I LOVE London. I always used to think
that I’d like to live there, and I still think I would, but I’d only want to
stay for about a year. I think I’m more of a small city kind of person. I also
think that going there as a visitor makes me appreciate what a wonderful city
it is even more. I am always so excited when I know I've got a day out in
London coming up.
We jumped on a boat at Westminster which took us all the way up
to Greenwich. Luckily it was a lovely sunny autumn day so we had fantastic
views of all the sights either side of the Thames including Big Ben, the London
Eye, the Shard, the Tower of London, Tower Bridge and Canary Wharf. The
commentary which accompanied the trip was actually really interesting – rather
than your bog-standard London facts we were told some lesser known snippets
about the city. For example, did you know that the new Charing Cross train
station was designed to look like a train coming out of a tunnel?
The boat journey took about an hour, and once we’d disembarked in Greenwich we had a quick look round the visitor center before pottering around the market, which is well worth a visit because it has some lovely stalls and shops around, but is far quieter than other more well-known markets in London such as Camden Lock. We had lunch in the Waterstones in Greenwich and spent a while browsing round the books as well – I love a good bookshop!
Having wandered around Greenwich, we
hopped back on the boat and headed back down the river. On the way back to
Westminster we stopped at the Tower of London to go and see the World War 1
centenary art installation, the poppies. I think that the installation is such
a good idea and a really fitting way for us to remember those who gave their
lives for our futures. The contrast of the red poppies against the green grass
and beige bricks which make up the Tower of London was striking and I think
gave a real sense of the sheer number of lives lost. I found it really moving.
If you can get up to London to see it for yourself before November 11th
then I strongly recommend it.
The next day we were up early once
again. We made our way to Piccadilly because I was keen to visit the Cath
Kidston flagship store at 180 Piccadilly. Although there were no special events
or anything on when I visited, we spent a while browsing round the shop. I
struggled to choose one thing to buy (especially on my
post-university-recent-graduate budget!), but eventually chose something in the
London Bus print which I thought was a fitting souvenir of my trip. We looked
round the shops in Piccadilly a little longer before wandering over to Covent
Garden to potter round the shops there. I didn’t buy anything too exciting but
we did find a Burt’s Bees Pop Up ‘Hive’ so I grabbed some more of their lip
balm because it’s my favourite! Then we headed to the West End to go and see Matilda:
the Musical.
Roald Dahl is one of my favourite
authors and I love the character of Matilda so I couldn’t wait to see the story
brought to life in a stage production. The set design was amazing; I think that
was what impressed me most. I found the songs a bit bland and it was quite hard
to understand what was being said and sung a lot of the time. But I loved the
actor playing Miss Trunchbull, and the little girl playing Matilda was very
sweet. Although the story was changed a little which I felt made the whole
thing a bit complicated, overall I really enjoyed it. It really kept to the
tone of the book, and I think that Roald Dahl would have liked it too!
I thought that this particular London
trip was really good because we had one or two big things planned which gave us
plenty of time for exploring and pottering around, and that’s what I really
like doing best in London. I hope this has given you some ideas of things to do
if you are visiting London any time soon.
Emma J
