London Calling

This past weekend, I grabbed a flight to London to stay with Margo and a group of other wonderful Hampshire students at Goldsmiths University in New Cross. I knew it would be easy to get around in Europe, but I always assumed that it would inevitably involve taking the train. This would have been fine with me - train rides tend to be quite long here, but the scenery between destinations is usually really beautiful. Contrary to my initial beliefs about the prices and effectiveness of European train travel, I learned soon after arriving in Berlin that it's actually cheaper (and so much faster) to fly from one country to another here. So, when I wanted to go to London, I booked a direct, round-trip Easyjet flight from Berlin to London for much less than it would have cost me otherwise (even though flying would always make the most sense for London, with it being on an island and all).

I was so excited to go - I'd never been to London before - and when I was finally on my flight and about to take off in Berlin, I started to make a list of the things that I wanted to see (with photographic evidence) and do within my four days there. This list included:

- Big Ben
- Westminster Abbey
- The London Eye
- Buckingham Palace
- Getting afternoon tea
- Abbey Road/Abbey Road Studios
- Getting (Gluten Free) Fish & Chips
- Taking a photo in a classic London telephone booth
- Taking a photo with one of the Trafalgar Square lions
- Doing things unexpectedly that end up being fun

For the first time in my life, I did everything on a "To Do" list - I know, I was shocked too!

Before I talk about my trip in its entirety, I'll give any current or future European travelers a handy tip:

* If you're in Europe and want to travel quickly and efficiently from city to city, use an airline called Easyjet (also Ryanair). It's sort of the Bolt Bus or Megabus equivalent of European flying. I know that some people have terrible experiences with Bolt Bus, Megabus, and Easyjet (and I have too), but for me (most of the time) these little travel glitches are okay if I'm saving a TON of money. The Easyjet I took from Berlin to London left from Berlin Schönefeld Airport and landed at London Gatwick Airport - Easyjet tends to only service smaller airports, but I found this to be kind of nice; it's a quick trip through security because there aren't too many people, and even though you have to find public transportation between airports and city centers, it still ends up costing less than, say, it would have for me to fly from Berlin Tegel Airport to London Heathrow Airport.

Now, my trip:

I got into London on Thursday night and found Margo at the London Bridge underground station. We walked around that area of London for a short time, and finally decided to try an Indian restaurant that we happened upon for dinner. It was so strange for me to have everything be in English again, as I'm already so used to everything being in German, but also kind of nice because it was British English, not American English (I kept trying to remember that I was the one with the accent, not everyone else!). The food was good, and the waiter (an older Indian man) didn't speak great English but I thought he was really cute. I was in such a good mood that I was trying to make friends with him, telling him that I'd never been to London before and that this was my first meal ever in the UK! To me that was exciting, but I don't know if he really cared. It ended up being really goofy and funny.

Margo over Indian food my first night in London

After dinner, we headed (on the tube!) back to Goldsmiths in New Cross where we went back to the Hampshire apartment (for lack of a better term) and met up with all of the other Hampsters there. Most of them I didn't know, but I really enjoyed hanging with them for a weekend. I think they are definitely people who I would not have gotten to meet at Hampshire, so it was cool getting to meet them in London! The group of us just hung out in that area for the night and then went to bed. I'll admit, I was exhausted even though my trip was only a few hours.

New Cross Gate - the overground stop for Goldsmiths University

On Friday, Margo took me to see a bunch of the things that were on my list. She'd already seen them, but was nice enough to show me around and humor me anyway. She's the best. We came up out of the tube and Big Ben was right in front of us, as well as Westminster Abbey. It was so cool, but also strange, to see it in real life. We turned around and noticed that the London Eye was directly behind us as well. It was a freezing, grey day, and we've heard that it's expensive to get tickets to go on it, so we only took pictures from the bridge we were on. Maybe one day, though, I'll go back and get to ride on the London Eye!

Me in front of the London Eye

Margo & I in front of Big Ben (with so much water in my arms!)

Big Ben/Westminster Abbey

Me in front of Westminster Abbey

So by now, my list was looking something like this:


- Big Ben
- Westminster Abbey
- The London Eye
- Buckingham Palace
- Getting afternoon tea
- Abbey Road/Abbey Road Studios
- Getting (Gluten Free) Fish & Chips
- Taking a photo in a classic London telephone booth
- Taking a photo with one of the Trafalgar Square lions
- Doing things unexpectedly that end up being fun

But there was still so much more to do!

Our friend Micah (who is also from Hampshire) has been studying in the UK at Oxford University for the entire year this year and we both really wanted to see him while I was in London. We worked it out so that we could meet for dinner on Friday night - the perfect opportunity for me to get gluten free fish and chips that I'd found at a place online! Knowing that that was coming up for dinner, we still had a few hours to kill before heading to Leicester Square, so we went to Trafalgar Square to get my lion picture.

The lions are really high off of the ground, and even though I REALLY wanted to get a photo sitting up in front of them, I just couldn't climb up that high. I tried, and was about to sadly settle for just standing in front, when two German tourists came over and offered to lift me up. They did, and I got an awesome picture up there! Unfortunately, I had a hard time getting back down (especially with my fear of highs) so they came back and helped me down. They were awesome and totally made me so happy.

