Jana and I started our journey in Edinburgh Airport where we met at 2 o'clock last Friday. The last time I flew from this airport, I needed around 30 minutes to get through security checks, so I wanted us to meet as soon as possible. But, of course, in the end we needed less than 10 minutes to get through security. So we had lots of time before our departure. We decided to go for coffee. Well Jana for hot chocolate, because she doesn't drink coffee. Our flight was due at 4 o'clock but it had 30 minutes delay due to technical problems. It's the second time this has happened to me in less than a month. But it's better if the aircraft has technical problems while still on land than while on the air. So I was fine with the wait. There was a little bit of turbulence while flying, which made Jana anxious. Still she enjoyed the view. We were flying at the time of sunset. So the view was breath-taking.
We landed in London Stansted at around half past six. Then we went straight to the London express Stansted - train that takes you to Liverpool street station in London. Return ticket cost us 16 pounds each. We bought it online 30 days before our arrival. It is cheaper to buy it online than buying it at the station itself. After 45 minutes we finally arrived at the station. Then we quickly found a taxi who drove us to our b&b (bed and breakfast). I booked us a room at airb&b. We rented a room at local hosts. More specifically a young couple, Patrick and Sandrine, who have their spare room available to travellers. Their cosy apartment is in Clerkenwell area. Which is around 10 minutes away from Oxford Street with bus. Or 30 minutes from Victoria bus station. So pretty good place. We paid 30 pounds per person per night. I think that's a pretty good price for such a good location.
Taxi cost us 9 pounds. But it only took us 15 minutes to get to our place. While with bus it would take us longer, plus we were both new in the city so didn't know how to get around it. So we decided taxi will be the best and easiest. We arrived at the place at 7 o'clock. Patrick and Sandrine were both away, so we went for dinner to an Italian restaurant that was on our street. We shared pizza, which cost 8 pounds and then ordered dessert. Jana chose pina colada, while I went for tiramisu. Both desserts cost us almost 6 pounds but it was a big piece. I could've just had tiramisu for dinner and I would have more than enough! After dinner we went to "our" place and met the couple. They are both very lovely and very helpful. They gave us some pointers and advice. We then settled in our room and started planning our first whole day in London. I have to admit I had a little bit of trouble falling asleep. The bed was a bit too soft for me, but I still managed to fall asleep eventually. Below every apartment are stores, pubs, restaurants, bakeries etc. So it is very lively in the night. The noise coming from outside didn't bother me much though.
We woke up at 9 o'clock on Saturday morning. And the weather was spectacular. Sunny and without a cloud. Only problem was it was a little bit too windy at times. After slowly getting up and ready to go out, we stopped at the bakery downstairs and bought us breakfast. This bakery isn't really cheap. One croissant for example costs 1.5 pounds. But I think this is more or less standard price for London. We then bought Oyster cards to use London public transport - buses. Oyster cars have the same principal as Urbana in Slovenia. You top up money on the card and use it each time you go on a bus. Bus costs you 1.5 pounds each time. That's the same as in Edinburgh! So we were quite happy with the price. We went to Victoria bus station and then walked to the Buckingham palace. There were lots of people in front of palace's gate and across the street in the park. We arrived right when the guards were changing shifts. It was interesting to see that. Plus there were few police officers on really beautiful horses. I absolutely love police horses. They are most definitely breath-taking creatures! We stayed there for a little while, then headed towards the Westminster. The road led us through a very nice park where you could see many squirrels, ducks and all sorts of birds.
I should mention that my digital camera decided to not work, which meant all pictures were snapped with our mobile phones. Not very happy about it, but can't do much.
Buckingham palace
People sitting on the fence, trying to see the guards (Jana and I did the same)
The guards and many people around, plus of course police
I love the posture of this horse. Wish it was a better picture though
Soon after the crossed the park, we could see Big Ben. It is as amazing as it is on the pictures. Probably even more so. It was just so nice to see it with my own eyes. I've wanted to go to London in such a long time now and it finally hit me then that I was actually there. I had a huge grin on my face! :) Soon enough we arrived to the bridge, took many pictures of the Westminster palace and of course London Eye and river Thames. The weather really couldn't be any better. I guess only problem was that the sun was coming from behind the Westminster, which meant pictures of the palace weren't that great. But I think we still got few nice shots!
London Eye
Big Ben
Jana and I
River Thames near London Eye
Teja, my friend, told me about vouchers 2for1 where you pay for one entry ticket and get another one for free. All you need to do is download the vouchers from the internet and have valid train ticket. We decided to see three attractions: London Eye, SEA LIFE London Aquarium and Tower of London. On Saturday we went on London Eye and Aquarium. Ticket for London Eye costs 21.50 pounds. The queue wasn't that bad. Probably because one capsule accepts around 10 to 15 people. The ride is 30 minutes long and it is long enough. The view was amazing!
Capsule
One of many bridges in London - London Jubilee Bridge
On the far behind left side you can see Strata - it is one of the tallest residential buildings in London. On its right there is Leadenhall building - second tallest building in London.
You can see BT Tower in the middle of this picture. It's a communications tower and it is the tallest building completed in London in the 1960s
The Shard - tallest building in UK and also EU (inside there are offices, hotels, restaurants, business school)
Jana and I in the capsule
After visiting London Eye, we went for lunch and then walked to a place where there weren't that many tourists. Around London Eye and Westminster are many, many tourists. We found a bench opposite of Westminster Palace and sat there for an hour, enjoying the sun and the view. It did get a bit too cold after a while so we headed towards the Aquarium. The queue for the Aquarium was miles long! I think we waited almost an hour to get our tickets. And let me tell you, it was not worth it. Ticket cost us 23 pounds and all we saw was mostly fish. I know, I guess we should've expected that. But I thought there would be more diversity. There are few sharks, but they aren't that big. I hoped we'd see a really big ones. There was also a quite big turtle, lobsters, really big crabs and penguins. That was nice to see. But the rest, nothing special.
The penguins
When we left the aquarium it was around 6 o'clock and we were pretty tired by then. So we headed towards Victoria bus station. We walked past Westminster palace, Westminster Abbey (where most of UK royalty was crowned).
Westminster Abbey
The bus drive back home took us longer than expected. The traffic was quite bad. It got really bad close to Piccadilly Circus. It really was a "circus" there because of all the traffic. I know Piccadilly Circus is one of the main tourist attractions, but for me it was more than enough to just drive past it. It is too crowded there for my taste and nothing special to see. There is a fountain in the middle and many video displays and neon signs.
When we arrived at our bus stop, we searched for a grocery store to buy us something for dinner. It wasn't easy to find for example Tesco or Sainsbury's. We actually didn't see many grocery stores throughout the city. Which is a little bit weird. After a while we finally found some local small store, bought us food and went home. We planned to go out in the evening but we ended up staying in. I wish we would've gone out, because I really wanted to see London nightlife. But Jana was exhausted.
Our first whole day in London was great though. We saw lots of stuff, awesome weather and just really nice time with Jana.
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