In England, I went to London, Cambridge, Oxford, and Bath. I broke up my time in London by traveling to the other cities, and I really enjoyed my time in the country. While not overly fond of the GBP or British food in general, I still managed to have a great time; the only downside was that I probably spent a bit more than I had hoped and also ate a lot more fish and chips than I should have. I did, however, also discover Nando's, Tesco, the Tube, and Caffe Nero (best chai latte I have ever had, bar none, and I had it at locations in London and Bath so I think it's just consistently friggin' delicious!) and rediscover my fondness for carrot cake whilst there.
I loved London. The primary reason is also one that probably makes other people dislike it: the city is huge with a virtually endless list of things to do and a pretty efficient public transit system that gets you anywhere and everywhere you could possibly want to visit. Although I stayed longer in London than I did any other city in the UK & Ireland, it was the one place I left feeling like I hadn't done everything I wanted to do. That's not to discount that I did a lot.
A must: all the free museums!!! The British Museum, National Gallery, Science Museum, etc. ...the list goes on. I like museums, and I found them to be exceptionally wonderful. My favorite of the ones I went to was the National Gallery, in which I stumbled upon the Arnolfini Portrait. This was also where I discovered the paintings of Canaletto, the 18th century Italian painter. One that I still have to go to because I didn't have enough time is the Natural History Museum, which was right around the corner from the Science Museum. Get to these two early on separate days! I did that with the Science Museum, so I got in without a problem. By the time I left, the queues - so British - were looooong for both.
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| National Gallery |
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| British Museum |
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| Science Museum |
Broke student alert: I also went to church not once but TWICE for the first time in many, many, many, many years so that I could get to see the inside of Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's Cathedral for free. Quite honestly, I found Westminster Abbey to be quite underwhelming. St. Paul's, on the other hand, was simply magnificent, and I actually enjoyed the service too.
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| Westminster Abbey |
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| St. Paul's Cathedral |
As we all know, the rain is quite famous for being a bitch in London. I did not pack an umbrella and refused to buy one that would probably not defend me very well against rain + wind anyways. In hindsight, I was a dumbass. Don't be me.
Of the time I spent in England, I want to say I had just about as many terrible weather days as I had good weather days, which is quite lucky for the middle of winter. Terrible weather days would've been better spent indoors in museums and wonderful days outside wandering. That only kinda worked out, as you can see from the photos above. The day I went to the National Gallery and Westminster Abbey, I got soaked through and genuinely feared that I had caught pneumonia. The next day was all sunshine; I was able to spend the day walking around with two wonderful friends I had just met, and that was one of the fondest memories I have of the city.
I will most certainly come back to London in the future, hopefully when the weather is perfect for a picnic in every park in the city. They're so lovely, and the only ones I managed to explore a bit were St. James's Park and Hyde Park - schade!
Damn, it just hit me smack in the face how much I miss London.
I can't say too much about Cambridge and Oxford because I am the worst planner ever. I only spent about 5 hours in Cambridge while it was properly pissing from the heavens and spent the night in Oxford after arriving late in the evening. All of this alone on Valentine's Day.
Cambridge is quite the cute little college town, and the campus is very pretty and quite historic. I wish I could say I actually got to see a bit of Oxford, but I didn't. I did, however, meet some of the most memorable people I've encountered to date in my hostel, including a young Filipina widow who blew me away with her views on love, confidence, and self respect. I will never forget our conversation that night.
Last but certainly not least, Bath!
Bath is a gorgeous city with an interesting history and quite the destination for the shopping addicted to get their fix. I already knew a bit about it thanks to Charlie from Youtube, and I'm not ashamed to admit this.
I was pretty lucky to have been able to make it out to Bath and back to London without any issues considering much of western England was flooded when I was there. In fact, the day before I left, all the trains to and from Bath were cancelled.
I liked Bath. It was a good place to slow down, relax, take a nice walk up to Alexandra's Park for this incredible view over the city...
Three of the most famous sights: Bath Abbey, the Royal Crescent, and the Roman Baths. Probably not something I'd rush back to see again anytime soon but worth visiting at least once.
After Bath, I went back to London for two more eventful nights - Monday night at the club, Royal Observatory and Greenwich Park, popping into my dad's former short-term 'hood in Camden Town, lunch of my people's food in Chinatown - before taking the Eurostar to Paris, which was an experience in and of itself.
If you couldn't tell, I kinda fell in love with England and can't wait to go back. And no, it wasn't the accent because it lost a lot of luster for me when I was surrounded by it all the time ;)
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