Jake's Travel Blog: London

London was a great place to visit. I don’t think I’d like to actually live there, but it’s certainly a fun place to check out. When I arrived at my hostel, I immediately met a load of people in the common room. It seemed to be the trend for backpackers there to arrive with the intention of staying only a few days but staying significantly longer. It wasn’t as expensive as I was made to believe it would be, but then again I was staying in a hostel and eating supermarket food most of the time.

My first evening was spent socializing with people in the hostel. There were actually lots of Canadians there and of course Australians, among other nationalities. The next day I went on a free walking tour; always a great way to see the city. This took us to many of the popular sites of London, my favourite of which was Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s flag was up so we knew she was there at the time. I couldn’t help but stare in awe, I’m not sure exactly why, but I’m sure it’s to do with the history of the place and the family residing in it. Unfortunately the Queen didn’t invite me in for tea; perhaps that will happen on my next trip to London.

I also did my own exploring where I saw the Tower of London, HMS Belfast, London Dungeon, London Eye, and the Tower Bridge. I didn’t actually enter many those things because they were pretty pricy, but I did take a tour of the Tower Bridge where I was able to learn about and see first hand the original steam engines and hydraulic mechanisms that made the bridge open and close. It was pretty cool; especially the appreciation it gave me for 19th century engineering.

On my third day I connected with Dave Partridge, a second cousin of mine in his early 30s who I had never before met. We went for a beer at a pub with a balcony overlooking one of the popular squares. We had some great conversations about the travel life, as he too did some backpacking when he was my age. There was a street performer entertaining us in the square below with some impressive moves including juggling with an active chainsaw. The night continued as Dave treated me to dinner at a fantastic Indian restaurant where we talked more about the family and of course Snake Island. I worked on convincing him that it would be well worth a family trip, especially with 2 young boys in the same age range as the 5 young Morrisons we have running around on the island these days.

I checked out the National Gallery, Natural History Musuem, Science Museum and British Museum. I usually get bored easily at museums, but some of the stuff was pretty cool. The British Museum has a massive collection of artifacts from all over the world and I really enjoyed the outer space section of the Science Museum. I don’t usually care too much for art, but there were some paintings at the National Gallery that really impressed me and I gained a new appreciation for artists’ abilities to capture moments in time; well before the invention of the camera.

On my last night in London I investigated how much it cost to go to a theatre performance. I assumed it would be out of my price range but ended up picking up a ticket in the standing section for £15 which I thought was quite reasonable. I saw “We Will Rock You.” It was fantastic. I really enjoyed it and only wish I looked into the theatre earlier because there are a massive number of shows happening in London at any one time. I had no idea it was such a big thing there.

That night I didn’t get a whole lot of sleep because I had a 6am RyanAir flight from London to Poland. Not the most convenient time, but at a cost of €25 I had nothing to complain about. I hope you enjoy the pictures!

See the Queen's flag?