London still treats me very well

I have now lived in London for just over three years. There is not a day which passes when I do not love this City a little bit more. There is a mind boggling amount of things you can do for free. There’s an even greater number of things you can do if you pay for it. I have completed a healthy combination of the 2 activities in the past twelve months so I’ll share a few of my experiences.

The London Eye

I went on the London Eye as part of a London sightseeing mission with my eldest sister, brother in law and nephew. The staff are well organised, friendly and, although the queue to collect tickets was long, the waiting really wasn’t all that bad.

We shared a pod with about 18 other people. Everyone was really well mannered and took it in turns to share the best viewing angles with very good grace. It was a gloriously clear day.

It’s easy to forget just how many iconic landmarks London has when you live here. I take it completely for granted that I can cycle around Trafalgar Square any time I like or that the glory of Tower Bridge lit up at night is 40 minutes from my house. Plenty of comedy photos were taken by everyone in the pod and there was a general feeling of awe at the views. I was not an exception to the comedy photo’s or the ‘ooohhh’ing and ‘ahhhh’ing. My favorite comedy picture is of me holding the bridge up. It was ever so heavy.

As enjoyable as the London Eye was, I would have been horribly upset if I’d paid the full £19 adult fare. My advice would be to get a voucher. If you can find a voucher to take the cost below the £10, it’s worth the money. I would begrudge anything more than £10.

Madame Tussauds

The trip I made to Madame Tussauds was as part of a milestone birthday celebration in London weekend bender. I was very hung over and tired. i actually believe that this enhanced my enjoyment of Tussaudes as I had the pleseant ‘this might not actually be real life’ angle on the whole experience.

Firstly, the queues for Tussaudes are horrific. We queued for nearly 2 hours. There is ‘in queue line’ entertainment in the form of a DJ and some quiz type things but, essentially, it’s a two hour long queue. A queue that long is never fun.

The wax works are as impressive as you expect them to be. The content of the rooms is regularly updated so there will always be the latest teen heart throb wax work getting mobbed by the girls (Robert Pattinson in my case). I was too busy stroking Patrick Stewart’s head to take notice of Robert but the Birthday girls were not.

There is a great selection of classics and modern works. You also have you staples e.g The Queen & Prince Phillip, ex-Prime Ministers you want to melt down into candles and musical legends like Jimi Hendrix. I particularly enjoyed the Marvel Heroes 4D experience. I can confirm, Ironman does have buns of steel…

The dungeons at Tussauds are suitably scary too. I basically screamed and ran through as fast as I could so I can’t comment on much about it. I had my eyes closed quite tightly and my fingers in my ears.

It is a staggering £29 to get into Tussauds if you buy your tickets on the door on the day. For me, Tussauds is not worth the £29, on the day, entrance fee. The tickets are cheaper if you pre-book or go during off peak times. I would put my maximum price for Tussaudes at £18-£20. Any more than that, and I would feel robbed. I would also say that Tussauds is a one time visit attraction. There would be no point, for me personally, in going back to see th elatest updated works at all. I will enjoy my comedy photographs for a long time though. If I do go to Tussauds again, will be for my milestone Birthday celebration.

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s has long been iconic and a major tourist attraction. I had never been before because religious buildings tend to give me the heebie jeebies. I can’t explain it, they just make me feel unsettled. However, a friend got some complimentary tickets for St Paul’s so I decided to get over the jitters and go. The ‘Occupy London Stock Exchange’ protest camp was set up quite resolutely outside. Our complimentary tickets were courtesy of the London Stock Exchange. I had to have a little chuckle.

Once inside the Cathedral, you can pick up an audio guide. I would highly reccommend this. It is informative and well presented. It really did thoroughly enhance my visit. It is well thought out and guides you around all of the major aspects of the Cathedral without really imposing itself on you. Some audio guides cause mass and simultaneous thoughts of suicide when they drone on for too long on one subject but the St Paul’s one is very good at keeping the information in digestible amounts.

You’re not really supposed to take photos of the interiors of the Cathedral but, once you get up the stairs and out in the open, you can snap yourself happy. If you are physically able to, you should climb to the top of the Cathedral. The views are simply stunning. You can see the City of London just behind me here.

It’s important to remember that St Paul’s is a fully functional place of worship. There are songs and prayers throughout the day which visitors are welcome to stay and attend. As I am very skittish about these sorts of things, we chose these times to do all of the stair climbing and outside exploration.

There is also a crypt to explore at St Paul’s but we ran out of time before we could fully look around it so I will be going back another day to finish off St Paul’s completely.

