Early Valentine’s Day morning, I was rudely awakened by the piercingly loud ringing of my iPhone alarm. On any other morning, I would angrily turn it off and roll over in hopes to enjoy another 5-10 minutes of sleep… or just the serenity of laying with my eyes closed. However this morning was different. I shot up from my bed like a puppet out of a jack-in-the box and tried to quietly finish packing my already overpacked carry-on suitcase. Today was the day- the day that I set foot for the first time since arriving out of Denmark and traveled to London! I had always dreamt of visiting London although frankly, I did not know much about it. London to me was Big Ben, The Beatles, telephone booths and English Royalty. I soon came to find out that it is so much more than that.
Friday – February 14th, 2020
I traveled to London with my roommate, Maggie, and we arrived at Stansted airport in London around 9 AM. To our luck, it wasn’t raining! We then hopped on a bus which consisted of an unnecessarily long 2 and a half hour ride. I recommend not buying a bus ticket if flying into Stansted. I wish we’d splurged on an Uber or took the time to figure out the tube.
After our bus ride, we took a short walk to Buckingham Palace- bags in hand with an overwhelming excitement to discover the unknown. To be honest, Buckingham Palace was not what I expected. I don’t really know what I was expecting though. It was in such a central location and I thought it would maybe be set back more? The gates surrounding the castle were gorgeous though and the seriousness of the guards made me giggle. We took a few seemingly mandatory tourist photos then headed to the London Eye!
The London Eye was pretty pricey, but how could you not do the London Eye? If you are visiting and looking to do the London Eye, purchase tickets from the hop on, hop off bus representatives! We purchased from them and it was a few pounds cheaper than booking through the London Eye ticket merchant. The London Eye was all you’d expect it to be, a ferris wheel. I think it was a cool experience being it was my first time in London, but if I were to revisit, I probably wouldn’t pay for it again. Because it was Valentine’s Day, Maggie and I were the only people in our London Eye “pod” that weren’t a couple- that was pretty funny.
After the London Eye, we walked to Westminister Abbey (Prince William and Kate Middleton got married here) which was quite pretty from the outside. We had just missed the final tour time slot so unfortunately we couldn’t go inside. Also Big Ben and the parliament building are currently all covered in scaffolding (very disappointing). From what we could see of the monuments, both were quite exquisite.
By this time, we were pretty tired so we headed to our lovely Air bnb and ordered Uber Eats for dinner. As much as I love Copenhagen, I have missed the convenience of Uber and Uber Eats. Doing without it has saved me a lot of money though! We then got some shut eye before tomorrow’s jam-packed day.
Saturday – February 15th, 2020
On Saturday we agreed to wake up at 7 AM in order to do as much sight seeing as we could. Maggie had planned an itinerary for our whole trip (thank you) and we had quite a busy Saturday.
We started our day by traveling to the Tower Bridge. Before arriving, I had no idea what this bridge was- or why Maggie wanted to see a bridge so bad. To my surprise, the bridge was quite beautiful. I believe you could do some kind of tour inside the bridge, but we didn’t get to that. The tower bridge was different than any bridge I had seen before and was definitely worth seeing.
After the Tower Bridge we took a short walk to the Tower of London. This was definitely my favorite part of our trip. This tower is over 1000 years old so as you can guess- it has lots of history. Here we were able to learn about the history of the castle through different exhibitions. They used to import different wild animals (like lions, monkeys, ostriches) to the castle for the king’s entertainment as well as to entertain the public. The Tower of London also is home to the crowned jewels which were ridiculously beautiful. While here, I watched one of the guard’s hats fly off in the wind- that was pretty funny. He didn’t even flinch. I do not really have pictures from the Tower of London- I wanted to soak it all in. You’re also not allowed to take pictures of the crowned jewels (but you can google them)! Honestly, pictures wouldn’t do them justice.
To conclude our day in the center city, we went to Saint Paul’s Cathedral which was absolutely breathtaking. Because of an incoming storm, the galleries were closed, but I still got some pretty awesome pictures.
After Saint Paul’s Cathedral, we headed to the Covent Gardens where we had a late lunch at a tea restaurant. Here I had the best chicken of my life. The tea was also very good. This was a bit pricey- but cheaper compared to most places. And how could you visit London and NOT have tea? If you are looking for a tea place in London, check out Mariage Frères.
Desert at Mariage Freres 
Lunch & tea at Mariage Freres
That night Maggie and I met up with one of her friends from her home university for dinner. We then decided to hit the streets of London to check out their nightlife. Maggie had been talking about a certain ball pit ball called Ballie Ballerson. This concept was very interesting and the cocktails were very unique, but I would definitely not return here. It was a bit chaotic.
We then took a chance at a small bar around the corner called The Book Club. We “cued” for 45 minutes here, but it was worth it. This bar had a much better environment! The more formal language in London is very pretty. It was nice to hear people say that they “fancied” someone instead of bluntly saying they thought someone was hot.
Sunday – February 16th, 2020
Sunday was our last day in London and our time was very limited. We had a 12 PM flight so we didn’t really have time to sight see. We found out that Abbey Road was on the way to the airport and decided we had to stop. Abbey Road is where the Beatles shot their iconic album cover. When we pulled up to the location we had a hard time finding the spot. We then discovered people running in and out of traffic to try to recreate the pictures- this was funny. Although it was cool to think that I stood in the same spot that music legends had many years ago, there was not much to see here.
Around 3PM Copenhagen time, we landed and that concluded my first weekend trip. London was so much more than I thought it’d be and I would love to return one day to actually see Big Ben and to see spots that I failed to recognize. I cannot wait to explore more cities in the upcoming weeks! As nice as it was to be in London, it was so refreshing to be back in a place that has now become familiar and to take a much needed nap. Next weekend I will be traveling to Estonia and Finland with my core course, I cannot wait to write about that!
As always, thank you so much for reading! I am so incredibly grateful for this opportunity and it still does not feel real. How has it already been a month? Hopefully time will slow down soon.
Xoxo,
Julia
Coping in Copenhagen 
Great post 😁
LikeLiked by 1 person