New Years in London

Despite my English heritage and even having a British passport, I had not yet been to the UK.  When we flew from Vienna to London, it was a rough introduction- we arrived at 10pm on Boxing Day to find a public transport strike.  Heathrow airport is quite some distance from London, and the apartment where we were staying at Canary Wharf was another 10km east from the city centre. We had it all figured out before we arrived but what should have been a 45 min journey on public transport ended up taking almost four hours and included two trains, two buses, a 30 minute wait outside in the freezing cold wind and finally a taxi.  It seemed that the staff at the stations were being deliberately misleading with multiple people telling us conflicting information.  It was not a nice start to our time in London but we did finally get to our apartment, with the bonus of having used the famous red double decker buses and black-top taxis.

London was an incredible city.  After having lived a year in the Netherlands where English is not the native language, it was surprisingly a big relief to be able to understand the conversations of people on the train, to easily understand the descriptions of items on groceries, to not have to apologise to the shop assistant for only speaking English when they greet me in Dutch.  It also felt very familiar compared to Sydney, with some parts of London having a similar look and feel to inner parts of Sydney.  That being said, London is on a completely different scale and it really felt like being in one of the hubs of the world.

While we were there it was my birthday and we celebrated it in very British style.  We had a royal start to the day at the changing of the guards ceremony at Buckingham Palace.  We weren't the only people with the same plan though and despite arriving 30 minutes early we were lucky to find a place to stand.  On the way back from the Palace we walked through the park where we saw many squirrels- these might be considered a pest to the locals but this was the first time I had ever seen a squirrel in real life.

Later in the day we went on the London Eye.  It was great to have been on such a famous landmark and the views over the city (particularly Westminster) were nice, but for me the best part of the London Eye is the interest that it adds to the skyline.  Particularly at night, the blue neon lights reflect beautifully on the Thames to make a view which we were lucky enough to see as we walked along the Hungerford pedestrian bridge.  We ended the day on a spooky note as we went on a Jack the Ripper walking tour through the Eastern suburbs of London.  Our entertaining guide mixed historical information about the area with tales of the grusome events that happened on those exact spots in the late 19th century.

The London Tower was a highlight of the time in London.  We easily spent the most part of a day there and there was still areas which we did not have time to see.  The continual queuing, particularly for initial entry and then for entry to the Crown Jewels display, ate up a lot of time, but it was worth it.  The Beefeater-guided tour was particularly entertaining. The Crown Jewels display had recently been refurbished for the queen's diamond jubilee to great effect, including a spine tingling waiting room with videos and paintings which helped convey the history and importance of the emblems we were about to see.

The British Museum was also a highlight where we saw many famous artifacts including the Easter Island statues and the Rosetta Stone, which I remember learning about and even building a model of in primary school.  The Churchill War Rooms was another entertaining display we visited.  Built in a bunker below Whitehall, the headquarters of the agents who orchestrated the Allied efforts in WWII were basically frozen in time at the moment that the war ended.  The National Gallery, whose Roman facade frames one side of Trafalgar Square, was also good for a visit to see the best of British art.

As if this was not enough culture packed into a short time,  we also went to London's famous West End to see the musical Stomp! which was not the traditional kind of musical but a very entertaining physical percussion display.  The also spent time shopping at places like Covent Gardens and Oxford St, and enjoying delicious (but pretty unhealthy) food at some traditional British Pubs, including the Lord Moon of the Mall Wetherspoon's near Trafalgar Square, the Dog & Duck in Soho and the Sherlock Holmes pub which was much better and less touristy than expected.

Our final day in London was New Year's Eve.  Traditionally we stay away from large crowds and prefer hanging out with a small group of friends, but this time we decided to venture into the city to see the fireworks.  Armed with a subway and some strongbow, we went early into the city and found a spot in a viewing area near Waterloo Station with a great view of the London Eye.  The atmosphere was lively and friendly, with people chatting to each other and even taking photos with the police officers.  Unfortunately there were a few people who went too far, which kept both the police and ambulance officers busy.

The fireworks display was incredible.  Unfortunately as soon as it was finished, everyone immediately tried to go to the train station.  For some reason they had closed off the nearby Waterloo station and were channeling everyone to a different nearby station.  People were tired and frustrated and it resulted in a bit of a stampede- there was actually a few moments there where we were actually scared that we would be injured in the cruc of the crowd.  Eventually though we made it home safe and sound, with lots of memories from our final night in London.