London II

London II: The Sequel

It was great getting to go back to what has become my favorite city I know: London. Though I only spent a weekend there this time, it seemed like much longer because I managed to cram so much into just a weekend. If you ever get a chance to go to London -- go! Don't even think about it. Just go.

My trip started with a very early flight out of Hahn airport. Because of the time difference, we arrived in England at roughly the same time we left Germany. After about an hour long bus ride into downtown London, my fun began.

Because I didn't think I'd be able to check into my hotel, I hopped on the Underground and headed to Westminster. As soon as you leave that station, you're right smack in front of Big Ben and Parliament. You're even right smack in front of protestors, if that's where you want to be.

After tooling around that area taking pictures, I got my directions straight, and I decided to make for the Cabinet War Rooms, a place I'd wanted to visit on the first trip, but just couldn't squeeze into the schedule. Well worth the wait. Great way to spend an hour if you have it in London, and learn about the history of the city during World War II.

Afterwards I did more walking around, including visiting Leicester Square. Got to revisit Shakespeare there, and even noticed a certain someone's handprints.

The only real snag in the whole trip was the hotel I'd booked. When I got there Saturday afternoon to check-in, they informed me that the plumbing in some of the rooms was busted and that they were sending me off to another hotel ten minutes away. Great. So I ended up at The Terstan Hotel, which based upon my experience this past weekend, I really can't recommened it to anyone. It was just a place to sleep and that's it.

Saturday night I went to see Chicago. It really wasn't bad, though it lacked a spark to it. Some parts looked as though the performers were just going through the motions. And though anyone who knows me must love to hear this, the Backstreet Boy, Kevin Richardson, was one of the best on the stage. He was a lot better than I thought he'd be, even though he has a tiny stage resume. After the show I took a long walk down by the river. Lots of couples out enjoying the romantic Saturday evening.

Sunday was great. I spent the morning at the Imperial War Museum. If you have even a passing interest in the history of war during the 20th century, this is the place to go. They have every kind of exhibit you can think of, including a walk through a recreation of a WWI trench to a numbing exhibition on the Holocaust.

Sunday afternoon I went back to Trafalgar Square to take a look around The National Gallery. Great museum to visit if you're looking for pre-1900 European art. I didn't come anywhere close to seeing everything.

After the museum, I quickly headed back over Westminster Bridge to meet Radley and his wife, Andrea, at the Eye. The views of London at dusk were stunning. Quite possibly the best time to take a ride on that thing. Once the ride was over, we trekked over to a pub for a quick bite before Radley reminded me that I needed to go see David Blaine over by Tower Bridge. I'd completely forgotten about it, but with nothing else to do that night, we hauled ourselves over there to see how David was doing. If you don't know what he's up to, CNN recently had an article about it.

And that was pretty much it. Only other highlight after that was having a window seat on the flight back to Germany. At one point I could see both England and France out the window separated by the English Channel. I couldn't get both in the same shot, but they were relatively close together. You can even see boats way down there zipping back and forth between the two countries.

So that's that. You can see even more pictures in the gallery I made for the trip. Just click here and read the captions as you go through the journey. Next stop on my European tour: TBA

Last update: 4/26/2005; 10:15:34 PM.