Photos: 4 Agust - Various Photos

Beautiful Marble Arch.


Les Misérables at Queens Theatre.


London at night - Piccadilly Circus, and Hamley's on Regent Street.


Creepy looking church on my way to the hotel.

Day 4: 3 August 2014

As usual, I had breakfast with my Dad and his family, and after breakfast I wanted to go to Regent's Park. I have always wanted to go there, and the day before I had the distinct feeling the north-east corner of the park wasn't the most interesting, instead I wanted to start in the south-east corner.
I try to find different buses when I'm going places in London, as the busride is part of the sightseeing and experience in London - so I planned to take a bus from Bayswater Road to Victoria Station (148?) and then another bus from Victoria Station to Regent's Park (C2).

All went well - to start with. What I didn't know was the fact that there were massive construction works going on around Victoria Station, so when I got off the bus I was completely confused, I didn't even see anything that looked like a station ...
To make a long story short, I ended up walking around for about half an hour around Victoria station to first of all, actually find the station, and second, try to figure out from where my bus was departing! :) Finally I got on the right bus and I got off at the right place - so I say Bravo for me!

The south east corner of Regent's Park was AMAZING! I highly recommend a visit - and I will try to go back, as I didn't have as much time as I would have needed to explore it properly!
The nature was absolutely beautiful and they had these extraordinary rose gardens - due to the almost extreme heatwave they had almost started to wither, but it was an amazing walk!
I then found a bus that went straight from the south end of Regent's Park to Paddington, bus 205 - definitely going to remember that (also, it happens to go all the way to Liverpool Street Station, cool!).

I went back to the hotel to shower and change - as always it was difficult with the timing, and I came to the hotel earlier than planned, and realized that hadn't cleaned my room yet. Showered and changed in record time (didn't much feel like being the shower when the cleaning crew came!) and took a bus to Marble Arch, where I had lunch and was able to take it easy for a while.

I then went down to Aldwych and quickly found Lyceum Theatre, where The Lion King is playing. It was however, very early! I was supposed to pick up my tickets around 2 p.m. and it was before 1 when I got there. I ended up walking around the area, and for the first time really discovered Covent Garden! It was a bit too crowded and loud for my liking but it was really nice to have seen it! Also found a Disney Store there - which is always nice! :)
I ended up picking up my tickets early but the theatre was already opened. They had a dangerous souvenir shop there, but everything is extremely expensive. I went into the theatre and found my place as soon as they opened, and I have to say, I wonder how much money they make during one performance ... The tickets are expensive, yes definitely! I bought a programme and a souvenir brochure, which was £14 (more expensive than The Phantom of the Opera and Les Misérables) - and they sold SO much stuff. Not only food and drinks but dvd:s and records and stuffed animals - tiny little stuffed animals (that were SOOO cool) cost £15 - and you could easily see five kids buying them together ...

Anyway, a proper review of the musical will come in my musical blog, eventually - but I have to make a few comments. First of all, I hadn't realized it followed the movie as closely as it did. But it was basically word-for-word the same (yup, I know the movie! *lol*).
Also, it was extremely spectacular! The scenery, the costumes - it was absolutely astonishing! Not every musical you go to has an elephant coming down through the audience and jumping up on stage, inside the theatre, right?! :)

After the musical I went back to the hotel where I met my Dad and his family. We went for a walk in the area around the hotel and a little bit into Kensington Gardens, which was quite nice. I sometime find it difficult when I spend tooo much time with them, but catching up like this every now and again was really great!

Day 2 - 1 August 2014

First real day in London - yay! :)

We had a really nice tradition going during the entire trip, where I always met my Dad and his family in the breakfast room for breakfast every morning. It opened at 7.30 a.m., and even though I basically tried to leave my room at 7.29 or 7.30 every morning, they always beat me to it, and were there before me! *lol*

Anyway, I really liked that tradition, it was a great way of meeting, we could discuss what we had done the day before or what we were going to do on that day - and we started this tradition already the first day.
My plan was to use the London Pass during the first two real days in London, Friday (1 August) and Saturday (2 August). My Dad and his family had bought tickets to go to the Tower Bridge Exhibition from home, and even though I went there in 2012 it was really great, so I figured I'd do it again this year (since it didn't cost me anything, as it is included in the London Pass) and we could do this activity together.

