FRIDAY
I packed and left so (too) early for the airport. I'm terrible with airports and wasn't sure how long it would take me to find my gate. I did get a bit lost when I went into terminal B, even though my ticket and my brain were telling me to go into terminal A. I had 3 hours to spare, so it was alright though. I then made the mistake of going through customs too early... Instead of shopping I sat and ate a ham baguette on the other side of the terminal watching everyone else shop. I also exchanged some Australian dollars I had with me still into GBPounds. We boarded at 6:25 and took off at 6:40. The flight was alright, it was only an hour and a half and I didn't have anyone in the seat next to me. WIN! Landing at London was cool and confusing. I landed at Gatwick airport and to get from my terminal to the train station you have to catch a shuttle train. You walk into this tube and on the sides of the walls are sliding doors and when the shuttle comes, they open. I had no idea what was going on, but just followed everyone else. I got onto my train to East Croyden (wasn't actually sure it was stopping at EC,) and finally made it to MILES! YAY! We then caught the train to Honor Oak Park, picked up some hot chips wrapping in paper cup like things and then walked home. Juliette and Paul (the people we were staying with) were so lovely! They told us to go out so we did haha. We just went into London and walked around, the wind was so cold! We were right out the front of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben at 11pm as it started ringing which was cool. It was a little creepy at night. It's so old and gothic and the lights shine from the bottom. To get out of the cold, we found a pub and just sat in there. Bed at 12:15am.
St. Paul's at night from Westminster Bridge
Houses of Parliament and Big Ben
SATURDAY
Woke up at 8:30am and left the house at about 9:45am. Caught underground to Trafalgar square and headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard. There were so many people there, but with Miles height and my hustle, we made it into a fairly good position to see it. It was awesome. The music they were marching too was crazy good. Then the front gates opened and they marched out and off down the road, we both wondered where to lol. We then walked back up the Mall and onto Piccadilly circus and went to an Italian cafe for lunch. We just walked around Piccadilly for ages being tourists and buying London stuff and then we headed home at about 5pm for a family dinner. London isn't as tall as I thought, nor as old. Everything looked like it was from maybe the 1600's. I was expecting more 12-1300's. But it was interesting nonetheless. We went to an Indian restaurant with some of Miles' family and afterwards, they went home and we stayed in Peckham to just wander around and walk home. Miles then made me watch an episode of Doctor Who haha and I ate heaps of chocolate!
Honor Oak Park, walking to the station
Station
Waterloo underground!
Selfie in central London
Red phone boxes
Trafalgar Square
Office building
Black taxi
The Mall, on the way to Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham
Changing of the guard
Changing of the guard
Marching out of the gate
Marching out of the gate
Miles and I
Buckingham
Policeman and I!
Buckingham Palace
Gates to park near Buckingham
Older red bus
Let's play monopoly!
Tourist photo
Today was the big day. We had so much planned and so little time. We planned to leave the house by 9am, but the printer wasn't working so we couldn't print our pre-booked tickets to the tower of London. We ended up leaving at 9:15am and got lucky with the buses and one was coming as we walked out the front door. We panicked because we didn't think we'd make it to the St. Paul's cathedral service on time, but we got there with plenty of time (we were becoming such underground pros). When we walked in, all of the ushers were dressed in these amazing red and black tailored suits. One of them invited us to sit in the second row, which is where the regular cathedral goers are supposed to sit, but it wasn't full. The service was AMAZING! It was a sung service, so the choir boys and men sung everything. They sounded so good. The cathedral was amazing, but we weren't allowed to take photos inside. It would take too long to describe everything that happened during the service, but if you want to know, ask me when I get back haha.
