17. Diary Entry: London

Our Small Ramble through London

London

 

 

Dear Diary,

My most beautiful day of the excursion was London. Even though, I had great expectations
towards London I was not disappointed. On the contrary, my expectations were exceeded. Emine, Hanan, Anna and I decided to explore London on foot because we were of the opinion that you can explore a city like London very well on foot. In general, the best way to get to know the city is just to start walking around as there is everything worth to look at.In addition, we had beautiful weather on that day. Therefore, we wanted to spend most of the time outside. With a map in hand and our packed lunches we started out to the first sights.

First, we walked across the London Bridge from which one you had a fantastic view to the
Tower Bridge. When we continued to walk towards the river we discovered a small market
which pleased me enormously. The market was called Borough Market. On this market
both hot food as well as fresh food were offered in a wide variety and selection. –
Something can be found for every desire! And the best part was that we were able to try
lots of goodies. The various types of cheeses excites us most.
From there we made it to the pier which is situated next to Westminster Bridge.
Fortunately, Anna has often been in London so she advised us to walk on the pier and to
go from there to the sights. We passed many street artists who generated a nice
atmosphere. Giant soap bubbles, singers and dancers could be seen on every corner.
When we arrived at the famous Globe Theatre a friendly passerby told us that the thached
roofs are prohibited in London. Therefore, sprinkler systems were fitted to prevent such
fires. The passerby called James told us a number of interesting things about London
including where you can get the best ice cream in London. So we discovered the Morelli’s
Gelato. Although the ice cream shop was 40 minutes away on foot the long walk paid off in
the end as I have never eaten such delicious pistachio ice cream.
Furthermore, we had a great view from the pier over the Big Ben. A stone’s throw from the
London Eye we set ourselves on a wall and ate our lunch packages.

Due to the fact, that I am a big fan of the Shrek filmsI would have loved to go into Shreks’s
Adventure which was opened in summer 2015. Unfortunately, we did not have enough
money and time for this and if you spent just one day in London I would prefer to see more
of the beautiful city than only one of the attractions.
Due to the nice weather we decided to search for a park in order to make a short break. St
James Park was not far away and this park is very well located to visit the Buckingham
Palace. So we decided to go there. One of the things I liked best about the park were the
many birds which were running around there. I have even seen pelicans. That so many
birds are living in a park in the middle of the busy city surprised me very much. When we
went over a bridge we were attacked by small squirrels. First, only one squirrel could be
seen but after a short while there were already three squirrels, which wanted to steal my
nuts and raisins. After a short consideration I came to the conclusion to share my trail mix
with the squirrels. To be honest they looked so cute that I had no other choice.
After a short photoshooting with our little friends we walked to the Buckingham Palace,
which has fascinated me as well. Many parts of this building are impressive and beautiful,
although it is also, in my opinion, grandiose.
Because some of our group have saved some money on purpose for shopping in London
we walked around the Picadilly Circus into a shopping mile. Having arived the Oxford
Street we went from shop to shop. It did not take a long time that all of us were exhausted
and we wanted to get away from the enormous crowd of people. I have rarely seen a city
which is so lively.

After we listened to a really good street musician, whom Emine fell in love with, we went
back towards Saint Paul Cathedral. It was good that we planned a lot of time for the way
back as we first got completely lost. It was at this moment that I became aware of how nice it is that most of the British people are always helpful and friendly.
According to the motto: “If you don’t ask you will never know“ we found the right way back
to Saint Paul Cathedral. Before it got dark we had seen a lot of nice shops and pubs which reminded me of Harry Potter. In addition, we have seen the magic bank called Gringotts from the movie Harry Potter. Although it was not allowed to go into the bank it was great to stand in front of the beautiful building.
From the very beginning I loved the double decked red buses and the red phone boxes in
London. So I have been very happy to see that these things are not only a cliche.
Finally, what has sweeten our day in London was the Chinese restaurant “Itsu“ which has
reduced by around half, to aproximately 50 percent. This property is always half an hour
before the store closes. So everybody stocked up on Suschi and other Chinese food.

All in all, I am blown away by the versatility of London. And I really want to go to London
again as the city has much to offer. On the one hand, you can enjoy quiet spots like the St.James Park and on the other hand, you have the opportunity to take advantage of
Londons lively streets where you can enjoy a stroll or look for a relaxing dinner.