Beyond the Bridge...the Experience that is London.

London England. More history and stories per street than you could ever fully absorb, more interesting culture and things to do than you could manage in a year, and more places to shop and eat than you could fit in a travel guide. Welcome to London...and you can make a full, large scale visit in a day or a year.

The great thing about London is that it is a big sprawling city (sprawling being used rather lightly given the country sized population of this massive city) but unlike some ungainly cities that you have to almost live in to get a big proper feel for, London offers you that on every corner.

Though I often prefer the more remote corners of the globe when I travel, cities like London are a not to be missed part of seeing the world. I always go into them with very slight reservations because crowded streets and bustling atmosphere are just not my thing.

But the uniqueness of London lies in that even though that is certainly the case here, you seem to manage to find a corner to enjoy no matter who you are. Granted, you may not be able to stay for long...but there is just enough of everything to offer something for everyone.

My first trip to London was in a rather whirl wind trip of Europe, and so the massive scope of the place had to be shrunk down into three days of hard walking and even more hardcore sight seeing. And yet it still left nothing but a pleasant and overflowing sense of entertainment with me.

The crowded space of the London underground was something totally foreign to me, but even that I found undaunting as the energy of the place lends itself to the general excitement of even the most mundane experiences.

That aside there are no shortage of vastly cool and interesting things to do, which depends entirely on how much time and money you have to spend on them.

For some one who doesn't like cities (and I have to admit, English cities in particular) I can cheerfully tell anyone to come see London. It's an experience unlike you can find anywhere else. The sheer amount of options for things to do is truly staggering, and so many of the things London has to offer rank high on the traditional traveller's 'Europe To Do List.'

Quick Tips:

My trip to London was more incidental than planned. I had come to Edinburgh for a stay and then was headed to the mainland of Europe and London was on the way and therefore destined to be a stop over. But to be perfectly honest, when I left the US dreaming of Edinburgh castle and the Eiffel Tower, there was very little of London in my thoughts.

So when I discovered I had three days to spend exploring the city, I didn't feel let down by all that I didn't get to see.

If London itself ranks high on your Places To See List, however...then I would highly recommend you give it no less than a week. Two if you can. It is amazing how quickly and entirely you can be swept up in all that there is to see in just one tiny little corner of the place, and had I not been with some friends anxious to see all the bits of London I may have spent my entire time pottering about just outside my hotel in Notting Hill and around to Portobello Road.

So it's a good idea to leave yourself time, and plan your trip well. There will be lots of walking and cab riding and underground shuffling involved, so allow for that as well as a Lot of stopping to see things you hadn't imagined were there. Just make sure that you know what you don't want to miss and get as much of that in the first day as you can. After that just sit back and enjoy the show. Go for lots of wanders and just see what the city has to show you. I came only expecting to see a few of the most well known sights (Big Ben, London Tower, the changing of the guard, all that sort of thing) but found myself most happily enjoying the unexpected moments of wandering through the glorious circus like atmosphere of Covent Garden with it's enormous market area, or watching local artist painting near the London Eye. Sitting weary on the steps in Piccadilly Circus talking to a fellow traveller from Germany. Get a good map, leave your valuables in the hotel lock up and go out for a good wander through the city centre.

Best Way To Get Around:

I was lucky enough not to find myself in any unpleasant areas, but I have heard stories, so do be careful and have a good idea of where your going and where you'd like to get to. Of course, always a good idea in a new city.

There is no limit to ways of getting around this city.

I recommend that you use the underground, even if you don't have to (which you almost certainly will. Coming from Edinburgh where most everything worth seeing is in easy walking distance it can be easy to forget just how far the city centre stretches in a place like London, and how much that there is to see that you need a little bit of help getting to.) But aside from that its cheap, it's efficient and it's part of the atmosphere of the place. Not being a city girl (and this particular trip to London being my first big city trip) I was a little bit dubious about the idea, but quickly found my way around it and thoroughly enjoyed the novel experience. Britain is fantastic for public transport so, particularly if you are coming from America, use it as often as possible. It's quite a nice change of pace, and the underground in London is something that should really be experienced.

