London

Last night, I arrived in London after a quick flight from Jerez to London Stansted airport. Since I had a late flight, I had made plans to stay in a cheap hotel called The Bushel and Sack in Stansted (just outside London) so I didn’t have to navigate alone, through the city in the dark. The best part was, they had a free shuttle to and from the airport, but it the place overall was a bit more run down than I had been expecting.

This morning after getting a ride back to the airport, I took the train to the hostel where I met my friend Chella, who is travelling around with me for the next 3 weeks. The hostel, the Astor Kensington, was a pretty nice place, and one of the cheaper hostels in London, even though it has a kitchen and is conveniently close to most of the tourist sites.

We met up at the hostel, and made some lunch. I had brought a bunch of food from Spain to some money on eating out in London (which I knew to be insanely expensive!) Afterwards we went for a walk and took the Tube to the Tower Bridge, where we got so fed up with the rain and cold that we went back to the hostel and went to bed early.

This morning we headed to Buckingham Palace to see the changing of the guard, and although there was a crowd of people and policemen everywhere controlling the crowd, the changing of the guard ceremony didn't actually happen due to the wind and rain.

After spending some time in the British Library looking at all kinds of famous books and artwork, we decided it was time for a proper British meal, so we found a nearby pub and had a roast dinner with potatoes. Unfortunately when they brought out our meals, we found out they were out of Yorkshire pudding, so it wasn't a completely typical meal.

To finish off the day, we went to see the Big Ben, the houses of Parliament, and Westminster Abbey, which I would say was the highlight of all the sightseeing. Thanks to my trusty research skills, we knew that there was an organ recital going on that evening inside Westminster Abbey, so we got in for free and got to listen to some music at the same time!

After a long day spent in the rain and cold, we thought it was time for some indoor fun, so we spent the evening having coffee in a little cafe, then going to a movie called the Bank Job (which coincidentally, takes place in London, in some of the very places we had seen that day!) And then came the best part of the night... we took a double-decker bus back to our hostel and rode up top!