My train arrived at London Victoria Station, the journey took about 80 minutes and cost £15.30.
(There is a high speed train from Ashford to London available. It costs more but the journey takes only about half an hour. These trains use the rails which were originally constructed for the London-Paris route. I could have travelled with it, but I thought my brain would not have been able to take in more than about 8 hours of London, so I decided to use the regular train.)
London has more than 10 rail stations, almost all of them extremely big. The picture below shows the electronic screens that show you when and where the next trains go. There are more than 10 platforms at the station. The station seems to be bigger than Liszt Ferenc Repülőtér in Budapest:
I began my tour with at the Westminster Abbey, which was the closest sights to the station. Unfortunately, it is not allowed to take photos inside the church, so here are some from the outside:
The ticket costs £17 (student concession), audieo guide included. To be honest I was a bit disappointed. I rememberedfrom five years ago that I liked the Canterbury Cathedral better, and this was confirmed again. Westminster Abbey is a big, dark and crowded place. Until some point the tomb of kings and queens and famous people (Newton, Darwin, Wordsworth...) are very interesting but after the hundreds of them they just look like the same.
After the Abbey, my walking tour began. First just wondering around in the neighbourhood, admiring the Houses of Parliament (visiting the inside comes later), the Big Ben and the London Eye (having a tour on it comes later).
Honestly, I remembered the Big Ben being bigger than this, but in reality it's not huge:
And the London Eye from the Westminster Bridge:
From there I went on foot to the Downing Street. Along the way I took a look at the two memorials of the World War II, again part of the compulsory London:
And then I arrived to the famous Downing Street 10, the house where the all-time Prime Minister lives. And as usual you cannot see anything except the place where you think the door is:
Then I went through the Horse Guard Parade:
(A part of the Trooping the Colour takes place here)
And, of course, took pictures with the guards:
Of course, I tried to take a picture with Mr Nelson who is way to high to take a good photo of him and you on the same picture:
The National Gallery is located on the edge of Trafalgar Square. I always wanted to visit it, but my tourist guides so far always showed me the building and said we did not go there. So now I did!
The entry is free into the Gallery. There is map of the different rooms available at the front which costs £1. It is very practical because the most famous paintings that you might have seen are in there with the numbers of the rooms where they can be found. Of course, they are in the farthest points of the museum so you have to wander around practically the whole building, but it still is a great help. Being a student at the Faculty of Humanities I have come across most of the highlighted paintings, so it was an amazing experience for me to actually see them. Here are some of them:
If you have ever learnt some arts you should be able to indentify them.
From the National Gallery I wanted to go to the Picadilly Circus but a big demonstration against the government took place between Trafalgar Square and Picadilly Circus, so I decided not to join them.
So I changed my plans and went to the St James Park, which leads the way to Buckingham Palace. I would describe it as the Margaret Island of London:
And some beautiful flower gardens:
There is a stunning point in the park, which is a bridge above the pond. If you go there and take a look left you see the London Eye:
If you take a look left, there is the Buckingham Palace:
You can walk to the Palace through the Park but I chose to walk down the famous street leading to the Palace, where the Royals travel in their coaches (later in detail) during for example the Trooping the Colour:
Then comes the Queen Victoria Memorial in view:
And then, finally the Buckinghem Palace itself:
My memories got confirmed: The Palace itself is huge and the famous balcony is really small compared to pictures we see about it:
(In August, the palace is opened to the public, I'm going to visit it then although it costs a smaller fortune...)
After admiring the Palace I was hesitating whether it would worth visiting the so called Royal Mews. To be honest I didn't really know what to expect but it turned out to be one of the best visits in London that day. It cost £9.20 (student concession)
Wikipedia gives the perfect definition for the word mews:
"Mews is a primarily British term formerly describing a row of stables, usually with carriage houses below and living quarters above "
The speciality of the Royal Mews is that it is THE Royal Mews. The horses of Queen Elizabeth II live and are trained here:
And the coaches the Royals use on special occasions are "parked" here, and open for the visitors to see them:
The one the current Queen uses:
The one in which Princess Diana arrived to Westminster Abbey on her wedding day:
One of the many modern cars (high enough inside for the queen to stand up in the inside (!) and step out easily:
And finially the Coronation Coach. It is extremely huge, very old, very heavy (8 horses have to pull it and even then it goes only on walking speed), said to be very uncomfortable. Actually it is so big that when it is used (coronations and jubilees) the building where it is has to be pulled down (!) because it is too be big to be able to get out through the doors:
And why not trying out one? (Even if it's only a spare one...)
And the financial report to the end:
The whole trip (bus ticket to the station and back included) cost £44.90 which is about 15,700 Ft.
London is not finished by me, though...
