A Week in London

One of the best things to do in London is visit the free museums. There are a number of them around the city, such as the British Museum, the Imperial War Museum, the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and the National Maritime Museum.

This time around in London, I especially enjoyed spending a day in the park just people-watching. It was amazing to see all the business people running at the park or playing soccer after work. It was also amazing to see the afternoon rush of everyone trying to get home.

Quick Tips:

The day pass for the Tube is a good deal if you're not into walking or you want to go to different parts of London in a short amount of time. However, be careful of what time the Tube closes, because you don't want to end up lost at night because you missed the train.

Most hostels and hotels will have a London Guide for that month that lists all the events, restaurants, and stores, as well as a party guide.

Renting a bicycle might not be a smart idea because of the traffic in London, unless you're just planning on riding through the parks, which would be a good idea on a sunny day.

Best Way To Get Around:

Though London is known for its Underground, I found myself walking everywhere. For some reason, I bought the day pass on the Tube, but I ended up walking at least 7 hours a day. Doing this, I found that I enjoyed walking a lot better than I would have enjoyed riding the Tube, mostly because it allowed me to see more of the city. London is not so big that you can't see it all on foot, but if you have to be somewhere by a certain time, walking might not be your best option. If you do walk and you get tired, you're in luck, because there are enough Underground stations spread out all over the city that if you keep walking, you'll end up at a station and you can take that back to where you're staying.

The Danubius Hotel stands a short walk from the St. John's Wood underground, station and stands across the Lord's Cricket Ground, Regents Park, London Zoo, and Abbey Road. The hotel was really nice for the price I paid. It was about £60, which is relatively cheap in London, and the rooms and bathrooms were nice and spacious. There was a bar and restaurant downstairs which was a little expensive, but nice to go and relax. The staff were friendly and helpful also.

The British Museum is a free museum filled with artifacts from all over the world and all different times. One of their most impressive venues was the mummies of Egypt, and their coin exhibition which showed the different types of monetary exchange methods people have used throughout the years. What I found interesting was that throughout the museum they had stations where one could go and handle different artifacts and feel and learn a bit more about the things that usually we'd have to see behind glass. It's an extremely big museum, and since it's free, I suggest not trying to do it all in one day if possible. Maybe take one section at a time because it's a lot to take in in one day.

I went to this museum during Easter Break, which made it full of kids running around. While this was slightly bothersome, I was impressed with the way the museum handled the kids. Being Easter, they provided the children with chance to participate in art contests and Egg Hunts. I realized something about museums in London, which was that they try to make the museum experience fun for the children. I was told that this is so that the children can enjoy learning about things, rather than dreading going to educational museums. The museum was separated into sections of various battles. World Wars I and II, D Day, wars of the Middle East, Asia, Africa, South America, and the Holocaust. Again, because of the seriousness and the size of this museum, I would have preferred to do different sections of it on different days. This is one of the places that I'd love to go back to on my next visit to London.

I ended up walking through Regent's Park a few times because it was right across the street from the hotel I was staying at. It was so relaxing and open, something I don't get to see too much back home. Obviously, there were tons of people playing football (soccer), a lot of Londoners were running, bike riding, or just having a picnic. It's probably not the most famous park in London, but I liked it a lot better this way because there were less people than somewhere like Hyde Park.