London

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Oi there mate!
Welcome to the land of the Queen!

This trip was planned a few days before it happen and with very reduced budget, so, as you may figure, things didn't happen the way they supposed to be... at least during the flight and arrival...

We flew on easy jet night flight, and, despite the fact that it was already a night flight, it was delayed... no big problem, except if the trains and metro to central London didn't close so early...

So, if you're planning to go to London for a weekend, you may consider skipping work at friday, and depart in the morning, or perhaps you'll end up lost in som strange nieghbourhood at 4AM, raining, looking for a cab...

I must confess... we went to Gatwick Airport - it was cheaper - and our hotel was in Osterley, wich was also cheaper but far far far away from the center of the city...

Anyway, after we got a couple hours of sleep, we got up in the morning, made coffee (the antique and cosy house/hotel we were in had a coffe machine - for free! - in the room) and head ourselves to the nearest tube station to start our journey through London...

Despite the fact that the pound is an "expensive" coin and things are expensive in England, they have one of the best solutions for tourists, in what concerns to "traveling in a rush" and "see-it-all" - the 24-hour travel card! - it's so cheap (6 pounds) and allows you to use all the public transportation in London (tube, bus, etc...) anytime and all the times you want!

We got to see all the main atracctions and sightseeings in London... The River Thames area with the London Eye, the Parlament, the Big Ben, the briges, the parks... everything!

We went to the north of the town and visited Camden, wich was one of the most interisting places I've seen, with a huge market and lots of avenues with gift shops, clothing shops (cheap), sneakers, astronaut food and hippie stuff among other things...Camden Market is perhaps the place that I recomend the most qhen visiting London!

We also visited the Natural History Museum - hey! It's a Natural History GIANT Museum, and guess what? It's free... (you have somo paid exhibits inside, but it's worth going there) - and walking around some blocks from the museum you have the Royal Albert Hall and many other cool buildings and stuff worth watching...

Thanks to the 24-hour travel card we got o see all that I've mention above, plus the Arsenal and Chelsea stadiums (like it or not english football games are a unique experience!), we also visited the Madame Tussaud's wax museum (wich I had already visited in Los Angeles, and it's pretty much the same thing...it's not worth waiting on the lines and pay the huge ammount of cash they charge you)...we also visited the London Dugeon - a recreation of the horror and mistery tales and legends of London, such as Jack the Ripper, and many more... (It's not even scary...just a play, with actors and scenaries)...

We also saw the famous billboards in Piccadilly Circus and went down the road through St. James Park until Buckingam Palace...

We did everything in a day and half - full Saturday and half Sunday - thanks to the excelent traveling system in London!

It's a grey and cloudy city, most of the year, but it's very clean and tidy and the tube system is the most organized and easy to use that I've ever seen! And it's also safe! Everybody rides the train, from doctors and lawyers, to students, turists or any social class...

People are not as smiley as Turkish and Greek, but they are very polite and always ready to help you!

Cheers mate,
JM

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Photos

King's Cross Station
Harry Potter! =)