We ended up deciding to go there first of all, do it together, and afterwards split up - and so we did.
Since we were done with breakfast around eight, and Tower Bridge Exhibition didn't open until ten, I figured we had time to do something else first, but I underestimated a number of things. First of all, during this trip I learned (which is obvious really, I know!) that it takes a lot longer for four people, including two children to "get ready" for a day a out, than it does for one adult! *lol* I also totally underestimated travel times, constantly, during the entire trip!!
We were there in the middle of summer and vacation and there were SO MUCH PEOPLE everywhere, which meant going anywhere by bus took a loooong time (nope, still not brave enough to try the underground *lol*)!

In the end we went straight from the hotel to Tower Bridge, had to change buses at St. Paul's, and the exhibition had opened when we got there!

Again, a great experience, I can really recommend it!! This time a bit different though - well, security checks first, which is quite common these days, and as usual it took a little while for the four of them, and their rather large backpack to go through, then I walked up, opened my bag and they sent me through! *lol*
The last time I was there we took an elevator up to the North Tower ... this time we walked!!!! In pretty much extreme heat ... Yeah, that was tough!! Okay, Tower Bridge is no London Eye or The Shard but when your walking up staircase after staircase and it's like 33 degrees Celsius, it sure feels high enough! :) When you get to the "top" of the North Tower (well, not technically the top, but as far as you're allowed to go) they show a pretty cool movie about how the bridge came about - quite educational, but a little difficult to explain and translate to the children. I think the younger accepted she wouldn't understand so much and didn't care a lot, but the older one is right now very inquisitive and quite upset about not understanding English (she's taken some in school already but not enough to follow conversations), so her mother tried to explain as much as possible to her.

After the movie you get to walk through the East Walkway to the South Tower, then through the West Walkway (but unfortunately you can't get through there, so you have to walk back the way you came to the North Tower again). It's really cool to be walking so high, pretty much inside and over Tower Bridge, and the view over the Thames is fantastic. They also have a lot of informative exhibitions in the walkways where you can read about a lot of different bridges, about Tower Bridge, this time they had this really cool 1960s exhibition on, where they mentioned my hero, Sean Connery! :)

When you're back in the North Tower you head down, and then follow painted arrows and signs to the Engine Rooms, you actually walk underneath the South Tower to where the actually engine rooms where that lifted the bridge. I don't understand much of the technical stuff but it's really cool to see it! :)

When we were done at Tower Bridge Exhibition we had a bit of a break and some water just outside, and then decided to split up.
The others wanted to check out London Eye, so I had a tip about a really nice bus, RV1, which departs from Tower Hill Gateway, goes across Tower Bridge and on the south side of the Thames all the way to London Eye, then goes over the Waterloo Bridge and ends at Aldwych, so the four of them set off in search of a bus stop.
I walked around Tower Bridge for a while and took a lot of photos (guess nobody is surprised about that!), and then went over to the Tower of London (and had to change my memory card on the way *lol*).
The London Pass is truly great, I could just walk passed all the ticket booths and all the queues and head straight for the entrance, a lady scanned my card and I was in. Amazing! :)

They have this absolutely fantastic installation going on at the Tower right now, which is called Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red - The Tower remembers the First World War. This is what it says on the plaque describing it:

Teams of volunteers are installing 888,246 handmade ceramic poppies in the Tower moat. Each marks the death of a member of the British Forces in the First World War.

For more information on the project and how to volunteer, please visit hrp.org.uk
#Tower Poppies

It is just amazing the way the British care and about and respect their history!!

I had arrived just as a beefeater guide started a tour so I joined in back - and it was quite fun. The information on these tours are a bit too detailed for someone who is not that great at British History, but the beefeater, Billy Beefeater he was called, was hilarious and made the tour really nice and funny!!

I really couldn't go in anywhere as the lines were enormous!!!!!!!! Again, a loooot of people in London this time of year. The queues to see the Crown Jewels were almost unbelievable. They had these usual ropes out, forming lines covering almost half the entire courtyard outside the house hosting the Crown Jewels. All that space was crammed with people standing in line, and the queue even continued several hundred meters after the ropes ended.
It wasn't that bad at other places, but still bad enough.

