London

Thursday, October 21, 2010

We caught a train over to London from Paris, 2.5 hours on Eurostar. And spent a day and a half exploring London before catching a flight to Croatia. We stayed  at a small hotel just blocks away from enormous Hyde Park. London was quite different but also very similar to the US at the same time. Just walking down the streets, it was a little surprising to see businesses such as Blockbuster, Subway and even a LA Fitness. We had a few close calls crossing the crosswalk by not expecting cars coming from the opposite direction, and it seems like every other car on the street is a Mini Cooper.

On our one full day in London we decided to do a walking tour with Sandeman's New London Tour. The tour was 4 hours long and free. The way it works is you just have to tip the guide. And we had an awesome guide, Ed, who made everything even more interesting and pleasant to listen to with his English accent. Check them out, they have free tours in a lot of big European cities (Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, etc). 

We had a chance to see the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, which happens every other day. There wasn't much to see, except for guys all dressed up playing instruments, riding horses and walking around in sync. But it was packed with tourists and hard to even see what was going on (see picture below). Ed, our tour guide, shared a few stories of people breaking into the Palace, most recently at Prince William's 21st birthday party.

Julia and I spent some time doing some exploring on our own, photographed some London fashion and even managed to see the Les Miserables musical in the evening. Which happened to be celebrating it's 25th year anniversary as the longest running musical ever. The entire theatre sang "happy birthday". Overall, London is a great city and I wish we had more time to spend there... and more money, everything is very expensive, even when the pound is not doing so well.

-Yuriy





17 comments :

  1. very tight. keep up the awesome work but don't forget to have fun.

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  2. this is all unbelievable. there's madeline and her classmates crossing the street.

    i am in aw.

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  3. Zhanna, I had the same reaction! I loved Madeline as a kid. They were all walking in pairs and holding hands too. I can't see this happening in America.

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  4. Zhanna and Julia! I had the same reaction lol- i was like aw, it's Madeline in real life! :) I loved her.

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  5. Wow--you managed to see and photograph a lot in a little over a day!

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  6. Beautiful photographs of London! Looking forward to reading and seeing more about your travels.

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  7. (((sigh)))London.
    THe Beautiful.
    Did ya see any bridges?
    Looks crowded. I like it.


    Pearl

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  8. Ohh London!!! i loved it.
    I stopped there for a couple of days coming back from Israel going home to Costa RIca.
    I really enjoy my time there, walked everywhere taking picture... is a really cool place!!!

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  9. beautiful pictures! How much did you have to pay for the tickets to London?

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  10. Wow, you manage to make London seem very European - you don't see that side of it when you practically live there. It's nice to see. I have actually had a drink in the Cambridge pub you photographed. I haven't visited 'The Spice of Life' but I walk past it frequently on the way to the cinema. Did you manage to have a drink in a genuine watering hole? America can't do pubs, as well they try!

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  11. Jenny- We thought London was very European! But maybe more so in the photos because we mostly included images of historic buildings. We were only here 2 days so we didn't check out a pub, but we had yummy Italian and Asian who knows where.

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  12. Nathalie- I'm sorry we forgot to reply to your comment way back in January! We rode the EuroStar from Paris to London and paid $75 each for tickets.

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  13. Thanks for the awesome pictures of England! Ours weren't nearly as good (duhhh) when we went! Can I ask you what kind of cameras you and your hubby use for your photography? Cheers!

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  14. Anonymous - Thank you! We use a Nikon D700. You can read more about this on our FAQ page (top menu bar).

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  15. I just discovered your blog a few weeks ago as I've been preparing for a trip to Uganda. Love it so much!! I have been going through *all* of your posts because the imagery is so stunning {I'm a photographer as well + adore traveling!} and could not wait until I got to London's posts! On my way home from Uganda, I'll be spending three days in London! So excited!! Thanks for sharing your travels!

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  16. Love seeing other peoples interpretations of London as I think its such a diverse place to take photos. Would love you guys to have a look at my photography and see what you think :)

    warsawsworld.blogspot.co.uk

    Sarah

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  17. Right ! I wish I could be there…. In the meantime, I am just pinning the pictures …

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