On Saturday I made my way up to St. Paul’s Cathedral and took a few quintessential red telephone booth photos along the way. The “Occupy Wall Street” protesters had foiled my attempts to see the inside of the building the day before, as their presence had forced the cathedral to close; today the gallery with the view of the city was still closed, so I vowed to return another time. We instead made our way back on the Tube to Buckingham Palace, an area which I loved because of its openness, gorgeous architecture and neat path outside the main gates (unfortunately the Victoria Memorial was obscured behind scaffolding, another off-season project). We ate at a sandwich place and began our walk towards Hyde Park, passing under the beautiful Wellington Arch just as a protest parade involving Syria was escorted past by policemen. Hyde Park itself was fantastically large, a slice of nature in the middle of urbanity, and I enjoyed sitting on a bench with my friends eating a vanilla ice cream cone and walking through the grass under the blue sky and along the lake Serpentine.
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| St. Paul's |
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| Buckingham Palace through the gates |
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| My friend and I in front of Wellington Arch |
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| The blue skies in Hyde Park |
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| A walk in Hyde Park |
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| The British Museum |
Afterwards, I made my way on the Tube to the British Museum, passing through Russell Square and through the grand columns of the massive (and free to view!) collection of historical and cultural artifacts. I spent only the better part of an hour here but was impressed by the interior of the building and the amount of objects on exhibition. Afterwards I met my friends in Trafalgar Square and popped into the National Gallery to appreciate the architecture and a brief glimpse of some beautiful paintings. We took the Tube one last time back to King’s Cross before heading out to dinner at a restaurant for good pub food (I had fish and chips, a usual in Scotland), and spent some time that night in the room sorting out our belongings for the trip home.
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| Trafalgar Square from the steps of the National Gallery |
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| Coming up out of the Underground |
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| King's Cross |
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| Gorgeous views out the window of the train |
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| Another pretty view |
It was sad to think of all the things I hadn’t seen in London yet, but I was so grateful for all the experiences I did have, and I absolutely cannot wait to come back and see especially St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey and perhaps take a ride on the London Eye. I thought the five hour train ride home would be dull, but I was treated with the most beautiful views out the window of sunny English countryside dotted with sheep, small towns with towering old churches, colorful autumn trees, cream-colored houses with red roofs along the water, and the Eastern coastline running parallel to the train tracks.
The sun was setting as we made it back to Scotland, and when the train operator announced in a thick Scottish accent that we were arriving in “Stahling,” I was surprised to find myself thinking how happy I was to be coming “home” after a week’s travel.
I had an absolutely wonderful experience that week, and while I may have spent a tad bit more than I had anticipated it was worth every penny. There is a lot that happened and even more to reflect on that I haven’t detailed here, but even as it stands I hope I haven’t bored anyone, and I won’t be offended if you just skimmed for the photos.
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| Basically the path I took on the trip! |
I covered a lot of ground that week and am so grateful for all the planning my amazing friends put into this. Here’s to a week of great sights, great company and a great memory!
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