I would never have gone to St Paul’s had I not been offered a free ticket. Having been around once now, I can, with my hand on my heart, say I would happily pay the £14.50 entry fee to go round again. It is a truly magnificent building. Not only that, but it is a work of architectural genius which has been lovingly restored. The audio guides are fantastic, the staff could not have been more helpful, the interior decoration is awe inspiring and the views from both levels of the dome are stunning. By far my favourite London attraction this year.

It gets a bit nippy but I still like going outside

Many people retreat into their houses and sit Winter days out by watching Television and/or films indoors. I’m really not one of those people. As yet, I haven’t given in once on cycling to work because of poor weather, I get my water proofs out instead. The weekends are no different. I am lucky to have friends who share the same sentiment as me in so much that a weekend spent indoors is a weekend wasted. My most recent excursions have involved The Southbank and Kensington Gardens.

The main reason for going down to Southbank was to see the Take A View exhibition. Talk about stunning photography. Some of the images on display were simply staggering. I was a little dubious as to whether or not I would be allowed to photograph my favourite images so I erred on the side of caution and didn’t. One of the images that made me simple the most was a shot of a dog mid shake/jump/gallop (it was sort of impossible to tell) in the middle of a wood. It just captured the sheer joy of autumn. The dog in the picture looked how autumn makes me feel, ludicrously happy and utterly over excited about the prospect of HUGE piles of leaves!

I’ll add to it the photography discussion by showing you my own from the day. The first was taken as we walked from Waterloo station to Southbank. We passed the bridge and I couldn’t believe I never noticed just how good the eye and Big Ben look together. It was pretty difficult to get a shot where the sun didn’t completely obliterate the image so I had to settle for only a little obliterated.

We wandered around the exhibition until stomachs were rumbling. I opted for a healthy falafel and hummus pitta bread then walked past this and was utterly disappointed.

Who doesn’t want fish and chips out of a Routemaster?! I know my pitta bread seemed utterly pointless once I’d seen this. I ate it with almost contempt really. I won’t make the same mistake again. What I will say about Southbank is, it’s brilliant and there is always some kind of exhibition or event going on down there but, the cold air coming off the Thames in Winter is TRULY bone chilling. Wrap up warm. Here’s a quick snap of the walkway facing onto the Thames.

So next was a little trip across the City to Kensington Gardens. The first thing that made me like Kensington gardens was the man playing bagpipes with his bicycle propped against a tree. He wasn’t busking, he wasn’t even near a pathway, he’d just gone to play a few tunes in the park and have a practise. I salute you sir!

The second thing I liked about Kensington Gardens was the dog walkers. I am a big dog lover and there were so many different breeds to admire, I was a pretty happy girl. My favourite was probably a Westie who’s legs and tummy were filthy. Sure, he was having fun now but the bath at home wouldn’t be so gladly received I am sure.

The third thing I liked about Kensington Gardens was just how beautiful it is. There’s a lot of little buildings you can admire and also plenty of gnarled trees to investigate. The water fountains were gorgeous to look at but the combination of water and birds makes them popular with parents and their children so don’t expect to go and be able to just sit and enjoy them. There will be a child screaming somewhere and chasing some species of bird around (I know I’m a big grinch of the ‘seen and not heard’ school). There’s also a well deserved statue of Edward Jenner. He’s the clever chap who pioneered what we now call ‘Immunology’. We have a lot to thank the man for. Anyway, I took and overall snap of the fountains. You can just about see the Jenner statue on the left hand side.

One end of Kensington Gardens houses the Albert Memorial. For those of you who aren’t from round these parts, the Albert monument faces onto the Royal Albert Hall. It makes for a fairly imposing spectacle really. First this beautifully maintained piece of architecture and then the equally impressive domed building. You approach the monument from behind and this view, for me, actually provides the best overall ‘WoW’ factor. Here’s how I captured it.

The attention to detail is absolutely mind blowing. It is absolutely worth a trip to see. And of course you get the Royal Albert Hall the other side.

We were trying to read the wording that runs around the top of the building but it proves notoriously difficult when, in your 20’s, you appear to be blind as a bat and can’t make it out. The Royal Albert Hall, and the shows that go on within it, are a spectacles to behold. I cannot recommend highly enough the experience of seeing the monument and hall appear as they do when you approach them from Kensington Gardens. It is a lovely way to spend an afternoon.

