My Weekend in London

View from the top of St.Paul's Cathedral

About two months ago now I finally visited London - a place I've been wanted to go for a a very long time. I spent three fulls days there with my friend Patrizia. As a history lover I've always wanted to explore the different historic sites and learn more about the people who lived and died there.

On my first day there we went to the Tower of London and Sky Garden. The Tower of London was a great experience, showcasing exactly what this fortress could do. We also got to see the Crown Jewels there but I have no pictures of them since photographs are strictly prohibited. We finished off the day with some cocktails at Sky Garden which is a little known secret of London. For FREE you are able to go to the top of the skyscraper and get a view of the city that was only rivalled by the view from the top of St.Paul's Cathedral. Definitely worth doing - just book your tickets well before you go.

The second day we did a hop-on hop-off bus tour. We visited Buckingham Palace, walked by Westminster Abbey, which was unfortunately was closed due to some events, but that lead us to decide to go into St.Paul's Cathedral. To me this cathedral was probably one of the best things we saw. The craftsmanship and design that went into this building is breathtaking. But the most impressive part of all was that visitors had the ability to climb up (over 500 stairs) to get to the very top of the dome, where you can walk around outside and get an amazing full view of London. I highly recommend taking the time to check out St.Paul's if you're ever in London.

On our final day there we saw the Changing of the Guard, took a boat tour along the Thames, stopped by Trafalgar Square and visited Kensington Palace, the birthplace of Queen Victoria and current home of many young royals. An interesting thing I learned there was when Kensington Palace was first purchased by the Crown it was by King William III of the Netherlands and his English wife Queen Mary II, they remodelled the country home to mimic the simplistic styles of the Dutch, which remains what can be seen in the Queens Apartments. The Kings Apartments have been remodelled to be more grand many time since the original remodel at the end of the 17th century. No trip to London would be complete without a stop at Platform 9&3/4 which is naturally where we ended the day.