So Sam and I went to england the weekend of the 27th of March and stayed with her friend Camilla in her flat near the university that she is studying abroad at. We arrived at London Stansted Airport (the same airport Obama flew out of a few days later after the G20 summit) on Friday afternoon after my first flying experience on RyanAir. RyanAir is a budget airlines that flies around Europe, and it truly is a budget airlines. You pay for everything, including having to check in at the airport if you're not an EU citizen. Regardless, it still works out to be really cheap. The flight to England was a little over an hour, so it was a quick trip. We took a bus into the city center and met Camilla there.
We got settled back at her flat (which was absolutely beautiful) and then she took us out exploring a little. We went to the West End (theater district) and Trafalgar Square before getting dinner and going out for some wine. The strange part about being in London is the lack of British people. Everyone working in all of the stores and restaurants is an immigrant, which was very surprising. By the time I left London I couldn't remember having spoken to someone with a true British accent.
The next day Sam and I went out exploring on our own. We used the Tube a lot while we were there (subway system) which is wonderfully efficient. It was so nice coming from Ireland, which lacks good public transportation. The only problem was that there seemed to be a lot of construction so some of the subway lines we wanted to take were closed and we had to reroute some of our journeys. It just helped us get used to the tube quicker. Our first stop was parliament, because my only goal in London was to see Big Ben. We took a bunch of photos over there, of Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. We then headed down toward Buckingham Palace. On our way we passed through this beautiful park, I believe it was called Victoria Park, but don't quote me on it. There were flowers and cherry blossom trees everywhere and it was just beautiful.
We then saw Buckingham Palace, which was absolutely beautiful. Lots of gold adorning the gates around it. One strange sight was the flags nearby the Palace, which alternated between British flags and what appeared to be Mexican flags? We couldn't figure that one out. We then walked through Green Park and then up to Hyde Park. There were lots of daffodils in bloom everywhere we went. It was lovely. In the afternoon we did some shopping near Oxford Circus. We went to the famous toy store in London, Hanley's and to TopShop and Burberry. It was a lovely afternoon, until it started hailing, but we survived.
On Sunday we went to the Camden Markets, which were soo cool. I think there is only one part that is specifically the Camden Market, but basically all of the Camden area closes down on the weekends and turns into a huge outdoor market. There were all kinds of vendors, from food, to clothing, to jewelry. It probably went on for a mile on both sides of the street. I purchased a poster of Trafalgar Square and the guys threw in some other London photos for free. We also purchased lunch there from some of the various cuisines they had to offer. If I ever go back to London, which I hope I do, these markets are definitely on my list.
Overall London was a great time. It's such a vibrant city in spite of its dreary weather. There's so much to do and see, and the public transportation makes it so easy to get everywhere quickly and efficiently. Two thumbs up for London! Off to Scotland for a few days! More when I get back!
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