Me and a Trafalgar Square lion

We then found ourselves directly in front of London's National Gallery and decided to slip past a living statue and street magician to go inside and check it out. The museum offered free admission and neither of us really knew what to expect, but there was some great stuff in there. Lots of Van Gogh, Monet, Seurat - pretty cool!

After the museum, we met up with Micah for dinner and I got my gluten free fish and chips which were actually AMAZING. So good. They even came with mushy peas (mmm...?). It was so nice getting to see Micah and catch up with him too. After dinner, we went to the M&M store that was right around the corner and got some M&M's.

Margo and Micah at dinner

My gluten free fish, chips, and mushy peas

Me with my fish and chips

The M&M store

M&M Abbey Road

 I also did get my photo in a telephone booth that day, though I don't remember exactly when.

Me in a telephone booth

 So now my list was looking like this and I was feeling really great about it. Only one day in London, and I was more than half way finished with everything that I wanted to do there!


- Big Ben
- Westminster Abbey
- The London Eye
- Buckingham Palace
- Getting afternoon tea
- Abbey Road/Abbey Road Studios
- Getting (Gluten Free) Fish & Chips
- Taking a photo in a classic London telephone booth
- Taking a photo with one of the Trafalgar Square lions
- Doing things unexpectedly that end up being fun


That night, we went back to New Cross and ended up just hanging there again. It was nice to relax in a warm place after being outside in the cold all day. I've heard that London is very grey and chilly, and that definitely turned out to be true!

On Satuday, Margo and I went to brunch at an awesome little cafe in New Cross called Chinwag. I got "Jackets and Beans" (baked potatoes and beans) that were fantastic. The whole place was so cool - definitely one of my favorite cafes/places to eat that I've ever been to.

Margo over brunch at Chinwag

After brunch we went to Abbey Road to get my photo while crossing it at the infamous Beatles crosswalk. Unfortunately, the studio isn't open for visitors (probably because they're recording, I'm assuming) but we did also get some photos in front of that. We also signed the wall in front of the studio where everyone had written their favorite Beatles lyrics, etc.

Abbey Road Studios

My Abbey Road crosswalk photo

Margo signing the wall at Abbey Road Studios

Some graffiti there that I thought was funny.
I bet Yoko actually wrote that.

My mark at Abbey Road Studios

Abbey Road sign

Me in front of Abbey Road Studios

A cute cafe that we passed, but that was unfortunately closed

Me and the Abbey Road sign

On Sunday, we woke up a bit late but decided that we would go to Buckingham Palace in the afternoon. None of the other Hampshire students had been there yet, but the only people who wanted to go with me were Margo and Katie - everyone else was too tired to venture out into the cold. I'm glad we went though, even though we thought we were going to be able to go inside but weren't allowed to even get through the front gate. We happened to visit the palace during the one month period all year that they don't offer tours. Figures.

We got our photos nonetheless, and then headed to the royal gift shop to try on some goofy beefeater hats.

Margo and Katie in front of the gate in Hyde Park

Hyde Park

Katie and Margo in front of Buckingham Palace

A royal guard!

Buckingham Palace front gate 

Me in front of Buckingham Palace

Buckingham Palace front gate 

Margo, the royal guard

 Kelley, the royal guard

After being out in the cold at the palace, we went to get some informal afternoon tea down the street. It was good, I counted it as the afternoon tea I'd been hoping for on my list, which left me with only Abbey Road and "unexpected fun things" left to do!

Katie had heard about a clothing swap going on more towards New Cross that night, so we decided to go. We knew nothing about it except an address that was on a flyer. Though finding it was difficult, we eventually happened upon an adorable little building that looked very DIY (for lack of a better term). We were a bit nervous, but decided to go inside and see what it was like. As we walked up, we saw a group of children playing together outside in the dark with LED hula hoops - this place was going to be good. When we opened the door, we were faced with a burst of light and a crowded room full of British hippie types who immediately greeted us and told us that the three of us counted as a family so we could pay to get together as one family. We swapped some clothes, got some cider, and then the kids (in their adorable British accents) started to tell us that we had to back up because they were going to clear the room to do something. Not completely understanding what, we stood back a bit and soon realized that everyone was setting up for a musical performance. A man in crazy looking ski goggles named Lewis Floyd Henry (I think?) played Lenny Kravitz-ish set on a bunch of homemade electronics and his guitar, incorporating the kids into songs where he could. It was adorable and we had so much fun. It was a great last night in London. Sometimes, the best things that you do while traveling are the things that you just stumble upon. In this case, this totally rang true.

The mystery community center

It's blurry, but this is the best photo I got of Lewis Floyd Henry's set

I headed back to Berlin early in the morning and have been back since. I've been so busy here that it's been hard to keep track of what I've been up to, but I'm still going to try to blog as often as I can. In a few weeks, Sprachschule will end and I'll begin going to classes at the University. I'm not sure which classes or which university yet, but I don't need to figure that out for another few weeks. I hope you're all doing well - thanks for reading!

Große Liebe.