to be heading home to my own bed and a good night's sleep.
London was an experience, that's for sure. The one thing I can say I truly loved was the food. I love diverse, flavorful food. We ate stuff from all sorts of ethnicities. Even in Berlin the food isn't nearly as good. So the food was by far my favorite part. My least favorite part was, unfortunately, the price tag. We did London on a really strict budget, something that is incredibly difficult and that I wouldn't suggest. We did not properly see a lot of the main sites for this reason. I loved my trip and I wouldn't change anything (other than the hostel), but hopefully someday I'll be able to go back on a bigger budget and experience the more lavish side of London.
So that's my trip to London. The next place I'll be going is Hannover in about two weeks. I'll try and keep you guys updated on everything that happens in between then. Now, I'm off to see what I can do about actually getting my butt out of bed and grocery shopping for the rest of the weekend. Loves to everyone, especially my beautiful Harper who is now three whole years old!
Oh, and pictures are done and up on Facebook. I'll sort out some for those of you who aren't my friends on Facebook and post them on Flickr with a separate post tonight.
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