Hello everyone! My first stop on my backpacking trek was London. (Disclaimer- We are not actually in London anymore! We are currently in the beautiful city of Porto, Portugal, but issues with WiFi prevented me from posting earlier!) I was incredibly excited to go back to London, after spending a semester in London while I attended the London College of Communications at the University of the Arts London.
London Sights
We flew through London, trying to get in as many of the “Must-See” attractions as possible as we explored the city on foot and using the Underground. Many attractions we were satisfied with just walking past and stopping for a picture or two. (For those who know about my recent hip surgery, I promise I am trying to take it as easy as I can!)
Our stops in London included:
- Big Ben
- Houses of Parliament
- Westminster Abbey
- Buckingham Palace– We ate a lunch of cheese and bread sitting on the wall outside. We folded the cheese squares into little diamonds. I’m sure the queen was very impressed.
- London Eye
- The National Gallery- Pretty much my Art History textbook come to life. Saw works by Monet, Seurat, Jan van Eyck, Raphael, da Vinci, and many, many more. (The gallery holds over 2,000 paintings)
Tate Modern Art Gallery- Most interesting exhibit? An installation consisting of roughly four thousand meters of hair.- Tower Bridge
- Tower of London
- British Museum– First time visiting. We spent an entire day here and I still think we only saw a quarter of the exhibits.
Hyde Park– Just as nice in February as it is the Fall. We walked through in the evening and returned the next day to play frisbee.
- St. Paul’s Cathedral– The £18 entrance fee was a little steep, so we walked around the courtyard in the evening.
Abbey Road Studios– We didn’t pose for the iconic Beatles crosswalk photos, but we watched many others stop traffic while they attempted the perfect shot with their selflie sticks.
- Borough Market- The oldest fruit and vegetable market in London, dedicated to high quality local and international produce. The market has been held on Borough high street in Southwark since the 13th century. It’s the only market I’ve ever been where you can find zebra burgers, whole octupuses, brownie towers, and mountains of bread all in one place.
Meals
I’m sure my mother will be delighted to know the number of meals we’ve had sitting on our hostel floor. The staple for any traveler, bread and cheese are quickly becoming my new best friend. We’ve had bread and cheese in parks, on trains and buses, and siting on the floor. Throw in some microwave t.v. dinners, a rotisserie chicken, some silverware borrowed from the hostel kitchen… and we are truly living large. Eating in costs roughly £3 each, so we use the money saved to eat nicer meals out.
One of my favorite meals was a three course meal on the bank of the River Thames. We ate Italian food overlooking the river, with a view of St. Paul’s Cathedral right across the river. (A huge thank you to my Grandma who allowed us to treat ourselves to a formal dining experience we normally wouldn’t be able to do!)
We also had lunch in Little Venice at the Waterside Cafe, London’s only floating cafe, found by walking along the Canal Path from Paddington Basin. My flat in London was just a couple blocks from Paddington station, so I used to come here a lot for their apple walnut cake!
Lodgings
We stayed at Palmers Lodge at Swiss Cottage budget hostel, which is about an hour and 15 minute walk to Hyde Park. We chose it for the unique restored building, price, private room, and location.The location was far enough from central London to save us a decent amount of money in an already expensive city, while still being a fairly short tube ride into the city. We each paid £22.50 a night, roughly $31.50 each, for our own bed in a private attic room with a shared bathroom. Towels were not included, but we did get free bedding and plenty of hot showers to choose from. The attic room, narrow staircases, and low ceilings gave it a strong ‘Harry Potter under the Stairs’ vibe.
