I was apparently becoming a traitorous American on my way to London from Paris, as my stay overlapped Independence Day. Woops. But as soon as we got off at Charing Cross station and made our way towards the Underground, we were relieved to hear English speakers again, as well as find out just how cheery and helpful Londoners seem to be. A complete stranger noticed us looking puzzled at the Underground map and offered to guide us to the correct platform. He happened to be going the same way until he exited an earlier stop, but had us join him and offered to help us with our bags up the stairs (we said no). There were multiple instances in London where locals would elect to offer us help without any provocation to do so. Only ONE crabby person happened upon us on our entire 1 week stay: an Underground employee at the exit gates who decided to vehemently ignore us when we needed help passing through the gates with dysfunctional tickets.
After dropping our luggage off at the hotel (worth the number of stars it boasted, as opposed to the Paris hotel we stayed in), we sat around being lazy until it was time to visit Her Majesty's Theater for the long standing production of The Phantom of the Opera. I've seen the Broadway version before in the U.S. (and blubbered like a baby at the end) but it only seemed fitting to see it again in London. I'm proud to say that this time around, I wasn't sobbing hysterically, but merely tearing up a bit. The Phantom's voice was beaaauuuuutiful, but I didn't care for their Christine.
We wanted to save as much money as we could for food, so a lot of the times we picked up something small from places like Pret A Manger or Starbucks (they had Mocha Coconut Frappuccinos there, I was so excited because I haven't seen them in California for a couple years). Otherwise, we did visit some local restaurants to chow down on some bolognese (only kind of meh), pizza (I don't know why it was so good, but it was one of the best pizzas I've ever had), or barbecue ribs with rosemary fries (delicioso). At Wildwood, my mom was let down that a creme brulee cheesecake she was dying to get her hands on was out of stock, so the restaurant deducted the cost of my sundae as well as prepared us free limoncello shots.
One of the first places we visited in London was the Cutty Sark, a trading clipper that was used primarily for importing tea from India, as well as the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The observatory houses a large, stationary telescope whose exact location was used designate the Prime Meridian. And yeah, I stood on that line, straddling the two halves of the world!
The oldest place we visited was the Tower of London, built and expanded upon in the 11th-14th centuries. There were so many interesting, old artifacts, including armor worn by past kings. VERY cool. Also within the Tower of London are the royal jewels, though I didn't bother peeking my head in there. There were some royal guards hanging about, and one in particular was there just for posing with. He didn't mind talking either. I was trying to get a photo with him for over three minutes when families would jump in before me over and over again and finally he helped defend me: when someone else said they've been waiting a long time, he pointed to me, "She has, too."
On a particularly overcast/showery day we had scheduled a ride on the London Eye that was meant to coincide with the arrival of the Tour de France cyclists on the other side of the River Thames (England is apparently part of France, now). For some reason, I had expected us to have great views and I could take epic photos with my zoom lens, but lo and behold, the capsules we were in were oval and distorted the images, and the street below where the cyclists would pass were tree-lined and therefore invisible to us. Luckily, the cyclists were late, or we were too early. We made our way on top of on of the bridges passing over the street they'd ride down and wouldn't move despite "police" asking us to (there was a large crowd congregating with the same idea we had). Getting there early enough granted us front row passes and a victorious photo shoot for a once in a lifetime experience.
I really enjoyed walking through St James Park, which held a pond full of wildlife including a huge array of birds like heron's and the Queen's swans. Yes, the swans are the Queen's swans. It is apparently considered treason to kill one. There were so many museums nearby, I didn't quite go to all of them, but there was so much history in the National Gallery and the Queen's Gallery that we were kind of "art"-ed out for the rest of the week.
Before our trip, we pre-booked a bicycle tour to Windsor Castle (essentially one of the homes of the Queen of England and her guests), about a 40 minute Overground ride west of London. We rode on some dirt and gravel roads for eight miles, passing Eton College (an elite, prestigious university for men that requires a qualifying examination at age 12 to be considered for admission), the home of Elton John on the other side of the river, a property that is often used in high budget film making, as well as one of the oldest churches in England.
We propped our bikes up in the town of Eton and passed a bridge over the Thames into Windsor where we stopped for lunch before touring the visitors section of Windsor Castle. It was truly immaculate: the grounds, the decor, the chapel, the art and artifacts, including love letters between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I've noticed English royalty have much more refined tastes than the gaudy French royals. After our tour, we revisited our lunch destination for their famous hot chocolate. They melt chocolate pieces in milk, and have so many different varieties of flavors that I could probably feel just fine about living there indefinitely: Windsor Chocolate Theatre Cafe. Go there now.
Another pre-booked day was dedicated to the expansive journey via train to Leavesden Warner Brothers Studios where they filmed Harry Potter and showcase many of the props, sets, and costumes used in filming. I'm pretty sure I fangirled the most in two situations: staring at the box of horcruxes, and standing on the Harry Potter bridge. I also kind of felt like a huge dork, because there were mostly kids present, as opposed to grown ass adults like me. I had to repeat to myself, "It's okay. I belong here. I am the real Harry Potter generation."
London was a blast, and definitely one of my favorite cities to travel in. It seems distinctly designed for tourism: excellent public transportation (everybody uses it, including affluent folk and celebrities), street maps everywhere that include landmarks and walking distance/time, very friendly and helpful people, and rich culture and history. I intend to visit again at some point, because I didn't see everything, and I would want to do more day trips out of the city to small, picturesque villages.
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