How much of London can you see in one day

After a small hiatus, due to me moving to and settling in a new city, I am finally back to blogging. I typed up this post over the summer, but I never got around to finishing it until now – but you know what they say, better late than never!

While I did visit London when I was little – I think I was 9 the last time –  I don’t remember much, and it has always been a place I have wanted to visit again. When booking my flights to and from Norway I realized that it was not that much more expensive to fly via London, so that is what I decided to do. While hotels in London are notoriously expensive, especially during the summer, I found out that the London School of Economics rent out their student housing during the summer, and it is actually quite affordable. I ended up spending five days in London, most of it with friends and family in the suburbs, so I only really had one full day to discover the city.

 

 

 

As I was staying close to the Tate Modern, and the river Thames, I decided to head out for a walk on my first day. Walking along, there were several pop-up bars for the summer and even an outdoors movie-theatre – I even stopped to watch a little bit of Beauty and the Beast. I walked all the way up to Tower Bridge, and crossed the river before walking all the way back again. My timing was perfect as the sun had just set and I was treated to the prettiest sunset. As I was walking near St. Paul’s Cathedral, I started hearing loud music, and soon I was walking in the middle of a group out for their evening run.

 

 

 

The next morning I woke up early and started my day at the Clink prison museum – the oldest recorded prison in London. While it is not the biggest, nor the most known museum – it was really interesting to see. Each room focused on either a part of the prison, a prisoner or punishment methods, and each room had its own soundtrack of what it might have sounded like. They also had these wax figures, made to look like prisoners and they looked eerily lifelike – especially when you were walking around on your own.

 

 

 

My next stop was Tower Bridge, where I first went to see the engine rooms. This was super interesting, not only did you get to see parts of the engine, there were also great explanations of how the bridge was built and operated. Next up was the Tower Bridge Experience – a walkway across the second level of the bridge. As the lines for the elevators were super long I decided to take the stairs up, which turned out to be a smart choice. There were informative posters on each landing, and I got to see more of the architecture of this impressive structure. At the actual walkway the coolest thing was the glass floor you could walk on, – and if you looked down you would either see the water or the cars and people below. There was also a mirror in the ceiling allowing for some really cool photo opportunities. Lastly there were information posters about other bridges around the world. Turns out I have been to quite a few of them.

 

 

 

 

The one place I was really looking forward to re-visit was the Tower of London as it has such an interesting history. At this point it had started raining so once I had entered, I just followed the masses of other people with umbrellas around. The highlight of this visit was of course the armory, and it was worth the 30 minute wait in the rain. The armory hosts an impressive collection of armor, some put on mannequins, some belonging to old kings, and some even used almost as a wallpaper. There are also a lot of historical presents from around the world, and their history. When I was done in the armory I initially went to line up to see the crown jewels, but gave up when I realized I had to wait in line for almost 2 hours in the rain – I mean I did see them when I was little, I just don’t remember.

 

 

 

For lunch I stopped at the Leadenhall Market – the place that inspired Diagon Alley. It was such a pretty covered market with quaint independent stores and restaurants. I sat down for some really tasty pizza, and enjoyed watching the people walk by. After lunch I had planned to visit St. Paul’s Cathedral before walking to Covent Garden, but because of the rain I decided to take a taxi straight to Covent Garden instead. This was another really pretty covered market, and I really enjoyed walking around window shopping. When the rain stopped I roamed around the surrounding streets, and even found the colorful Neals Yard.

 

 

 

I finished the day by watching Les Miserables. I have seen both the movie and performances of some of the songs before, but it was nothing compared to this! It was such an incredible performance, and they really did bring you into the story. After they finished they got a standing ovation from the entire audience, and I overheard so many raving about the show on the way out. I finished my evening by walking down to Picadilly Circus to take some photos, before taking a taxi back to my hotel.

 

 

 

While I did not manage to see everything I wanted to, I had such a fun day. One of the things I really love about traveling by myself is that I can change my plans at any time according to things such as the weather or my mood – which is exactly what I did. And this way I still have a reason to come back to London and see the things I did not have time to this time around.