Two of our friends from Minneapolis, Patrick Smadbeck and Caryn Krakauer, have lived in Europe even longer than us. A few months before we moved to Switzerland they moved to London for Caryn to take a job with a video game company, and Patrick to take a job as a chemical engineering post-doc. Ever since moving here, visiting them had been high on our list of things to do, and from the 21st to 23rd of November we finally made the trip over to the UK.
We booked an early 7:30 a.m. flight from Geneva on Saturday, which meant we had to leave our apartment at 5 a.m. to start our journey. We flew Swiss air, a step up from the normal budget airlines we fly, and were given more leg room and even a breakfast snack. The plane was slightly delayed in takeoff and ended up landing in London around 9 a.m.
Unlike everywhere else we’ve visited in Europe, once at the London Heathrow airport we had to go through border control. It was just as bad as coming into the U.S.A.; it took about an hour of waiting in line, and we had to talk to an agent about our trip plans. This was by far our most intensive trip through customs in Europe.
From the airport we used Google maps to find our way to Patrick and Caryn’s apartment, and annoyingly, we were told to take a train called the Heathrow express. This train was much more expensive than the subway (called an underground or tube), that we later found out we could have taken. Live and learn I guess. The train took us to the center of London, then we had to take the underground out to Patrick and Caryn’s apartment near the Chelsea neighborhood. At the station Patrick, Caryn, and their dog Tolstoy were waiting for us.
After dropping our stuff off at their apartment, we headed back to the underground station to catch a ride to the British museum. We rode the Piccadilly line, which was the most crowded subway I’ve ever been on in my life. We were packed standing body to body with the other riders, and I didn’t make it far enough in from the door to fully stand up.
It was a relief to exit the subway and step out into the cool, windy, London cityscape. A short walk took us to the museum, where Patrick, Melissa and I entered, but Caryn and Tolstoy parted ways to find warmth in a coffee shop until we were through, because dogs aren’t allowed in the museum.
Living in Europe has afforded us the opportunities to see many world famous museums, but after walking through the British museum I’m thinking it might just be the best, and not just because (like most museums in London) entry is free. The focus of the museum is history, and the rooms upon rooms of it are filled with ancient artifacts from every corner of the world. It would be easy to lose track of time exploring all the rooms, so when we entered we first made a route plan to see the highlights. We saw Egyptian mummies, cuneiform tablets, pieces of the Parthenon, the Rosetta stone, a head from Easter Island, among countless other pieces crowding the rooms.
After leaving the museum we found Caryn and Tolstoy, and then wondered through the SOHO neighborhood, until we found a place for a late lunch. The restaurant we choose served only vegetarian dishes, but I was pleasantly surprised with how delicious I found my veggie burger. We then continued walking through the streets of London until we found ourselves at an ornate looking building and grounds, called the Horse Guard. It’s the place where the royal horses are kept, and we just happened to arrived in time to see the changing of the guard.
As the sun was setting, (at only 4 p.m.!) we made our way to see Buckingham palace as the last sight of the day. The enormous building and its fenced off grounds seemed to appear almost out of nowhere, and were closely butted up against a street filled with whizzing cars. It was quite a contrast to other European landmarks that seem to be surrounded by narrow pedestrian-only streets or manicured gardens. Unlike in the movies, the guards with the large fuzzy hats were standing far away from us peasants behind the front gate, and we didn’t see a single spot where they were close enough to be harassed.
We rode the underground back to the apartment, and were greeted by a large mass of Chelsea football fans pouring out of the stadium just one block away from the front gate of the apartment. Inside we shared some pints of IPA while watching a different soccer match, and Patrick tired to teach us the finer points of the game and leagues.
At about 6:30 p.m. we went off to the neighborhood pub for dinner. Melissa was excited to have authentic fish and chips, and I had bangers and mash. After washing down our dinner with more British beer we headed back to the apartment and crawled into bed after a long day of sightseeing and travel.
The next day we went out for brunch, where I had a traditional English breakfast of bacon, sausage, eggs, beans, fried tomato, fried mushroom, and toast. In my opinion the English breakfast is the best of England’s traditional cuisines. After breakfast we walked along Kings road to an underground station that took us into central London for the day’s sightseeing.
We first saw parliament, the Big Ben clock tower, and Westminster abbey, which are all right next to each other. Unlike much of London, where you can find buildings from several different centuries side-by-side on the same block, these three sites were incredibly ornate and grandiose, something I’ve come to expect out of most European landmarks. Unfortunately we were only able to see the sights from the outside, so we continued to our next stop: Hyde park.
The park is massive, sprawling over 350 acres, in the heart of a major urban area. In the park we walked through a large Christmas carnival, called Winter Wonderland. It was filled with carnival rides, food and drink vendors, as well as numerous stalls selling Christmas knick-knacks. Our walking tour then took us through more city streets and to a famous store called Harrods, that sells all varieties of luxury items, from chocolates, to hand bags, to clothing, to toys. The store was packed with people getting a start on their Christmas shopping, however we were satisfied to just browse.
We came back to the apartment around sunset, and ordered in Indian food for dinner. Perhaps surprisingly some people, London is renowned for its Indian food, mostly due to the fact that India was a long time colony. We binged on American television, particularly a showing of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, as well as some of the Vikings-Packer football game, before going to bed. The next day we left for the airport immediately after waking up for a 9:00 a.m. flight back to Switzerland.
Overall it was great to visit London. It really felt a bit like being in an American city. Everything is in English, there seemed to be more cars on the streets, and we had good friends to visit with.
