The adventure started with a brief 8 hour flight across the pond with my best buddy Pete. We met up at the airport, said goodbye to our families, and headed through security. I took my first few pictures in the airport and they are below!
This is a picture of my carry-on luggage. Why did I bring so much stuff!?
We jumped on the plane and quick 8 hours, several movies and a quick nap later, we were in London!
One of the first things we noticed was the markings on the road - Look Right - since cars drive on the left side of the road. I guess so many tourists have been hit by cars because they weren't looking the right way that they decided to put markings on the road! Pete and I both thought this was hilarious.
This was a pretty neat art exhibit-type thing outside the Heathrow Airport - all Christmas themed, and pretty nice for an airport.
This was our room for the two days. High-class travel if I do say so myself!
The National Gallery - free when we went! There were some really cool paintings, but all-in-all I found it underwhelming. The massive frescoes were incredibly impressive however, but most of the paintings seemed to have more historic value than artistic.
This is a view from the Nation Gallery facing the large Christmas tree that is donated by Norway to England every year for their help in WWII. The moment in the background is also shown again further down.
This was some fancy gate we saw on our journey towards Westminster. It has some deep historical value, but I couldn't tell you for the life of me what that is.
London at night is pretty beautiful, I must say!
This is probably the best picture I have of Big Ben. I must admit, I thought it was taller, but it is much wider than I thought it would be. Pete and I both agreed that it would have been incredibly impressive in its day, but with skyscrapers being so common in major cities now, it is not as impressive as a large building as it used to be. However, the detail in the stonework, and the history of the building, put it near the top of my list of cool buildings.
This is a picture of a double-decker bus! They are actually everywhere in London!
This is a good picture of Peter with the London Eye. Keep in mind we are probably 150m back from it in this picture, and even still we couldn't fit it all in the picture.
I promised Pete I wouldn't put this picture up, but it is priceless. Nice one Peter, nice one. I am definitely showing this at your wedding.
Big Ben and Parliament!
This is a statue of Abe Lincoln. I know - I was thinking that too - why is there a statue of Abraham Lincoln in London? Well, I guess he was an influential person, and his influence did affect England in a lot of ways, but I wouldn't have put up a statue for that. Who knows - maybe he was secretly British.
Westminster Abbey at night!
The front of Westminster Abbey.
All of the pictures above were taken on or before New Years Eve. We managed to get a great spot on one of the bridges right next to the London Eye to watch the fireworks. It was definitely one of the most impressive things I have ever seen. Spending New Years in a foreign city is something I would recommend to everyone, because it really challenges you to make the following year the best one yet. Starting off the year with a bang (literally) was incredible, and doing it with one of my best buds was pretty great too! Sadly, I did not get any pictures of the fireworks (I was too busy watching), so you will just have to look it up on YouTube. Maybe you will see us!
The next day we did some traveling
Her Majesty was a little busy this afternoon, so we passed on the tea invitation she gave us. Maybe next time we're in London?
Pete defacing British Public Property.
These gates were all around the Promenade next to Buckingham Palace, and laced with gold making them quite beautiful in the (rare) sunshine.
This is a guard holding a semi-automatic gun. British police take protecting the monarch seriously.
This is a building near Piccadilly Circus that I thought was really neat. It is right next to the building in the picture below, and combines a really interesting combination of classic and modern architecture in adjacent buildings. Piccadilly is full of this kind of thing - bringing old and new influences together - and is a really great place to just wander and get lost around.
The classic English Telephone booth!
Mind the gap.
So this picture, and a lot of the following ones, are from our little excursion to Emirates Stadium - home of my favourite British team, Arsenal - and I can safely say this was one of the highlights of my trip. Having watched Arsenal in their prime of 2003-2004, going to Emirates Stadium was a dream come true. We didn't manage to get inside because it was closed for the holidays, but just simply being around the stadium, you can feel the history. Located in a rather working-class area of London, the Gunners as they are known, are the working man's team. I like to think they represent the importance of hard work and community being in the area they are in, and though they are in a serious pothole right now, they have been home to some of the most dazzling football the world has ever seen. Their legacy goes on, and hopefully the glory days will come back some time soon, but I can say that I was there, and that is enough for me. Thanks Pete for taking all the pictures!
This was in Kings Cross Station, and is a pretty cool exhibit that the train station has put together. We would have gotten a classic Platform 9 and 3/4 picture, but the line-up was outrageous.
This is King's Cross Station - beautiful architecture and a Harry Potter Shop to boot!
And this is where the magic happened. Abbey Roads Studio - where the Beatles recorded and mastered arguably one of the best albums of all time. In my opinion, no single studio album has ever changed the world as much as Abbey Road did. It put the Beatles into an entirely different category of superstar, turned 4 simple musicians into international icons, and arguably, cemented their place in history forever. We were lucky enough to visit, and from a recommendation of my favourite uncle, we traveled a fair amount to get here - but it was totally worth it. It was unfortunately very busy with people trying to take the traditional Abbey Roads photo with their own touch on it, but we managed to get some great photos anyways. We even signed the gate. Who knows - maybe in 20 years you we can go back and see our signatures still there.
The Thames at night from one of the lookout docks.
Waterloo Station! Waterloo is a famous section of London that our beloved city was named after, and eventually the university we both attend, so getting a picture with the subway sign was a must.
The first London beer I tried - it was decent, but ultimately, underwhelming. It was local which was great, but unfortunately didn't pack all that much of a punch.
This is the Royal Opera House that we happened to stumble across on our way getting lost trying to find the Transportation Museum. It is a really interesting building that has several kinds of architecture all conjoined into one big complex. We didn't get the chance to go inside, and for anyone who has ever boughten an opera ticket you can probably guess why, but the view from the outside was still pretty good.
This is just outside the Transport museum and is a massive outdoor mall sort of thing. There were some cool street vendors and a few musicians, but it was nothing special I think.
The transport museum was pretty interesting - lots to see and some great history. Some of the old trains were fascinating! We even went on an old double-decker bus, which was definitely not tall enough for Peter or myself.
This was in the film museum that just happened to be nearby (and free!) so we took a look inside. It was rather small and not terribly comprehensive, but had some cool stuff inside!
Back into the heart of the city, we travelled towards Westminster to catch the boat tour to take us up to the Tower Bridge. The ride was pretty spectacular, and seeing London from the river is something I would highly recommend!
The next building is the Tate Modern - Peter's favourite part of London (not actually) - which houses the modern art gallery. It is apparently a world-renown art gallery with some of the most amazing modern art you will find anywhere. I guess I am just not all that artsy, because it was highly disappointing. Some of the art was... well... an experience to say the least...
This was in the London Tower exhibition. There were some amazing sculptures of people's heads. Go figure.
Now the following pictures are from the HMS Belfast. The HMS Belfast is a WWII warship that survived and is now permanently parked in the Thames near the Tower Bridge. It was a really cool exhibition, and probably the best view of the city you are going to get. If you get the chance, and don't hate WWII history, this exhibit will blow you away. I really enjoyed it more than I thought I would, and it was awesome to see how tight and narrow all the hallways and walkways are in a battleship, and how hard everyone has to work in order to make the ship functional. The view from the front of the boat is one of the highlights of my trip, without a doubt, and many a picture was taken.
I may upload more London photos later, but I think that is probably enough for now.
Until next time,
Cheerio!
- Brendan and Peter
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