Back in the Don
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2009
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4
8
Trip End
Aug 20, 2009
London, England, United Kingdom
Friday, July 31, 2009
After a tasty chinese dinner and some much needed sleep last night, we got up at 6am this morning to head off and explore London. I've been before, but to be honest its my favourite city in the world and I could spend months there without getting bored.
We left from Westcliff Station in Southend and it took about 45 minutes into the city. Starting out at the Tower of London, we walked along the Thames until we got to the Monument (apparently the tallest free standing stone column in the world), without actually knowing this fun fact, we decided to climb the damn thing lol. The view was at least worth it!.
From there we walked to St Pauls Cathedral, which I had seen before but never been inside. The others had understandably had enough of climbing lol, but i'm a sucker for punishment and decided to scale yet another landmark. It was quite fascinating, the cathedral dates back to the 17th Century and the climb to the top is a mix of old stonework and newer staircases and safety fixtures. Yet I could tell that its a remenant of times past, having to bend almost sideways to get up alot of the staircases. A random thunderstorn hit as I got to the top, and despite getting saturated it was a pretty cool experience. After that I made a quick trip to the crypt to see some tombs, including William Blake's which was something to tick off the list.
From there we crossed the Millenium footbridge and had lunch at a pub called 'The Founders Arms'. Then off to the London Eye, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey which I've been to before, so I wont elaborate and bore you. At Trafalgar Square I got to ride one of the Lions which was pretty cool haha. After a trip to a market, where I bought an amazing pulp fiction painting, we headed back to the hotel.
Feeling pretty tired after all of that and just settling in for an earlyish night. Up at 3:30am tommorow (arrrrggh!) to leave for our Paris daytrip.
More to come!!
