Tripping in London

Topic(s): me
2004-02-19 01:37:49 PST

I've always wanted to visit London. People always talk about it with such high regard, and the pictures one sees in magazines are simply amazing. But pictures aren't good enough for me. I have to experience things first hand. I can't really understand something until I've done it. So when British Airways had a $99 special non-stop San Francisco to London, I jumped on it immediately.

I didn't really have any idea what I'd do when I got there. I just knew there would be plenty to do. Later on a friend of mine also booked the same trip. She's a much better planner than I. We made a list of about 20 things we wanted to do - quite a daunting feat to accomplish in only 2½ days. We did our best.

Two weeks ago tomorrow I was somewhere over Greenland, on my way to London.

First thing off the plane we found our hotel. We had booked a room at St. Margaret's Hotel in the Bloomsbury district, just off Russell Square. To the left is the view out the back of our room.

We then set out to Trafalgar Square, the London Art Gallery, and the London Picture Museum. It took us a while to find our bearings. London doesn't have very clear street markings. And the streets go for about 50 meters and then dead-end at a 5 way stop or something silly like that. We finally got to Trafalgar Square and spent a few hours in that area. That was Friday for the most part.

Upon waking up on Saturday we dashed over to purchase show tickets. "Of Mice and Men" was our choice. More on that later.

At some point we had to do Parliament, Big Ben (.avi, 3.4 MB), Westminster Abby, etc. That took most of the day. Later that evening we headed over to Covent Garden. A picture of Covent Garden is on the right. Covent Garden is sort of like 6th Street in Austin or Castro Street in Mountain View, except it is heavily touristed. Lots of peddlers and booths. That night we headed south of the River Thames across the Waterloo Bridge to catch Of Mice and Men. It was performed beautifully, although Brits mimicking a country bumpkin US accent was a bit comical.

Earlier we had changed rooms in the hotel, and were put down what I liken to a dungeon. It was below street level, and without ventilation. My body wasn't ready for that. Sunday I awoke up with a terrible headache. I took Tylenol and a long nap. I did awake in time to catch lunch at a pub while watching Birmingham contest Manchester City in a football match - a miserable 0-0 tie.

That afternoon we made it south of the Thames once again. This excusrsion had us at the Tate Modern Art Museum (below). We also made it over to London Bridge and the London Eye (below).

Monday morning it was all over. We packed up and headed back to Heathrow.

To see more pictures from my trip go here.


The entryway into Tate.


The view of Parliament at sunset.




The London Eye is a large Ferris Wheel.


On London Bridge. Tower Bridge is in the distance.

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