Despite that I had a really good time, I haven't been to The Tower since I visited it with Annika and it was great to just be able to walk around in my own pace, taking photographs and just taking in the atmosphere and the history that surrounds the place.

The Tower Bridge Exhibition and the Tower of London were really great activities and everything worked out fine, after that however, things started to go not-quite-so-well ...
I had a hard time, during the entire trip but I think it was most evident on this day, to work out how long travelling would take, when I needed to get food, when I needed to get water etc., and that sometimes threw a spanner in the wheels for me.
As it was I was done at The Tower around 2 p.m. - and all I had to eat and drink since breakfast (at 7.30 a.m.) was a small cup of water and a small bun, and it was sunshine and around 30 degrees out ... not good!!
 I was also unsure about what to do during the afternoon, I wanted to make use of my London Pass but hadn't really planned anything specific, time went by fast, I didn't know where I was going, I was really hungry and needed something to drink really bad ...

I have this favourite London McDonald's which is up at Marble Arch, they have this really large seating area downstairs and even when there's a lot of people it's usually feels pretty calm there, they have nice bathrooms etc. - I felt I needed some peace and quite, and food and drink, so I made my way up to Marble Arch ... which took quite a while!!!
Did get food and drink, and peace and quiet, and were able to think - which was very necessary!!

I wanted to visit the London Transport Museum (which was also included in London Pass), but when I started checking I was unsure if I'd really have the time. It was almost 3.30 p.m. and I hadn't quite finished my food, and the London Transport Museum is down by Covent Garden ... It didn't close until 6 p.m., but I don't see the point in getting there half an hour before they close and have to rush through it all ... I debated a lot with myself and didn't quite know what to do, but in the end I felt I didn't have it in me to stress, I don't do well when I have to stress, so instead I took a really long nice walk in Hyde Park, and crossed over into Kensington Gardens!

I entered Hyde Park a bit down Park Lane and came about this amazing monument, this one a tribute to animals killed in wars. The main text read THEY HAD NO CHOICE.
I was indeed very moved by this - not many people care to remember animals and certainly to to the extent of giving them their own memorial monument. Impressive!

The walk in the parks was really nice, even though I was quite tired and I got a tiny little bit of rain at one point - but I just love the London parks, they are amazing!!!

I ended up at the hotel a little earlier than expected due to the miscalculations in the afternoon, but I know these things happen and you can't stress yourself out about it. You can't make the right choices all the time and not everything will go according to plan - and despite the afternoon, I had a really really great first whole day in London! :)

Day 5 - September 28

Another morning when I didn't feel the best ... it took me a while to get going, but eventually I managed to get down to breakfast and head out.
Took a bus from Praed Street to St. Paul's Cathedral, and that's when things started to just feel wrong. I won't go into details, don't feel like being to personal here, but it just didn't work out....

Ended up going down to the Thames and check out the Millennium bridge instead which was really nice! However, I didn't feel well and fought with myself about what I was going to do.
Eventually, I ended up (sort of) following my original plan for the day and took a bus to Tower Hill. While I had originally thought of going to the Tower, I felt time was going by and after all, I have been to the Tower twice now.
I would like to go back, don't get me wrong there, but 1) I'd like to have a lot of time to spare, and 2) I'd like to have read up more on English history first! :-)

I ended up walking outside the Tower instead and headed for Tower Bridge. That is one really truly impressive building when you get close! Wow!!

