Thursdays are great days for me, because I DON'T HAVE CLASS! :) So I had planned to get off at the Piccadilly Circus stop on the Piccadilly line and follow a walk that was in my London 2013 guide. The guide I use is Eyewitness Travel. My family friends let me borrow it, and I would highly recommend it. It has a great pull out map which is really easy to follow. (I have limited map skills, and even I can parse through this one!)
However.....plans changed! As the best kind of plans do!
I did get off at Picadilly, and I started to walk around, but then things kept grabbing my attention. There is a lot of theater in that area, by the way. I peeked around a bit, it was so cool! Also, I ended up in Chinatown I believe. London's Chinatown is really small, and there seems to be some authentic food there. Side note: I am not sure if there is more to this Chinatown, or more Chinatowns in London. As I said, I sort of stumbled upon it. I ended up walking through the Royal Opera Arcade which is a posh side alley way. It is the oldest shopping arcade in London. But there wasn't really any cool shops. It was a cute place, but it is not a must-see.
So I continued to get even more distracted, and saw a statue very far away, and walked towards it. The architecture in the area was so beautiful, I had to keep pausing. I was such a typical tourist, eyes-widening at everything and snapping pictures left and right. The statues ended up being of Florence Nightingale and Sydney Herbert. But just beyond that I spotted a park! The weather was so nice out (so unlike London), and the park was GORGEOUS! It ended up being St. James Park. Which is definitely a must-see! It is so pretty, and there are great swooping trees, and a small pond. What makes the pond so cool is there are PELICANS!! The birds were apparently a gift from some guy, and it's a tradition. (I swear I read the thing, but the birds distracted me...). There were other birds there as well: seagulls, ducks, mysterious birds, and crazy pigeons. I ate lunch there and then continued my walk.
I ended up going to Buckingham Palace! I was actually blown away by it's grandness. It is so beautiful. London as Open House events in the fall, where you can go into buildings that are normally closed off to the public sometimes for free! Buckingham did cost 16.00 pounds (with a student discount), but it was so worth it. It was such a great experience I won't forget. If you are around in the fall, definitely take advantage of Open Houses. Anyway, the palace is amazing. There was a free audio tour too, which gave so much history behind the palace. There was an exhibit about the Queen's coronation which was so amazing. The queen's coronation dress was on display and it was-there are no words. It was so ornate, so beautiful, so symbolic and so perfectly royal. The tour was worth it!
I went to the Guard Museum as well (just around the corner). It is pretty cheap-5 pounds for adults, 2.50 for students. It is a small museum, but I thought it was so interesting to learn about British guards and military history. All sorts of medals, uniforms, army regalia, and even musical instruments were on display. However, I haven't been to the National Army Museum or the Imperial War Museum. I am excited to check those out!
It was a great day in London! I think what made it so great, was the fact it just...happened. There is something about wandering that I love. Exploring side streets, taking spontaneous turns and changing plans to discover more; It makes travelling truly an adventure. London is a beautiful city, and a great place to get lost in.
Until next time,
Liv
No comments:
Post a Comment