We then left the cathedral, bought some scratchies (and lost) and then headed onto the tower of London. We got there and I ate my first pie in a month (I haven't been able to find a pie anywhere in Bordeaux yet). Lucky we pre-booked our tickets because the lines were so long to get them there and it was raining. Actually, it rained all day, but it was only a light rain so it was fine. The tower was pretty cool. We just missed a tour with one of the Yeoman warders, and the next one was in 25 minutes, so we went in and went through the torture chamber and then went back to the front gate. But the tour was cancelled and then next one was in half an hour. We just decided to do it ourselves with our map. We went round the top of the inside wall, passing through different rooms and reading stories of prisoners, etc. When we got to the end of that section, we went into see the crown jewels. The line was so long and it was then that we realised we probably weren't going to make the service at Westminster at 3pm. Instead of hurrying off to that, we decided to miss the service, do the rest of the tower in depth and then go to Westminster later. The jewels were so cool, I want a crown like that just to wear everyday! Tonight, I'm going to watch the coronation haha. We then did a war room, which had uniforms and medals and other items from all sorts of wars and then onto the chopping block. The place where they beheaded people was so small! And there's nothing really there now, just a monumental glass plate thing. But it was still cool.
We then left and headed onto Westminster Abbey. We probably should have just saw it the first Friday night, but we didn't know it was there then. It is absolutely massive. And so old! I wished the Queen was in town so she could have been there. Next time I'm in England, I'm going to go to the church at Windsor if the Queen's there! We actually weren't allowed into the abbey though :( It's open every day but Sunday, because there are services running all day and they don't let you in after a service has started. So that was sad, but we spent a good while in the gift shop!
We then caught the underground back over to London Bridge and went to St. Helen's Bishops Gate, which is Miles' regular church. This was much closer to a GPAC service, albeit much bigger, and the music was cool. We were there early, so grabbed hot chocolate and sat in a cafe. As we were leaving church to find somewhere to eat dinner, it started SNOWING!!!!! I was so excited! It was soooo cold and I was getting snow in my eyes haha. In an effort to stop this from occurring, I pulled my beanie down over my eyebrows and zipped up my jacket just so I could see. Unfortunately, I also caught my lip in my zipper and made it bleed haha. But not for long because we found this really cool Indian place (Indian is everywhere so we just had it 2 nights in a row) and had the most amazing samosas ever! They were about 4 times the size of ones in Australia and a third of the price, so we just ate those as a main lol.
We then headed home for some warmth.
St. Paul's Cathedral
St. Paul's side door
St. Paul's front steps
After the service
St. Paul's Cathedral
St. Paul's Cathedral
The tower of London
Tower of London with Tower bridge behind
Tower of London
A Yeoman warder
Inside the tower
Traitors gate
Tower bridge
Me!
Inside a guard box
In one of one of the kings rooms who stayed at the
tower of London
Inside the tower and the ravens
Tower bridge from inside the tower
A king's crown with the jewels removed
(actually wasn't allowed to take the photo)
Beheading place
Big Ben
Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
Westminster side entrance (where Kate walked in)
LONDON!
So cold getting out of bed. There was snow on the skylights. I wasn't sure if I was actually going to make my flight! Gatwick airport on a Monday morning is absolutely crazy and we were already catching the earliest bus from Honor Oak Park to try and make it. We got up at 4am and the bus was due at 4:48am. It didn't come until 4:56am. Still ok, but cutting it fine. We made it easily though and I left Miles at East Croyden train station and continued solo :( I had an hour to make it from the time to I got to Gatwick station to my gate. I ran so fast lol. And the got to a crowded customs, but just as I got there, a guy opened a new customs gate, so I was now 2nd in line. Winning! When I made it through customs, my flight gate wasn't even open yet, so I just sat down waiting. But then spotted a money exchange office. On Friday night, I started with 270 pounds. I still had 120 pounds left, so just got it exchanged back into euros. I then spotted a Harrods and realised I didn't actually go there (or see one) in the centre of London. So, I went in and bought a really cute tote bag! As soon as I left, my flight gate came up and I headed on through. I was the first one on the plane haha so much for panicking about being late! The flight was fine and so was getting home. It's so much warmer in Bordeaux haha
4:30am... SNOW!
I hope everything made sense!
No comments:
Post a Comment