London Day 1

Mind the Gap

London subways

LONDON WAS AMAZING!

It was better than I could have imagined.

First things first, British accents sound so nice. It was great being able to understand the language again. And driving on the left side is WEIRD! I didn’t notice how weird until I sat in the front seat of the Uber where the steering wheel should have been but wasn’t.

We left Krakow Friday, January 24th, and arrived in London the same night at 10pm. Then we had to take a 40 minute train from the Stansted airport to the city, and then an Uber to our hostel.

While researching for a hostel, Savanna found 3 decent options. But when we got into London we put the wrong hostel in the Uber, arrived, tried to check in where reception made us feel like fools for having the wrong hostel. So we walked about 15 minutes to the correct hostel, changed clothes and passed out.

On day 1, January 25th, Savanna, Sydney and I used a hop on hop off bus to visit Westminster Abbey, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Tower of London and Oxford Street. We ate lunch at Five Guys and had dinner at Poppies, a fish and chips shop.

Westminster Abbey was absolutely gorgeous. It took my breath away. Unfortunately, cameras were not allowed so I don’t have pictures of the inside. Westminster Abbey is where royal weddings and coronations happen. I’ve seen bits and pieces of royal ceremonies on TV but to visit the locations in real life was unreal. Westminster Abbey had a gorgeous altar with ornate decorations. Buried in there, were important historical figures. They had their tombs in different locations throughout the church with plaques above written in either English or Latin. And there was a whole section of the church dedicated to important English writers and poets. I stepped on the grave of Charles Dickens!

St. Paul’s Cathedral was even more amazing than Westminster Abbey. It was ridiculously gorgeous inside. All of the walls and the whole ceiling was decorated. There were important statues along the sides and a beautiful nativity scene in the back of the church too! But the best part of St. Paul’s was the 528 step climb to the top of the dome. The view was INCREDIBLE. I forced Sydney and Savanna to climb it with me and I think they were glad they did.

After, we ate lunch and looked out at the Cathedral.

Then we hopped on a bus to see the Tower of London. Unfortunately, we only had an hour to spend at the Tower but we saw the most important attraction: the crown jewels. You aren’t allowed to take pictures of them but Savanna was able to sneak one so check out the pictures page for that. The Tower of London is also where prisoners were kept, tortured and killed! We saw rooms that prisoners stayed in. The Tower is also known for having ravens everywhere. There was a raven perched on a fence that the three of us took a picture with.

The Tower of London is also the famous place of the death of two princes. Princes Edward and Richard, brothers, were next in line to the throne when their father died. But both of the princes were too young to rule so their uncle was appointed to look after them. Then the princes mysteriously disappeared. Rumor has it that their uncle killed Price Edward and Richard in attempt to become king…but no one actually knows what happened…

After the tower of London, we headed to Poppies for fish and chips! I’m not usually a seafood person but I really enjoyed Poppies. And lastly, we headed to Oxford street for shopping. Savanna wanted to visit Lush’s flagship store and while I was there I decided I want to work in Lush’s labs after I finish college. I made a pit stop at Selfridges, my Gaggy’s favorite store in London because of the shoe department. I understand why she loved Selfridges so much, it was TOTALLY her store. Oxford Street reminded me a lot of New York City…and for that reason I didn’t like it; It was so crowded and overwhelming.

After 12 hours straight of exploring, it was time for bed. Our hostel in London was really nice, honestly, it was nicer than the dorms I have to stay in now. The mattresses weren’t stiff and the showers had actual doors. Day 2 coming soon….