After midterms last week I flew to London to meet up with Laila! She’s studying in Oslo this semester, and I would have liked to visit her but I wasn’t about to go to Norway in November or December… nein danke. So we met up in London for a whirlwind trip where we everything we wanted to do! It was a fantastic trip and we really lucked out with the weather (it only sprinkled on us once), but it was SO expensive. We weren’t really anticipating how expensive everything would be, and we also realized toward the end of the trip that we each would have saved about $50 or $60 just by buying tickets online before we went.
I flew Ryanair to get to London. Ryanair is a good airline because it’s very cheap, but that’s also the issue: it’s very cheap. They generally don’t fly out of or into the main airports, and they try to charge you for extra things whenever they can. So to get to London I took a bus from Vienna to Bratislava (the capital of Slovakia, which is an hour bus ride away), then flew from Bratislava to London-Stansted airport, where I then took another bus for an hour and fifteen minutes to Victoria Station, about a 15 minute walk from Buckingham palace.
Our hostel was called FRESH @ The White Ferry House. It was pretty nice, but some of the people in our room were pretty inconsiderate, and the continental breakfast was kind of lousy.
The gates to Buckingham Palace!
Laila making a run for it to the open gates at Buckingham!
The hostel we stayed in was very close to Victoria Station, so we were right in the middle of everything which was great. Friday morning we walked around and got tickets to see a show on Saturday (Les Mis!!!), we went to the M&M’s store (had to do it) and then the National Gallery. We went to lunch at an overpriced pub where the food was pretty mediocre, but we then walked around Big Ben and Parliament, went inside Westminster Abbey (SO COOL) and went on the London Eye at dusk!
Laila with the yellow M&M!
The only picture I got of Big Ben…
The side entrance of Westminster Abbey.
The facade of Westminster Abbey.
LOLZ jk.
The EYE.
Parliament at dusk.
Laila and I on the South Bank!
Saturday we got another early start because we had a PACKED day. We started by taking the tube to the Tower of London, which may have been my favorite touristy thing we did. We took the beefeater tour there, saw the crown jewels, and walked through the museum in the white tower. After spending the morning at the Tower of London we walked across the Tower Bridge and walked along the Thames. We got £4 fish and chips at the Borough Market near London Bridge and they actually turned out to be fantastic! Then we saw the New Globe Theatre, the Tate Gallery, walked across the Millennium Bridge (which is the footbridge that falls apart in Harry Potter, FYI) and walked to the British Museum. The British Museum was packed (it was a Saturday afternoon, after all) but I got to see the Rosetta Stone! Then we walked to a tea shop near King’s Cross, I had a cup of coffee (not the biggest tea fan) and then we went to Platform 9 3/4 to take pictures!!
The Tower of London from outside the castle walls.
The place where Queen Anne Boleyn, Queen Catherine Howard, and various others were executed.
THE WHITE TOWER.
The Tower Bridge!
FISH & CHIPS
The Tate Modern Gallery. This painting, titled ‘Grey,’ is why I sometimes literally hate modern art galleries. THIS IS A PIECE OF CANVAS COVERED IN GRAY PAINT. IS THIS REALLY ART?
Laila was much happier about all the walking we did once she got a cuppa tea!
I took the Pottermore test earlier this semester and it said I was a Slytherin. Just reppin’ my house!
*foot pop
That night we saw Les Mis at the Queen’s Theatre which was absolutely amazing. We were in the upper balcony on the far right side, but we were in the first row so we could rest our arms on the banister and lean over. It was actually not a bad view! It was really a great show – it’s no wonder why it’s been playing for 28 years now.
The Queen’s Theatre!
Our view of the stage – not bad, I’d say.
Laila left early Sunday morning, but my bus to the airport didn’t leave until 2pm so I spent the morning wandering around Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which are absolutely ENORMOUS. I had no idea it would take me literally 2 and a half hours just to walk one loop (granted, I did stop to take pictures all along the way).
The Peter Pan statue in Hyde Park – where J.M. Barrie wrote his famous play in 1904.
Just a lovely walk through the park.
Although my flight left England at 5:40, I didn’t get back to my apartment in Vienna until about 11pm because of the bus ride from Bratislava to Vienna. Overall it was a great trip, and I wouldn’t have done it any other way, but it was so expensive. I definitely can’t do anymore overnight trips, so I’ll just do daytrips with my train pass which is valid until the end of the month! It was also really great to see Laila – she’s been in Oslo since June, and it was really nice to catch up. She’s a good travel buddy.
This weekend I’m making a daytrip to Salzburg, which is about 2 and a half hours away by train, and I’ll get to see everything Sound of Music. I’m really excited.
Ciao!
Grant in Österreich 
Looks like you had a great trip with Laila …. We are getting some studying done on this “study abroad” right? 😉
Absolutely brilliant meeting Laila in London. wondering about the scarves at 9 1/2. Cool pictures. I am so glad you had a chance to get together.
Beautiful photos..
Another great blog! im curious about the scarf thing too. 🙂