If after that you feel so inclined, you can then get on an old London Routemaster bus and take a little trip! I could not believe my eyes when I saw route 9 still being serviced by the historic wonders. I found myself seeing if I could get home from anywhere that route 9 runs. As it happens, it goes to Green Park (Buckingham Palace’s Royal Park) which means I could hop on gleefully. The only other time I have seen a Routemaster in London was WAY back in September last year when I took this hasty photo.

I didn’t take another photo today but, as you sit winging your way round London listening to the engine, you see more than one person whipping their phone/camera out to get a snap of the bus. The conductor was having a great time, waving and posing for the photos when and where he could. At one stop he hung off the pole at the back and smiled (like only a man who truly loves his job can) for a group of tourists. He made my day.

It’s been a long old time in lincstolondon land………

I would just like to assure everyone about what an amazing City London is to live in. Looking back on what I have done this year, I am fully aware that 90% of this would not have occurred if I didn’t live in this amazing, dirty and rude City. I would not swap it for all the clean air and manners in the world. I finally feel like I have found the place for me.

I have been a bad blogger. The worst kind of blogger there is. A blogger who does not blog. I have no excuses. I’ve just been rubbish. I won’t make any promises about how good or bad I will be in the future either. I just don’t know. I’m that kind of flakey person. What I can do though, is write a little something about some things I have done, the music I have discovered and the friends I have made in the past year. I am going to need to split them because the draft of the blog is running at 4500 words. I will do a section on being ‘Out and About’ and a section on Music. That should even it up. Let’s begin with being ‘Out and About’.

The prudent place to start is how I brought in the year of 2010. I trekked off to Southbank to enjoy the amazing fireworks that go on every year. They were a spectacle. I captured a few images of the eye before the fireworks. Unfortunately, I planned very badly and had a flat camera battery so I didn’t get any of the actual fireworks. Here’s one I particularly like of the London Eye beforehand. It is blurred but I think it adds to the overall effect.

Next, I will entertain you with a picture of one of the best busking mascots I have ever seen. It was a Monster who really drummed as the guy played. Genius!!

Moving swiftly along, I’ll put in my little jaunts to places that happened at some point but I can’t really remember when. Firstly, The Royal Observatory at Greenwich Park. There is a little background to this day so I’ll elaborate. I had set off with no real intentions for the day other than to wander around after seeing a Rolf Harris art exhibition near Green Park. I enjoyed Rolf’s art immensely and would have relieved him of a few pieces had I any money whatsoever to spend on art. It was still early by the time I had viewed the exhibition so I decided to saunter around Green Park. It really is a lovely Royal Park. The leaves were still on the trees and the sun was shining so the light on the paths was dappled and beautiful to walk through. As I was so close to Buckingham Palace, I decided to go take some tourist photos. I actually happened upon a parade with lots of guards, Scouts and Girl Guides. I’m still not sure what was going on but I took a photo or two.

After Green Park, I wasin the mood for more green space. I decided to kill two birds with one stone and head to the Royal Observatory in Greenwich Park. I’d never been round the Observatory before and am fond of Greenwich so could not go wrong. I headed off. Words to the wise, just because ‘North Greenwich’ says ‘Greenwich’ in the station name does NOT mean it is anywhere near Greenwich itself. It’s a good 15 minute bus ride form North Greenwich to main Greenwich. The stop you need for the interesting part of Greenwich is the Cutty Sark stop on the DLR. Don’t be fooled. A lot of people are. Anyway, Greenwich Park is my second favourite in London (my top being Victoria Park) so I enjoyed sitting beneath a tree and watching the people go by for quite some time before deciding it was time to haul myself up the hill to the Observatory. The hill is not for the faint hearted. The view form the top is worth it.

The Royal Observatory marks the place that Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) is calculated from. It’s an awesomely cool thing to behold. It is the single point on all the planet from which time is calculated. Stunning! The buildings are also lovely to look at and around.

All the exhibits are free except for the Planetarium. I didn’t go in but I did take a picture from the outside.

I really do enjoy just pottering around the City by myself. You get to just stand and look at things without worrying about anyone else being bored or needing more entertainment than you. Most people would have been agitated with my 5 hours spent in Greenwich Park just looking and walking. Sometimes solitude is everything you need in life.

I’ll chip in with a generic tourist photo of Tower Bridge. I cannot remember where I was, who I was with or when I took it, but it’s a nice shot.

Next, gosh what did I do next…….. Oh! We went ice skating with my nephew at Alexandra Palace. You weren’t allowed to take photographs at the ice rink so I do not have images to share with you other than the view from just outside the entrance to Alexandra Palace.

