London Travel Tip

So you are going to London and are looking for some tips and tricks:

“Piccadilly Circus” is a great tube stop on the “Circle Line” to get off at if you want to just branch off in any direction for some walking. From here you are near the river, near Buckingham Palace, and near Trafalgar square. It is possible to get a bit closer to these items individually but Piccadilly is central and the walk is interesting if you are out for a stroll and want to save money. The British National Museum is at Trafalgar square, and so are the giant lions. The gardens of the Victoria embankment along the river are nice to take a break in. From these gardens you can see the Eye of London across the river, Big Ben right next to the Westminster bridge just south of the gardens, and Westminster Abbey is just a bit more South from there (though I never did go to the Abbey).

Piccadilly Circus

Eye of London & Trafalgar Lions

Big Ben & Phone booth & Victoria Embankment Gardens

There is a Statue of Eros in Piccadilly Circus and as the story goes if you sit there for 15 mins you will see someone you have seen before. I gave it a go and sure enough I saw 2 people, one guy from the airport the day before and another girl from the train.

Eros Statue & Red Double Decker

There is good shopping/looking in this area and one store I really enjoyed was the Piccadilly Waterstone’s. According to research I did when I got home it is Europe’s largest bookshop, and has eight floors open to the public, six of which are dedicated to 150,000 books and eight and a half miles of shelving. Anything you are interested in and I do mean anything will be there. I spent a long time in photography and art sections.

The National Gallery is FREE as are most of the museums in London. It was at the National Gallery near Trafalgar square where I got to see, right in front of my eyes, Vincent Van Gogh’s original Sunflowers! That painting is very special to me and it sent chills down my spine to see it live. Other famous pieces of art I saw there were “Venus and Mars” by Botticelli, “Self portrait at the Age of 34” by Rembrandt, and “Bathers” by Cezanne. Another picture I really liked I don’t remember who it was by but it was called “Time demands Old Age steals beauty”. It had Father Time telling a lady named Old Age to pull some beauty from a girl in her 20’s. This gallery also has controversial pieces of the Acropolis from Greece.

Acropolis piece & National Gallery with Trafalgar fountains

If you are looking to see a play I have a “Wicked” tip for you to try! The play “Wicked” at the Apollo Victoria Theater is AMAZING and you will never look at “The Wizard of OZ” the same again. I found out that each morning they sell off the front row tickets (only 24 seats) for £25 normally £80 tickets. Now I can’t remember what time I got there but I think I got there at 8 am and the doors opened at 10am. I was 9th in line to buy tickets and found out that you can only buy 2 tickets per person! I needed 5 tickets for myself and my flatmates. So I made friends really quick with the people in line and had one couple buy 2 more tickets for me and a single guy buy an extra 1 in addition to my 2. An amazing deal to see such a great play and FRONT ROW!

Food tips…Two food memories that really stick out in my mind were the “Bacon & Cheese Pasties” for breakfast from the local bakery (most bakery’s where I was you could buy your entire breakfast), then for supper any pot pie I tried was amazing. On in particular I remember, it was the Steak, Mushroom, and Onion pot pie with mash and string beans at a beautiful restaurant named Brown’s in the Canary Wharf district. Lots of great restaurants in this area all near the water. Some can be pricey, others are a good buy, but regardless a nice treat.

Cherrie & I at Brown’s & Vivi, Ben & I at Hardrock Cafe

Another FREE and beautiful/interesting place to visit is Greenwich! Greenwich can be reached on the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) which be warned is a bit more than the regular tube ticket. Once in Greenwich there are amazing markets, antique fairs, and unique vendors galore. The beauty of Greenwich park stays fresh in my memory with perfect trees, gardens and endless trails to explore. Sunny days are popular for families, couples and the younger crowd from the college to hit the fields. Everyone is sunbathing, playing Frisbee, playing soccer or just strutting around shirtless looking pretty. You can hike up to the Greenwich observatory and see a beautiful skyline view of London. Also the observatory is where observations were used to measure GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).

Antique Market & Mirrors & Greenwich Streets

Greenwich College grounds & Greenwich Observatory

Other random thoughts are to take a visit to Hyde Park (Check out speaker’s corner), go to Harrod’s if you love shopping (it’s an amazing store that boasts that if it is legal, you can buy it from them). Something I found out later that I wished I had tried was the Circle Line drinking game. The circle line is the yellow tube line that runs in a circle through downtown London. Apparently people try to get off at each stop on the Circle line and have a drink in the local pub at that stop. It isn’t supposed to be a task you can finish so if you attempt this please attempt it with friends and be safe.

Those are some of my tips and tricks from my 5 days in London. I hope you were able to take something from them! 🙂

Oh and if you come from a country that drives on the right side of the road… LONDON does NOT and has painted the crosswalks with <-- LOOK LEFT and LOOK RIGHT --> markers. Pay attention to those. They saved my life twice!

Look Left & Look Right