But with out that there is no limit to cabs or city buses, all pretty reliable. Do as much walking as your feet can bear, because as is often the case with these great European cities, it's best to see them on foot--or rather--at foot pace. But as I’ve mentioned numerous times already there's far too much to see to attempt it all on foot, so give the local transportation a bit of a go.

Learning the ropes of the underground straight away will greatly increase your travelling pleasure for your London trip. It's a good idea to locate an underground map immediately and get the gist of it.

When you think Comfort Inn, particularly in a city like London it's highly possible you picture a standard airport type anonymous hotel that does the job but little else.

Which is why I feel the need to elaborate a little bit on the surprisingly good Comfort Inn in Notting Hill.
The rooms aren't cheap; I'll start by saying that now, so even though my reviews are usually the very definition of a good budget accommodation (or activity, meals, etc) this particular one is much more in the moderate range. However, it's not easy to find decent budget accommodation in a city like London, and this is one occasion that I would recommend shelling out just a little bit more to get something that will make your stay infinitely more comfortable and enjoyable. The room rates range from £70 to £135 a night, which as I say isn't budget but it's pretty good for what you get.

Firstly, I would recommend this hotel purely on its location. Not being familiar with London I let others do the booking for this trip as in a place like this bad location can really put a damper on a three day (or longer) trip. As it turns out, the extra bit of money I cringed at the idea of spending at first turned out to be just about the best bit of cash I spent on the entire journey.

At the Notting Hill Comfort Inn, (which is in fact a beautifully linked chain of Victorian town houses that makes you feel more like your staying in some very swanky London neighbourhood than in a moderately priced hotel.) It's a beautiful area, more town than city and the place is immaculate.

The rooms are a little bit ordinary but they more than do the job, and the lounge is lovely with a great bar. (Try the tequila...it's somehow the strongest stuff I've ever tasted. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that, being a Texas girl, and I tell you completely off the record.)

But back to the location which is the true selling point of this hotel. You are literally one minutes walk away from the Notting Hill Gate Underground station (and a lovely walk at that) as well as being almost directly across from Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park as well as having Portobello Road and markets two blocks behind you. (There’s a great little Starbucks on the corner, too where my friends and I sat and enjoyed a sunny English afternoon with frozen coffees.) The location is truly ideal, and though I generally like to try something a bit different when ever I return to the same place, I will almost certainly try to book here again the next time I'm in London, because it would be very hard to beat the atmosphere and location for the price. And besides, it's Notting Hill...and even if your friends back home know nothing of London, I bet they will be impressed.

As I mentioned in the overview for this journal, my first trip to London was rather an incidental stop over than a destination, and so almost all of the extraordinary amount of sight seeing I did in the three days I was there wasn't planned. Things I had never heard of, or considered doing that I suddenly found myself standing before with a group of friends, all of us thinking; 'Well we have to do this one...'

And so it was with the London Eye, one of the best and most unexpected moments I have catalogued in my mental travel log. After a very long day walking the streets of London (including running flat out across Hyde Park with a fellow photographer friend of mine to catch the changing of the guard) and some frantic underground rides I was about ready to find a nice place to eat and head back to Notting Hill we made our way towards Parliament and Big Ben to watch the deepening hues of night take over the city. I had spotted the London Eye from time to time over the day (it's quite hard not to) but as I had a lot of Europe left to see and not much cash to see it with I had almost immediately dismissed the idea of taking an actual ride in it. It looked quite cool, but my attention was pretty instantly diverted to a closer attraction.

Lights were beginning to twinkle all over the city in a truly Dickens like style and suddenly the group I was with decided that a trip up in the Eye was something that had to do. I shuffled through my pocket and found I had just enough for a nice Indian take away and told them I'd pass this time and sauntered over to look at some local artist who were packing up for the day.

It was just then that an English man came frantically up to us handing me and several more of my group tickets for the eye saying 'do you want these?' We'd been fending off leaflet handlers and people begging all day and so were very reluctant to accept them until he explained they had bought them but had no time to use them before catching the train. We shrugged, thanked the man and then dubiously took them up to the entrance expecting them to be rejected. They weren't...and therefore I spent an amazing evening watching London come to life at night from atop the amazing 135meter high London Eye. It's not cheap, but if you have an extra £13 in your budget I highly recommend it. The views were stunning and so much more chilled and enjoyable then say Paris from the top of the Eiffel Tower. The 'pods' are nice and spacious and hold 25 people, so there was plenty of room for the ten of us. It's a wonderful half an hour ride and you see London as it should be seen.