I am much better at Ice skating than I remembered being! I will probably try to get to another rink in London over the remainder of the festive season. It was good fun. We all had an enjoyable time. With a little encouragement, my nephew even managed a little skate all by himself.

Let’s move out of London for a little while. My job this year has taken me to Budapest. It was pouring with rain on the one night I spent in Budapest but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see a little of the City. It is vastly different to London in every way. The streets are open and wide with few shops present on them. The air smells vaguely clear and the people are polite.

The hotel I was staying in was close to ‘Heroes Square’ so I took a walk around. I got some great shots of the square.

The flash on my camera caused a gorgeous effect on the rain drops in the photographs. I captured as much of the square as I could. It looked truly magnificent in the dark.

As it was pouring with rain and I don’t speak any Hungarian, I thought it was wise to simply eat and go to bed. I didn’t fancy getting lost in Budapest at 10 in the evening.

Returning to London again, let’s do some more museums! I have been back to the Science Museum since my last post and wanted to share just a few things which made me smile. One is a dress made of carpet

Another is a dress made of cans

Then there’s the chandelier made from biro pens

The final is my dearest friend, Maggie with whom I did all the fun learning.

The Science Museum is fun for everyone. Maggie and I paid a small fee of £5 each and had a go in a brilliant 360° flight simulator. I have to say, I was a bit of an adventurous pilot and chased the enemy bogies around whilst barrel rolling and loop the lopping. Maggie opted for a much gentler approach. When we were being shot at by an enemy from behind, I suggested she do a loop the loop whilst rolling and we’d come out facing the opposite direction and the right way up. Maggie however decided this was flamboyant and instead declared “I’m banking gently to the right”. It’s a good job she’ll never be in a dog fight isn’t it?!

That moves me nicely along to the other museum I have visited, the Imperial War Museum. I’ve actually been twice this year. I had not been to the Imperial War Museum since I was in the very early years of Secondary School so it felt like I was going for the first time. What a museum it is! It has become my favourite to visit in London. I do find myself saturated by the time I have spent four hours or so wandering around it. I need to do at least two more visits in order to take in the exhibits properly. For now I’ll share my two favourite pictures. The first is of my Nephew getting far too excited about the tanks

The second is of my house mate looking forlornly at toys he could not play with.

As the hub of England, London really does have some of the best parades and events to attend. This year, I attended Gay Pride and the Notting Hill Carnival. Of the two my favourite, by far, was Gay Pride. The only feeling amongst the thousands of people there was a mutual love of shiny things and each other. The floats were colourful, happy to a fault and friendly. I was particularly fond of the Drag’Queen’ on the top deck of a London bus.

The Notting Hill Carnival however, scared me. Straight out terror. I have never felt so intimidated and petrified by other people in my life. I don’t scare easy but the sheer volume of people shouting, yelling and getting angry with each other for the unavoidable pushing/shoving that happens in a crowd was awful. The crowd felt ready to bubble over into a fight at any point which made me very fearful. I will not be going again. I did take a photo of a steel band float though.

I have been fortunate enough to make a great set of new friends this year and I spent fireworks night with them in Victoria Park. The fireworks display was brilliant and themed on the World Wars. There were plenty of war tunes floating out of the speakers that I knew. I did take some good pictures but unfortunately, they were deleted in an editing accident. My friends did try to reenact the display but with varying level of success. This is probably my favourite shot of the reenactment. It’s nothing if not amusing.

I got my first tattoo this year. I have wanted this tattoo, in this location and in these colours since I was 16 years old. I think 9 years waiting is plenty. I know it’s not sensible but I did it anyway.

Being my first ‘ink’, I took moral support and he was kind enough to take a few photos of the work in progress. Here’s my favourite shot.

This year has been one for firsts. I had never really dressed up and gone all out for Halloween before but this year, I decided, what the hell! I modified some fairy wings so that had little light up ghosts stitched around them and went crazy with the make up. Dead fairy was my theme. How do you think it turned out?

Finally, I will recount my trip on the London Eye. My sister was kind enough to use some vouchers for us all to ride the Eye on their last visit. I will admit, had we paid the full fee per person, well, I wouldn’t have paid the full fee per person. it’s hideously expensive and I don’t think the view is worth the money but, if you can get vouchers that dip you under the £15 ish mark, I think it’s acceptable for 1 trip. Here’s a shot of the Houses of Parliament I took. I wondered if I could really squash it with my thumb……I tried but to no avail.

That about concludes the mischief I have been getting up to in the City these past 12 months. The next entry I will post is going to be dedicated entirely to the music I have heard this year. I’ll post it as soon as I can.