The Blog from Prague: London

Hello!

Wow, London. Where to begin? We were so excited to finally see this much-loved city, but at the same time kept our expectations low. We've tried to do that with all cities because over-romanticizing the idea of a city can often lead to a great letdown once you've made it there. However, even if we had arrived with high expectations we would not have been let down! It's a fast-paced, beautiful, and history-enriched city that is tough to rival.

We spent the first day exploring the neighborhood of Greenwich because we were staying very close by and didn't feel like trekking into the center of the city immediately. It's a fun neighborhood with a very interesting maritime history.

Since London is so large we decided that the only way to conquer it in the short amount of time that we had was to do some sort of bus tour. So, we bought tickets for a hop on hop off bus for £25 (about $38 apiece) which included 3 separate bus tours, a Thames river cruise, and 3 free walking tours! What a deal! The hop on hop off service only runs from 8:30am to 4:30pm, so to make the most of our time there we were at the bus stop ready to go at 8:45. At that point it was about 35 degrees and raining, but we still sat on the top of the roofless double decker bus and enjoyed the sights of the city. They gave you headphones which you plugged into the seat and commentary gave you the background and stories of the different sites. It last 2.5 hours and took us to almost everything we wanted to see! It was really a great way to do it if you're short on time. Typically we just walk to all of the different sites, but London is just too large to walk to everything unless you're willing to sacrifice seeing some things. We then got a traditional lunch of fish and chips (yum!) and got back on the bus for a different tour route. By this time it had stopped raining and warmed up about 5 degrees, so we could finally feel our hands and feet again - thank God! :) The second tour had a person commentating and that was even better. We were so glad we did it!

After that we took advantage of the Thames river cruise. It was amazing to see the city from such a different viewpoint. We thoroughly enjoyed it! Finally, we ended our second day by going to the Apple store in Covet Garden. I think it goes without saying that Josh was like a kid in a candy shop!

For our final day in London we started off by heading to Buckingham Palace. We didn't go in, but seeing the outside was wonderful enough! We were totally in awe of the beauty and grandeur of the grounds, the gate to the palace, and the marvelous statue in front. I may have even shed a tear or two.

Next we went to the Victoria and Albert museum, which is MASSIVE! We were completely thrilled with this museum and would absolutely recommend it to anyone. The artifacts there are brilliant. After the Victoria and Albert we went to the museum of Natural history and saw their amazing dinosaur exhibit. It was phenomenal! They have one of the best dinosaur collections in the world and even have the most complete skeletons of some dinosaurs in existence. There were many other wonderful things in this museum, but the dinosaurs took the cake!

In the afternoon we decided to take advantage of our hop on hop off tickets and do one of the free walking tours. We went to the meeting spot and waited only to realize that we had been stood up. The tour guide never showed! Oy, this was the third time we've had this happen during our European adventure and we were none too pleased. The upside is that what we did instead was WAY cooler! We went to St. Paul's Cathedral and it was unfortunately closed. Feeling a little defeated, we walked around to see the front and we noticed that some people were going in the front door. So, we decided to attempt to do the same and just walked right in. There were ushers asking if we were there for the mass. Of course we said yes! So we sat down directly under the massive dome and marveled at the beauty. They were just about to have their Evensong service. Evensong is when most of the service is sung rather than spoken. The most amazing part was that one of the church officials invited members of the congregation to come up to the altar and sit with the choir. Josh and I of course took advantage of this! They hosted a guest choir that surprisingly were from Minneapolis! It was truly an amazing experience. We don't have many pictures of the church because they have a strictly enforced no photo policy, but I encourage you to google images of it. Although we didn't get to sing with the choir, we had the best seats in the house and will remain in our hearts as one of the best parts of our whole trip!

Lastly, we went to King's Cross Station and took our photos at Platform 9 3/4. I was totally geeking out! The station is so very modern looking but the one section where you go to take pictures is still old looking. It's rather funny!

Josh and I were overall so thrilled with our experience in London. It's an interesting city because it doesn't particularly have that old-world charm that some European cities have, yet it has far more history than most. It's gritty and congested and loud, but all of those things add to the excitement and adventure of London. There is so much to do that we know we will have to return in the future and next time we will do a much longer trip. I look forward to the day that we return to this amazing city!