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Published: April 1st 2015
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(Pictures to be added at home)
My trip to London was uneventful. It took a transfer in Copenhagen which ended up being slightly delayed, but I arrived in the United Kingdom intact, though looking like a hobo in off the street since I hadn't showered or slept for over 30 hours. With my small travel bag, I made my way from Heathrow via three public trains across the entire city to my hotel. It wasn't actually until the next day that I realized I had forgotten to swipe my Oyster - the pay as you go train card- at one of the stations, as there are sometimes no turnstiles and the reader is easily missable. This confused me, because not even Japan trusts people that much. But I had no problem and was not checked by a ticket agent so I got away with exhausted traveler fail.
I am a planner, so I had made a file with all my travel arrangements and transportation notes so that I knew exactly which trains to take where, though after the first night, I realized that it was easier than getting around in Japan, as I can actually understand signs. My hotel
was nice and they sold me a new plug adapter after realizing that I had purchased the wrong one back home (I am 100% positive that it said it would work in England though). Satisfied and feeling very accomplished, I finally went to bed.
And promptly woke up around 5:30am. Jet lag!! I didn't need to meet my friends for quite some time, so I puttered around and finally headed out a bit early. I walked around Euston Station, our meeting point, and snapped some pictures, and then hung out trying in vain to find the free WiFi, of which there is really not much. But it wasn't too long to wait before my friends arrived, both of who live outside of London and nicely made the trip in to see me.
We went to get tickets for the Tube, and then made our way to St. James's Palace, which is a historical spot of interest for me but still in use and therefore you can't go inside. From there, we walked through Tralfagor Square to the National Portrait Gallery, where we spent about an hour looking at the paintings. It was a very nice gallery, and interesting
to see. After that was lunch, which we had at a cute Italian place with massive pizzas!! It was almost a bit too much food, haha.
But next was the British Museum! This museum is absolutely huge and divided into sections according to place and years. We had some things that we wanted go see - early Medeival for MC, Tudors for me, and the Napoleon exhibit for Mec - but we ended up seeing nearly everything because we walked around all of it for several hours. We also got to see the Rosetta Stone and the old pieces from the Parthenon that had their own wing. The museum was very, very cool (though a lot of white imperialism at its finest).
By this time it was late, so we went back to Euston Station and had a quick dinner, and I purchased some food for breakfast and snacking, as the next morning I had to start my bus tour. I said goodbye to my wonderful friends, and then went back to my hotel, somewhat near ours about my adventure starting the next day.
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