After nearly three months back home in Australia visiting my family and friends I was itching to get back exploring the world! At the start of February I landed in London at 5:30pm on a Tuesday, 31 hours after taking off from sunny Sydney. It was bitterly cold and raining as I walked from the Tube station to my friends’ house in West London, and I really questioned my decision to leave summer at home for this. However, the next few weeks proved to be really quite mild in terms of an English winter, and I’ve had many, many sunny days. I’m incredibly lucky to have some friends in London with a spare room, so I was able to enjoy my time much more relaxed than if I was hostelling like I normally do.
As this is my third time to the UK, I was pleasantly surprised to learn you can now use your contactless credit/debit card on public transport instead of having to get an Oyster card, which made getting around super easy (and cheap – daily and weekly caps are applied too!). Google Maps makes things super easy, and the CityMapper app is even better, even telling you the fare for your chosen route. Within the first couple of days I’d done a walking tour of Westminster, had a pint at the Red Lion, visited Tate Modern and the British Museum.
I headed to Hampton Court Palace for a day, even though I was staying at Chiswick it still took nearly an hour via two buses to get there but it was definitely worth it – especially as low season ticket prices were only £11.50 until February 15th (I think), much more affordable than the regular £25! The architecture really is stunning, and parts of The Favourite (2019) was filmed here.
Another great thing about this time of the year was the orchid festival at Kew Gardens! The walk from my friends’ place was about half an hour, but on the way home I took the Overground, the station is a five minute walk from the gardens. One day was not enough to truly explore the entire gardens, but I managed to see the Palm House, the Temperate House, the Hive, the Orchid Exhibition, the Marianne North Gallery and the Shirley Sherwood Gallery – I thought that was a pretty good effort!!! I walked all day, but you can get a pass to hop on and off a little train all day. My only regret was not bringing a picnic lunch and enjoying it in the sun.
I’d never heard of the Wellcome Collection before, but it’s across the road from Euston Station and it’s AMAZING. It’s a collection of art and items exploring life, science and art I guess; really interesting and quite different to your average museum. I highly recommend the Medicine Man exhibition, a fascinating look at birth, life and death over the centuries. It’s part of Sir Henry Wellcome’s (1853-1936) personal collection. Oh and it’s free, open til late and has a really good gift shop and cafe. You’re welcome.
There’s just so much to do in London, inside and out. As I mentioned earlier I was lucky enough to have more than a few sunny days, and I visited Hyde Park for the first time, wandering around Serpentine Lake for hours watching the ducks, swans and geese, reading my Kindle, stopping to sketch and to take photos of the squirrels tumbling around everywhere. I know they’re kinda considered vermin here but I still think they’re adorable. I can’t believe how well-behaved all the dogs are here, too. It’s so great! There’s cafes in the park, and also two Serpentine Galleries; you could easily spend an entire day; and I’d love to bring a picnic with friends to spend an evening. (Although it is still reeeeally chilly in the evenings. Maybe in Summer!) I also went to Camden Markets a couple of times, a great spot for lunch, (and especially good vego and vegan options!) people watching or unique souvenirs.
Richmond Park is my other new favourite outdoor space. It’s huge, wide open plains (around 2500 acres) are home to massive herds of deer that roam freely. It’s so beautiful and wild; I arrived at about 1pm and in the following hours the afternoon light filtering through the trees and grass was absolutely stunning. I came across herds of deer twice, and exhausted my camera battery on the deer alone.
I’ve moved on from London now but have already visited again twice, to visit my friends and I saw Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theatre in the West End. I booked a same day ticket for £21 and it was brilliant, look it up. I even shed a few tears at the end. I’m heading back soon to see Book of Mormon, too. Can’t wait!
CARMEN TOM 