It is impossible to make any kind of trip to London with out watching the Changing of the Guard. It’s just wrong and if you don't plan to do it, you should feel mildly ashamed.

To be honest, it's not that exciting and resembles most tourist attractions in that you see it to say you have seen in. And though missing something like that in some places in lieu of doing something else it's such a fundamental part of the scenery and the atmosphere of a trip to London that to miss it would be very wrong indeed.
Plus it's free.

Unless you are very strapped for time indeed, even if you have no interest in it whatsoever, I do recommend that you stroll across Hyde Park and give it a look. It's a 40 minute ceremony in total, and even if you don't have the energy or the time to watch the entire thing, it is simply something that everyone who visits England should see (and photograph.) You'll feel the hole in your trip when you get back if you don't.

If you’re looking forward to this tradition, however, than I suspect you will find it suitably gratifying. It's not electrifying entertainment, but it is culturally interesting and great for writing home on post cards and getting photos for the album.
The ceremony leaves Wellington Barracks three minutes before the change and then marches down to Buckingham Palace via Birdcage walk (a nice walk you should make with or with out the Changing ceremony) It's not always easy to get a good view of it, so come early as you can. I was running a bit late and some of my friends had decided to hang back. My friend Jeff and I, however (a fellow photographer) sprinted at breakneck speed through Hyde Park, jumping over benches to get there in time, and made it huffing just in time to get some great shots.

The ceremony runs daily at 1130 am from April to October and every other day from November to March. (Check the website for specific schedules and changes)

And of course, cheesy as it may sound, you must go round the corner to the lone guard standing motionless by the gate and have your photo taken.

It's the law.

It's all good fun, and should be a part of any trip to London. It's a nice, traditional area of the city surrounded by beautiful parks and a nice waterway. It is crowded, but not much of London isn't, and it’s surprisingly uncramped given the number of people who show up to see it.
All in all a nice way to spend a London afternoon.

If my surprise free trip up in the London Eye was the most unexpected thing I did while in London, then Covent Garden was certainly the most pleasantly unexpected place.

It’s not something you necessarily hear about simultaneously with London, though for my money it was the very essence of what makes London a phenomenal place to visit and not just another European city with lots of history.

The group I was with decided to meet up in Trafalgar Square for a bit of sight seeing of a wet London morning and then split off after a moment of realizing we all wanted to see something different. Me and several friends headed off past Nelson's Column and the most pigeons I'd ever seen in my life up to that point and off towards the National Gallery. After a bit of walking we stumbled onto something that at the time I had no idea existed.

With the possible exception of landing in Edinburgh the first time into the medieval setting that was several hundred years out of date, I've never felt so suddenly thrust into a completely foreign world before in all of my life. A few steps over some puddly streets and there before us was one of the wildest and most dazzling streets I've ever come across to date.

The sudden spectacular array of street performers, markets, shops, restaurants, pubs and musicians was a lot to take in all at once, even for London. I could quite easily have spent my entire three day trip in that one little corner of the city (and probably still not explored it half as well as one should) had I not needed to meet up with friends that afternoon in Piccadilly Circus.

There's not enough space on this little review for me to say a half of what should be said about Covent Garden, so before I run out of words I'll say the most important bit. If you’re planning a trip to London--no matter how short--pop by Covent Garden. It's the city's crown jewel as far as I'm concerned. Really amazing. Even with the International Festival in Edinburgh every year I've never seen street performs as impressive as the ones I saw walking through Covent Garden. The market is superb and huge. Allow as much browsing time as you possibly can.

Also, and I say this to all fellow travellers in a slightly conspiratorial tone, there is something in particular you should try. There was a palm reader on the corner who remarkably resembled Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. He's a bit of a marvel (and works by donations only.) Even flat broke myself and all my friends left him generous tips. I will say no more, just try him out if you can, he will have you discussing it for years and leave you feeling as you’ve witnessed something a bit mystical.