London: Day Three

One of the things Claudio most wanted to do in England was to visit the football stadium of a famous team, and in London we had the perfect opportunity to do this. On the morning of our third day in the city, we went on the tube up to Holloway Road station in the north of the city and walked the short distance to the Emirates Stadium, the home of Arsenal.

The stadium was huge and very impressive to see. I had enjoyed visiting Parc des Princes in Paris during my Year Abroad, but I swear the Emirates was even bigger and more imposing.

We went inside the shop, which sells all kinds of Arsenal merchandise, and discovered that it was possible to take a tour of the entire stadium for £20 per person. We decided to go for it, and I'm really glad we did, as it was such a unique experience and we practically had the place to ourselves.

During the tour we were able to see sights like the VIP box, the Diamond Club, the players' tunnel, the home and away dressing rooms, and the interview and press conference rooms, as well as the FA Cup and Community Shield trophies! 

We also had the chance to take some fun photos, which I couldn't resist buying afterwards!

I like football but I'm not a fanatic, and I'd never have had the idea of going to the stadium myself. So I'm really happy Claudio suggested it - it was such a fun and memorable experience!

On our way back into the city centre, we passed through King's Cross station, and stopped to have a look at Platform 9 3/4 and the Harry Potter shop next door. Nowadays if you want your photo taken there, you have to queue to get it taken by a professional photographer and then pay for it afterwards, so we didn't bother. I remember when I was younger, you could take as many photos there as you liked!

After lunch we took the tube to Tower Hill station, as we wanted to take a closer look at the Tower of London and Tower Bridge after seeing them on the boat trip the previous day . And we definitely weren't disappointed... 

When we came out of the tube station, the view of the Tower of London was just breathtaking. I'd only been there once before when I was very little, and I'd forgotten just how impressive it is. If I was writing my post about castles and palaces now rather than in September, it would certainly have a place in my top 10!

Close by, there was a great spot for taking pictures with Tower Bridge and the Shard.

Next it was time to visit Tower Bridge! We bought tickets to the museum, which meant we could climb up one of the towers and look at various exhibits about the bridge along the way. At the top, we could walk along a glass floor while crossing over to the other tower! 😲

The bridge is such an amazing landmark, and what makes it even better is that it's surrounded by many other amazing landmarks, like the Tower of London, the Gherkin, the Walkie Talkie, the Shard and City Hall. So we took plenty of photos there!

This was definitely one of my favourite parts of the entire trip. This area of the city is so stunning to look at, with its mix of old and new architecture. It really made me want to move to London!

The next place we visited was St. Paul's Cathedral. We had wanted to take one of the iconic red double-decker buses to get there, but trying to catch one turned out to be a lot harder than we expected, and in the end we had to admit defeat and take the tube!

I had actually never seen the cathedral up close before, so it was a new attraction for both of us. We didn't go inside, as the tickets were just too pricey at £20 each, and there were only 15 minutes left until closing time. Luckily, the building was amazing to look at from the outside, and we spent a while just contemplating it.

Afterwards we crossed over Millennium Bridge, which is famous for being destroyed in a scene from one of the Harry Potter movies.

On the other side of the bridge we found Shakespeare's Globe, as well as some cute Egyptian geese!

Lastly, Claudio wanted to take some more photos with the famous red phone boxes to show to his friends and family back in Chile.

All in all, it was an incredible day in an incredible city that we'll remember for a long time. 

The following day, we spent a last morning in London before travelling to Sweden. It would turn out to be one of those days where almost everything that could possibly go wrong went wrong, but thankfully it all worked out okay in the end! I'll be writing about it very soon...

Read about London: Day One here, London: Day Two here and London: Day Four here!

London: Day Two

The second day Claudio and I spent in London, which was also our first full day, was very exciting. This was when we took a trip on the London Eye River Cruise as well as on the London Eye itself, which meant we got to see practically all of the city's main attractions in a short space of time.

But first of all, we saw a few more famous sights on foot, starting with Dover House, where the soldiers in the silly outfits were practicing their marching, and Admiralty Arch.

Then we walked down The Mall towards Buckingham Palace, where there were more men in silly hats.

Next we walked through Saint James's Park in order to go in the direction of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It's always such a nice park to walk in, with its scenic lake and its large population of squirrels and different types of birds. One squirrel even came right up to us and stood on my foot. I felt very lucky!

Unfortunately we weren't so lucky in terms of the weather, as by the time we reached Parliament Square, we were already soaked to the skin! But the boat trip was going to start soon and it was too late to go back to the hotel and get changed, so we had to carry on sightseeing! 

It was great to see Westminster Abbey, the Houses of Parliament, and all the other impressive buildings in the area, even though Big Ben was still covered in scaffolding like it had been back in February.

Luckily, it's still possible to see the actual face of the clock from Westminster Bridge. The bridge is also a great place for views of the London Eye.

Then it was finally time for us to go on the River Cruise! The trip lasted forty-five minutes and took us from the London Eye to Tower Bridge and back again, so we got to see a lot of the city centre. The guide told us lots of jokes and interesting facts about all the different places we passed, which helped us get to know the city a little better.

We had to wear masks on the boat and keep socially distanced from other passengers, but that wasn't difficult, as there were only a few other people on board. (Travelling during Covid does has some advantages!) We had a choice of sitting outside or inside, and chose the latter because of the awful weather, though we were brave enough to keep the window open in order to get better views!

Sights that we passed in the boat included County Hall...

...the London Eye...

...the OXO tower...

...the Tate Modern art gallery...

...Shakespeare's Globe Theatre...

...the Shard...

...HMS Belfast...

...and City Hall.

Then we reached the turning point of the voyage: the iconic Tower Bridge.

On the way back, we passed even more of London's famous sights on the other side of the river, including the Tower of London...

...the Walkie Talkie building...

...St. Paul's Cathedral and the Millennium Bridge...

...Somerset House...

...the Royal Horseguard's Hotel, which was built in the style of a French château (I took this picture after the boat trip, as the picture I took from the boat came out really badly!)...

...and the Ministry of Defence building.

All in all, the London Eye River Cruise was a great experience and a fantastic way to see the highlights of the city. I would highly recommend it, especially if you only have a short time to spend in the city. In addition, if you buy the boat ticket together with the ticket for the Eye, it only costs £36.50 per person, meaning that effectively you only pay £11 for the boat trip.

Afterwards we had a couple of hours to pass (in our soaking wet clothes!) before our trip on the Eye, so we explored the South Bank area a bit more. The Jubilee Park and Garden was an especially nice area, with lots of squirrels and great views of the Eye.

Then at last the time came for us to take our "flight" as they call it. It was my second time on the London Eye, my first time being well over 10 years ago, and I'd forgotten just how big and tall it is, so it felt a bit scary at first! But we both really enjoyed the ride and had great views of the city, despite the rain. And there was only one other person in the pod with us, so it was totally Covid safe.

Afterwards, it was a relief to be able to go back to the hotel to shower and change. The rain had caused the red from my coat to dye my white jumper pink; that's how bad it was!

Later on, we went out for a really nice Italian meal at Caffè Concerto and then took some all-important phone box pictures!

Despite the weather, it was a fantastic day, where we really felt like we saw lots of the city.

Next I'll be writing about our third day in London, which was equally exciting. We visited an attraction I'd never have thought of going to - the Emirates Stadium - as well as visiting some of the places from the River Cruise in more depth. It's going to be another long post!

Read about London: Day One here, London: Day Three here and London: Day Four here!