I went on the 'Tower Bridge Exhibition' and that was quite an experience! I'm glad the morning's issues hadn't stopped me from going on this!
We were sent by elevator to the top of the North Tower where we viewed an introductory film, with the 'creator' and the 'architect' of Tower Bridge. I had basically no knowledge at all of the bridge's history so this was very very interesting.
After the film we were allowed to walk, and photograph, the East and West Walkway, the tiny little walkways on top of Tower Bridge - you can clearly see them when you see pictures of the bridge, but I hadn't quite expected myself to be walking up there! :-)
It was a really fantastic experience, though the walkways are quite closed in so you don't have a perfect view over London! Still, quite amazing and very impressive.
After having walked through there (for as long as you wanted) you took the stairs down - and I just have to mention the 'inside' of the North Tower. Unfortunately I didn't take any photos there (not sure if we were allowed!) but the inside was amazing - it looked really old-fashioned, like the stairs and the interior had been preserved from when the bridge was designed!
When we got down a few floors they had a minor 'store' where you could buy souvenirs. We had been photographed against a green screen upon arriving, and you could buy pictures of yourself (or fridge magnets, or coffee cups or other stuff) with Tower Bridge in the background. I'm normally not one that would do that, but since I was on my own and basically didn't have any pictures of me at all, I thought it would be a cool thing to do. Until I realized the prices! Okay, granted, I knew it would be expensive but this was almost ridiculous!! I looked for the smallest and cheapest thing - after all, I'm not that fond of seeing myself in pictures ... the smallest and cheapest things they had was a fridge magnet, about 2x3 cm (what is that? 4x6"??) - it cost .... *drumroll* £10!!!!!!! It's like 115 SEK ... €12.50 ... $16.20. Whoa - no way I was going to pay that!!
From this 'store', or desk, we were taken by elevator to street level, and told to follow the blue markings on the street to get to the 'Engine Room'. Said and done.
That was COOL!! I'm not at all technological, and there was no way I would understand how hydraulic power was transferred into mechanic power to lift and lower to bascules ... (?) - but it was still quite amazing.
At the end of the exhibition they had this really cool model of the bridge where you yourself could raise and lower the bascules for a boat coming through! :-)
I checked the souvenir shop at the end of the tour and ended up buying a really cool handbag! :-)

I took loads and loads of photos both before, during and after the exhibition - of course! :-)

I had originally thought of going on the Thames River Boat Cruise, from Tower Pier to Westminster Pier, but it was really cold and quite windy, and I saw the boats and the pier from Tower Bridge and it was crowded! In the end I decided to take this really cool bus, RV1, from Tower Gateway to Westminster. My Mum and I went on it in 2004, it starts from Tower Gateway, goes across Tower Bridge *cool!*, along the river (sort of) on the south shore, around London Eye, and across the river at Westminster Bridge (where I planned to get off) - and continues to Aldwych and Covent Garden.

I walked up to Tower Gateway and found the bus ... and apparently they had changed the bus routes since 2004 *lol* - not that surprising I guess ..:)
Instead of going across Tower Bridge, the bus went across London Bridge, at first I was a bit disappointed - I like Tower Bridge - but then I thought, I have already seen Tower Bridge up close, how cool I get to see London Bridge as well! :-)
 Then it turned out the bus didn't go over Westminster Bridge at all, but instead over Waterloo Bridge. It did cause some problems for my planning, but it was cool to go over Waterloo Bridge and you had an amazing view over London Eye and Houses of Parliament and Big Ben! :-)

I got off the bus at Aldwych where I had to walk for a while, but was lucky enough to find a bus that would take me straight to Parliament Square ... where I went to Westminster Abbey. Had a bit of an issue there initially as well (sort of) but it worked itself out in an amazing way in the end! :-)
Went on the audio tour - which was guided by Jeremy Irons, cool!!!! :-)
I learned a lot though I was quite tired and it was starting to get late, so I did skip a few steps of the tour. But I must say the church is impressive to say the least.
I am in no way a believer, I have broken most of the ties I might have had with the church, but being in the place like this really is moving. Even though I don't have a faith of my own doesn't mean I don't respect those who have ...

I took a bus from Victoria Street to Marble Arch where I had something to eat, took another bus to Queensway and walked around a bit, bought some water and snacks before heading back to the hotel - and managed to organize most of my packing! :-)

Photos - Day 3

First, some photos from Trafalgar Square.



And from Marble Arch (with the typical phonebooth!):


Around Queen's Theatre (Shaftesbury Avenue) before Les Misérables:


And photos from the no. 23 bus (first one from somewhere between The Royal Courts of Justice and St. Paul's Cathedral, then from St. Paul's Cathedral and last from somewhere between St. Paul's Cathedral and Charing Cross - all photos taken from the bus):