Stress less and Travel MORE - LONDON mode ON

Hello there,

How is your day? Mine is great, only four days till Christmas, so I reckon it’s a good choice to talk about London.

This city is the most visited by me (fifth time) because my sister is living in London.
My sister bought the plane tickets for me as a early Christmas present, but the funny coincidence is that one of my best friend form university also bought tickets in the same period. So we stayed together and I had to be her guide for three days, hope i did a good job.

We arrived pretty early on Stansted Airport, from there we took a shuttle bus straight to London Victoria Station, it costs around 10 pounds one way, this airport is quite far from city , approximately one hour and half. You can buy tickets online or from the airport, the price is almost the same.

We eventually arrived to Victoria station, went directly to our accommodation, situated near BRIXTON subway station, really close to the city center. It was really cold outside, just started snowing; I wasn’t quite expecting this kind of weather.
As we had our flight early in the morning we were tired and dizzy because we slept only three hours so it was absolutely necessary to rest a bit and after that we gain some energy, we went on discovering the city again.

Before our departure I was a little bit afraid about the situation with the attacks in London, it was an incident just a few days before our departure, but now I can say I felt safe, I found London quite chill, nothing fishy, though I did not see a lot of Police.

On our first day we went straight to Big Ben, one of the most trademarks of the city, but unfortunately starting August 2017 it is in renovations for almost four years.

Westminster Abbey, in the current form was built in the 13 century, when Henry III was king, but the Gothic Church was originally built almost 1000 years ago (you can still see parts from the initial church).The Abbey held 17 royal weddings, the last one was in 2011, when Prince William of Wales married Catherine Middleton.

I forgot to tell you that when we arrived to Victoria Train Station we made a travel card for zone 1-2 so we took the subway a lot, it was pretty cold to walk.

Advice: This Travel card gives you some freedom to travel with Tube, DLR, London Overground or TfL Rail in the zones you choose. It costs around £32 for a week, but you have the pay the card Oyster too (£5 you can refund).

So thanks to Travel Card that day we visited Tower bridge, also a trademark of London, built in the 19th century.
Unfortunately until now I never saw ships passing under Tower Bridge, even though the bascules are raised around 1000 times a year.

We saw the City Hall by night, and of course we also saw the building Shard, which is finished now, in 2012 when I last visited the city, it was still under construction. Shard is the tallest building in United Kingdom and European Union, and you can visit, the ticket is £18.95 if you buy online.

After that we went to meet with my sister in Trafalgar square, where you can find the National Gallery Museum, one of my favorite museum. My sister was so nice and invited us to Somerset House to drink a hot chocolate. It was very pleasant and delicious.

My friend had to meet with a friend of her, so I stayed with my sister and went to see the Christmas lights, one of the main reasons of visiting London, besides seeing my sis. I never saw the Christmas Lights. Enjoyed very much the walk on Oxford Circus, Regent Street and other shiny streets.

Next day we started early, went directly to Green park, Buckingham palace which I visited in 2010.

This palace can be visited only on summers and early autumns (July to October).

Advice: I recommend you visit **Buckingham Palace in the afternoon, in this way you will avoid the crowd.
I love animals, as you already know, so it was a must for me, to feed them.

Following me for more!

We were lucky because it was a sunny day, warm and no rain.
Advice: You can easily walk through the city center of London on good weather and the most importing thing, it is totally free. All you need it’s a good program on what you would like to see in that day and to group the attraction according to the location.

After St James’s Park I went to Oxford Circus while my friend went back to the accommodation to have some rest. I like visiting by my own, so I walked and enjoyed street performances.

Later I went shopping a bit on Oxford Street and met with my friend once again. We saw the Christmas Lights and we were delighted by what we see.

After that we decided to go to Winter wonderland, it was a beautiful experience even though it was a bit crowded
We drank a mulled wine and listen to live music at an awesome pub, unfortunately at 21:45 the fair is closing so we rushed back home

After a good sleep we woke up early because in that day I had my y flight to Iceland, but my friend wished to see the Tower Bridge and Tower hill by day, so I had to please her.

We went back to the accommodation and because my friend was returning back to Romania the next day, I made her a quick list of must see attraction. I rushed up to the airport to meet with my sister and brother-in-law; we were going to astounding Iceland. If you fancy, you can check up my post about this wonderful country:

• https://steemit.com/travel/@alexandraioana26/the-country-of-contrasts-astounding-iceland

After four days in that wonderful place we returned back to United Kingdom but right before my flight I found out that my best friend who is working as a cabin crew in UAE received a flight to London instead of Frankfurt and we have to meet abroad again. After we arrived, I went right up to meet with my bestie, because we didn’t t had a lot of time, because we were both leaving London next day morning to different destinations.

So we decided to have some fun went to Winter wonderland, it was a week day so it wasn’t that crowded and had more fun than the first time. After spending several hours chit-chatting she went back to the hotel to have some rest and I went directly to my sisters apartment.

Next day I had my flight at 18:00 so we had plenty of time to spend some time together. We succeeded to have a drink at Sky Pod Bar London .

We served our brunch at Tate Modern London and visited quickly some expositions.

It was getting late so we had go to Liverpool street, from where I took the train shuttle to Stansted, it is a bit faster than bus, but a bit pricey (around 17 pounds), maybe if buy online is cheaper.

Prices
As you know this capital is pricey, but here is a list of things you can do for free:

• Visit museums: Tate Britain, Tate Modern, British Museum, National Gallery Museum, National Portrait Gallery. You can search for more free museums (at least 24 free museums)
• See the city from the above at Sky Pod Bar
• See St Paul’s Church attending service

• See Changing the Guard (You can see it from St James’s Park)
• Go to Greenwich Park.
• Participate at Notting Hill Carnival.
  And more others.

Main attractions with admission:

• London Eye, online tickets starting from £23.45.

• The Shard, online tickets starting from £18.95.

• UK Parliament, online tickets starting from £18.50.

• Westminster Abbey, online tickets are £20.00
• St Paul’s Cathedral, online tickets starting are £18
• Madam Tussaud, online tickets starting from £ 29.
• London Dungeon. I definitely recommend it, had a lot of time in 2010. Have on their website different deals.
• Buckingham Palace, tickets are £23.00
  And more others.

Did you know that lion it is the national animal of UK?

Even though I visited several times, there are still attraction and places I have to discover, I really love this vibrant city so I wouldn’t mind visiting again anytime soon.

Keep calm and go to London.
Hope you enjoyed my post, if so feel free to upvote and resteem it.
For more, follow me and stay tuned.
Thank you.
Until soon,
Xo A

Sources:

• Wikipedia