London, United Kingdom
London, wow! I loved everything about this city. The people, the food, the vibe, the nightlife, and everything is so vibrant and fun. I arrived to London around 2 pm on Friday, stopped by Kings Cross Station to see the famous Platform 9 & 3/4 then headed straight to the hostel. I was greeted by really friendly staff who gave us some great recommendations of things to do and how to avoid long lines.
As always, there is a video at the end of the post in case you don’t feel like reading!
Our next stop was the British Museum which was right across the street from the hostel. We saw the Rosetta Stone (which was huge!), the mummies, real samurai armor, and a few other exhibits. The museum is stunning and huge so it would’ve been better if we had a game plan going in. After the museum, we walked around the area and went in some shops and eventually ate at an Italian restaurant right across the street from the front of the British Museum. Next up on the agenda was Burns Night!
Now you might be wondering what Burns Night is. Burns Night is a chance to celebrate the life of Scotland’s National Poet – Robert Burns – in a way he would have wanted: eating, drinking, dancing, and poetry! Burns wrote some really famous songs – maybe you’ve heard of Auld Lang Syne? There was three hours of traditional Scottish dancing to a live band with a caller calling the dance moves. Everyone was dancing and sometimes the dances called for groups of people so we got to meet some really fun people. At halftime, the haggis (shown below with carrots and mashed potatoes) was paraded in with bagpipes and Burns’s Address to Haggis (shown below) was recited. At the end of the night, everyone joined hands in a circle and sang Auld Lang Syne and would run in then run out then rush back in. I had such a fantastic time and will definitely go back to London for another Burns Night in the future.
Saturday morning, we took a bicycle tour of London led by Elmer with the London Bicycle Tour Company. Our three and a half hour tour started by crossing Westminster Bridge to the north side of the river where we saw Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, and the Palace of Westminster. Next, we headed to Buckingham Palace via St. James’s Park. The queen was sadly not home when we visited. From here. we pedaled to Trafalgar Square to see the statue of Lord Nelson and the National Gallery. Then we went to Covent Garden which is known for its lively atmosphere and talented street performers, including Ed Sheeran before he became famous!
We then headed to London’s oldest quarter to get to Smithfield Market, which is the largest wholesale market in the UK. A quick ride later, we saw St. Paul’s Cathedral, where Princess Diana got married, and the wobbly bridge which you would recognize from Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince! Next, we rode on the bike superhighway along the Victoria Embankment. Here we stopped for a view of the London Eye. We continued along the embankment back toward Big Ben, through Banksy tunnel to catch some graffiti artists at work, and finished the tour back at the tourism office. Taking the bicycle tour was an awesome way to see a lot of London in a short time. Also, London is really bike friendly so it was really easy.
After the bicycle tour, Irene and I walked along the River Thames, passing Shakespeare’s Globe Theater on the way, down to Borough Market, London’s most renowned food and drink market. It was jam packed with people. I’ve never seen something so crowded. I walked in, got some spinach and ricotta stuffed ravioli, and got the heck out of there, making sure to look around on my way out. In the less crowded part of the market, I got a vegan brownie and some handmade chocolate that was incredible.
That night, our hostel recommended the Camden Pub Crawl. The crawl started at Belushi’s Camden and went to 4 other bars to finish the night at KOKO, an old theater turned into one of the coolest clubs I’ve seen. At one point at KOKO, a giant projector screen came down and it was club wide karaoke! The entire club was singing along to songs like Bohemian Rhapsody, Teenage Dirtbag, Baby One More Time, and Let it Go; it was hilarious and so much fun. One of the bars we went to, The Monarch, on Saturday nights, all of the music is from movie soundtracks. It was a lot of fun and we met some other american students from UNC!
Sunday morning, I went to church at St. Patrick’s on soho square, where I was ushered to tea and cookies after mass and met some very nice and friendly locals. Then, of course, I had to go shopping on Oxford Street. I didn’t buy anything besides some postcards. After that I headed to the train station, had a very fancy hot chocolate, then boarded the Eurostar to head back to Metz.
I had a fantastic and fun time in London. The city truly never sleeps, and the people are some of the nicest people I’ve met. It’s definitely one of my top 5 favorite cities. Until next time, London!
