The weekend after Rome and Assisi, Mary Emily and I flew to London. Ryanair got us there and back on time, intact, and cost-effectively. Needless to say, they have my recommendation.
We ended up spending a night in the Salzburg airport, in order to catch our flight the next morning, which was actually a lot of fun. The three of us stayed up late hanging out and playing games to pass the time. After that we took turns sleeping until security opened.
We arrived in London about the same time we left Salzburg because of the time difference. I have never been so grateful to hear people speaking English. It seems like spending large amounts of time in countries predominantly filled with non-English speakers makes people anticipate difficulty communicating wherever they go. It was shocking and nice to realize that I would be able to communicate with pretty much anyone in England.
Anyways, Stansted Airport is a long way outside of London, so we had to take a bus in. The bus driver was hysterical. He gave us all a talk on how to behave on the bus that was absolutely packed with sarcasm and humor. From here I knew this was going to be a great and memorable trip.
When we got off the bus we had to figure out the metro system in order to reach Hostel 639 where we were staying. The metro in London is actually really simple and straightforward, which was a big plus. The hostel on the other hand was unnecessarily complicated to check into and pay for. I don’t highly recommend it for a few reasons that I will talk about later.
After we managed to check in, the three of us wandered around London without too much aim taking pictures the whole way. It was a lot of fun.
Mary and I in front of the Tower of London.
A view of the skyline around the Tower of London from the River Thames.
The Tower Bridge over the River Thames.
Here is some sort of battleship (or possibly a destroyer I’m really not sure) that was in the river.
The new London Bridge.
Me next to a Spartan statue that we just happened to bump into while we were out exploring.
The ship of Sir Francis Drake (or at least a replica, we never really figured that out (probably a replica)).
The Tate Modern Art Gallery. We ended up not going inside for various reasons, but we can chalk it up to a dislike for modern art and not a lot of time.
A little brewery that we passed that just happened to share my mom’s maiden name.
The London Eye. Another thing that I really wish we had the time and money to go check out. The one major downside to London is that almost everything is extremely expensive. I think that riding the London Eye ran around 15 or 17 pounds (between 30 and 34 dollars).
The British Parliament.
My first picture of Big Ben.
Westminster Abbey.
A closer shot of Big Ben.
Mary, Emily, and I outside of Big Ben.
Alan Brooke, Master of Strategy. Reminds me of my friend Alex.
We went to King’s Cross Station to look for platform 9 and 3/4… Sadly we couldn’t find it.
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