London England

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Trip Start May 01, 2007 Previous
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  London, United Kingdom
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

I know it probably seems a little weird to visit London right after ranting about the British treatment of Republicans in Northern Ireland, but what can you do?

London is a massive city, home to about 7 million people. Architecture in this town is stunningly beautiful, and there is history and culture crammed into every square inch of this place. There is one drawback to this city, and it's a big one: THIS PLACE COSTS A BLOODY FORTUNE! I guess I shouldn't be surprised about that, given how much money is in this city. I have never in my life seen more Bentley's, Alfa Romeo's, Ferrari's and Aston freaking Martin's in one place than I have here. I even saw a Lamborghini! I never would have expected to say this, but Mercedes Benz's look like our old K Car in comparison to some of the things on the road here.
For most things us as tourists would buy (accommodations, food, attractions etc.) you can pretty much just remove the $ and replace it with a £

01 Prince Albert Memorial

. Alcohol is an exception, as it usually converts to about the same price. A pint can usually be had for about £3 or so...not too bad. This is not exactly the budget traveler's paradise, but thankfully most of the museums in town are free, so pretending we have culture is an easy way to spend a day.

We ended up getting a killer deal at a hostel in an awesome location, right near Queensway, which is a pretty long street lined with shops, restaurants and shisha bars as far as the eye can see. We're right near Hyde Park, and there are Tube stations close by for great access to the rest of town. Hyde park is huge and beautiful, with statues, monuments and a castle too.

The Tube is great - it is amazingly extensive, with 11! separate lines crisscrossing everywhere around town. It actually makes it pretty impossible to get lost, considering you can't walk 30 seconds without coming across a tube station. It's a touch pricey, but it makes getting around really easy. Toronto could take a lesson from the way they do things here.

In order to get the lay of the land, we bought tickets for the "Big Bus" tour, which is a company that gives driving tours of town in those stereotypical red double-decker buses

02 Buckingham Palace

. We saw all the bridges (Tower Bridge is the best), passed the Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben (which is actually the name of the bell inside, not the tower itself), the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral and rode down the Thames on a boat. Also included with that were a couple walking tours - one of those showed us right up close the changing of the guards. We actually walked right along with the guards while their band played - it was really cool.

Buckingham Palace was pretty unbelievable. Unfortunately, it doesn't open to the public for tours until August, so we didn't get to go inside. Surrounded by huge gardens, and fronted by a big fountain with a statue of Queen Victoria (who's face appears all over this city) it sure is a sight to behold. There were armed police officers walking around with machine guns on the grounds.

London was an awesome experience, and we'd definitely like to return. Since it's a hub for flying to the rest of the world, I'm pretty certain we'll be back sooner rather than later. Next stop: Morocco!

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03 Eye & Tower	04 Houses of Parliament	05 Nelson's Monument	06 Tower Bridge
07 Changing of the Guard	08 Changing of the Guard	09 Millenium Bridge	10 St. Paul's Cathedral

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