BnA Partytime in London!
The time has come again… travel somewhere and drink with travel friends! In London this time… working my way around the world. I feel fairly unprepared, yet again, for this trip. That seems to be a theme recently, but it always works out. Ok, so I did at least book the plane ticket in advance and made a reservation at the hostel… but I didn’t even choose the hostel. Our party organizer Michelle handled that. I’m just goin with the flow. I have no clue what I’ll be doing yet during the non-party times. I’ve been to London once before… 14 years ago, with my grandmother. But that’s a good thing, because I’ve already seen most of the sights, and it’s way too bloody expensive right now to actually spend money in London! I did at least buy a nice laminated city map with the tube lines, and write down the directions to the hostel….
The flight was quick to Gatwick. It cost £10 for the train to King’s Cross… and took forever. I’m sure I was on the train longer than the plane. The directions I had said to jump on the tube from there, but the line was so bloody long, I just walked. Better choice, anyway, because a one way ride is £3. It’s really only worth taking if you’re going to be using it all day. I stopped at a Turkish store and bought a package of cookies and a water… my planned sustenance for the weekend. Got to the hostel and checked-in and found Michelle. Talked to her for a while until Mel showed up. Drank a few beers from the bar, but didn’t do much. Considered heading out to explore, but decided to save that for tomorrow.
From there I went towards Big Ben and the Parliament, then jumped on the tube to get across the Thames to get a from shot of the building. In retrospect, I should’ve just walked across the bridge, but whatever. Got some shots of the London Eye, too, but didn’t want to wait or pay to ride it. I hung around for a while til it got dark to get some other shots I wanted. And, grabbed a street hot dog. Then back to the hostel, as party time was nearing.
Drunkenness ensues… don’t remember where exactly we went, but it was a good time. Photographic evidence on Flickr.
Bummer. I’m really only bummed cuz it was from Peru… oh well, guess I’ll just have to go back and get another 
I still wanted to go by the Tower of London and bridge, on one side of town, before heading to Heathrow, on the complete other side. I had about four hours, so shouldn’t be a problem. On the way, I walked past the monument, £2 to go up, so I did to get some more pictures. Then headed across the London Bridge and past the dungeon… which, at £15, was way too expensive to actually go in. I headed down and back across the Tower Bridge and to the Tower of London, another I had already been inside of, so I strolled the grounds and got more pictures. Luckily, I had great weather the past two days. A rarity for London, but a nice change, especially from the recent weather in Amsterdam. It gets dark so early in London this time of year. It was nearing 16:00 and losing light quickly. I headed to St. Paul’s Cathedral for a couple more pictures before jumping on the tube back to Heathrow. The plane was delayed by a half hour, giving me time to wander a bit and spend the last of my £. Not too bad… almost exactly £50 for the weekend (not counting the hostel or sheet music I bought.) Coulda been worse…
I’ve become quite an architecture buff from travelling. There were some interesting designs I came across… I’m curious about this phallic glass obelisk. There’s a very similar one in Barcelona.
Tags: England, Europe, Travel
nerokerr1
Great photos… Really cool perspective shots of the buildings & the London Eye… Send ’em in to Why Go. 🙂
http://www.whygo.com/why-go.php