London Day 2: Sightseeing

It’s been quite some time since I wrote my last article. I’ll resume where I left off and tell you a bit about our second day in London, just before flying to the Dominican Republic.

We had done our homework before leaving Bucharest and had everything planned for Day 2, but since it’s not easy to stick to a plan when you’re visiting a city for the first time, we had to improvise. But in the end we were happy with how things turned out.

London attractions - quick tour

Remember it was January, so even though there was no snow, it was pretty chilly outside. It didn’t mind the cold wetaher too much, but I was pretty bummed by the foggy sky (you actually couldn’t see any sky), as I was hoping to test my new tripod.

St Paul’s Cathedral

Our first stop was St Paul’s Cathedral. Initially, we were thinking that buying a London Pass would be a good idea, but we realized that the cold weather would probably prevent us from wondering around too much. And since it was pretty late already, we decided to visit St Paul’s and Tower Bridge and then try to see most of the free London attractions.

Tower of London

For our next stop, we took the subway to Monument station. There was a pretty long queue at the Tower of London, so we decided not to stick around, as we had little time ahead of us. We stopped for a quick coffee break somewhere along the River Thames and I even took a few (pretty lousy) pictures of Tower Bridge.

Along the short path that leads to Tower Bridge we saw Traitors Gate, through which prisoners awaiting execution would enter the Tower, after being brought in by barge along the Thames. I didn’t know that, but Raluca did, baing a big fan of The Tudors. So TV shows can be both entertaining and educational, see?

Tower Bridge

We took the Tower Bridge tour and got the chance to learn a bit about its history and see some of the inner workings of one of London’s most known attractions. The two Walkways offer a great view of London. There are info displays along the way (I highly encourage you to check them all out) and if you are lucky enough to take the tour on a nice sunny day, you can open a small window (where those steps are) and take some great photos.

Fun fact: just found out you can now follow the Tower Bridge’s schedule on Twitter. How cool is that?

Buckingham Palace

After a quick lunch at wagamama near Tower of London (both Raluca and myself love Asian cuisine), we took the subway all the way to the other side of London, hoping to catch the guard change at Buckingham Palace. But unfortunately there wasn’t any activity. Maybe because of the cold weather or maybe we missed the exact time, don’t know. So you can understand why Raluca looks pretty sad in this picture.

Conclusions

We got the chance to see a few attractions and wonder around the streets for a while, so it’s fair to say we really enjoyed our second day in London. Here are some things that come to mind:

• you don’t get used to the whole “driving on the left” thing after only 2 days, but remember to “Look Right”
• we have to stop taking these quick trips in January (last year we were in Vienna), or at least go back when it’s warmer
• no matter how much you plan, you’ll always have to compromise if you’re in London for only a few days
• just like in other European capital we visited, the subway is the quickest way to travel if you’re in a hurry

I’ll be back with the second part of this article, where I’ll tell you about Harrods, Oxford Street by night and a bit about shopping in London. Raluca will probably share some input, as this is her field, not mine.