Alright, here’s the entry about my London trip that I mentioned last time! If you’ve been following me for a while, you might remember my business trip to Las Vegas a couple years ago where I was an exhibitor for Interop. There’s one in London this time, so I was sent again. Like last time, my husband and I decided to make a trip out of it and stay a couple extra days.
This is going to be a long post with a ton of photos since I didn’t feel like splitting it up. Instead of writing about each day, I’m grouping them into categories. They’re not necessarily the order that I visited/viewed them in, and I only visited a couple things per day.
My brief thoughts on London
London is probably the most multicultural city I’ve visited. I haven’t heard so many different accents and languages in one place before. It felt kind of odd because it didn’t feel like I left the country. Everything is still in English of course, but it was mostly because many parts reminded me of New York City. The tube system was also very similar to the NYC subway system.
Compared to where I live (Austin), London was a very expensive city. I’m pretty sure everything I saw was more expensive than what I would pay in Austin. The exchange rate and foreign transaction fees didn’t help either.
Overall though, I thought London was a pleasant city with great public transportation and a lot of interesting architecture.
Touristy Sights
Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament (Palace of Westminster) were really easy to get to. It’s literally right by the Westminster tube station. I saw Big Ben the moment I walked out of the station and turned to my husband, “is that Big Ben or am I stupid tourist who thinks all big clocks are Big Ben?” (It really was Big Ben.) We actually went to see it twice because I loved its architecture, and I thought it was beautiful. The first time was during the day, and then we decided to go back again to see it lit up at night.
Big Ben is also by the London Eye (the giant ferris wheel), which is just across the bridge. I thought it was kind of expensive to ride it, but the view was really nice. The whole ride takes about 30 minutes, so it moves slow enough to get a good look around. I don’t regret doing it. To save a bit of money, buy the ticket online ahead of time.
We also took a look at Buckingham Palace but didn’t spend much time there. I really just wanted to get some photos of it.
Westminster Abbey is another one we briefly walked by. I’m really in love with this old architecture.
The same thing with the Tower of London. Though you can go in, we were tired at that point and just took some photos outside.
It’s near the Tower Bridge, which is a draw bridge. We were lucky because it happened to lift as we were there to let a ship through. I’m glad I got photos of it both up and down!
Parks
Near Buckingham Palace is St James park, so we walked through it on the way to the palace. It’s not very big, but I thought it was a pleasant walk. We also spent time near the lake where there were a bunch of ducks and geese.
Hyde Park, on the other hand, was much larger with gardens in it and other sights throughout. I thought it was more interesting to visit. It has a lake as well with even more animals.
Museums
The museums in London are free (they ask for donations). We first went to the National Gallery, which I really enjoyed. This is mainly because I like art history, and it’s filled with old paintings. It had many famous ones too, like ones by Van Gogh.
We also visited the British Museum, which is a misleading name. It’s lots of history and artifacts from different countries and cultures. It’s seriously really big. We spent a few hours there and didn’t see everything. It’s worth checking out if you like those type of museums.
On days that I worked, my husband checked out the Science museum and the Natural History museum, both of which he liked. I think he liked the Science museum the most.
Other Places
Covent Garden is a cute outdoors-ish center with many shops and restaurants. I don’t recommend going at night because most of the places there close early, like 7:30-8:00pm. We learned that the hard way and had to try again during lunch time.
KERB was probably our favorite place to get food. We went to the one near King’s Cross, and it has a bunch of food trucks. It was nice being able to try multiple things in the same place, and the weather was perfect for it too.
Canary Wharf was the area we stayed. Since it was technology week, it was impossible to get a hotel room at a decent rate. Our work ended up booking a 3 bed/3 bath apartment for me and 2 coworkers for the whole week. This was a really nice area, though it was filled with banks and people walking around in suits. I feel like the food was pricier in this area because of that.
Interop London
And lastly, I was in London for Interop again. Interop Vegas has been great for us. When I went, our booth was always packed, and I really felt like we hit our target audience (IT pros).
Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for Interop London. The amount of attendees were far fewer, and since Interop London was free, we had so many irrelevant people stop by. I did have some meaningful conversations with IT pros but not enough to justify the costs.
And so…
It’s too bad Interop came out that way, but honestly, sometimes you have to try things before you know if it works or not. We wouldn’t have known without having a booth there. I’m still glad I was able to go and make a trip out of it. For more photos, visit my Flickr and my food tumblr!
I loved looking through your photos. :)I think what I like most about London is that all the main sights are pretty close together, except for Tower Bridge. But then, like you say, the transport is really good around there. I love the Underground.
Covent Garden is probably my favourite place in London. I just love all the quirky shops and the market stalls. The pies look yummy. Are they from the West Cornwall Pasty Company?
It was definitely nice how close together the main sights were! I wish we had something similar to the Underground in Austin.
The pies are from the Battersea Pie Station 🙂
Wow, London that’s awesome! I’ve always wanted to go there and I think it’s great that you were sent by your company. It’s too bad it wasn’t a huge success though but hey, you got to go to London!
Your photos are gorgeous, so crisp and clear. My brother went to London and he did mention that everything was very expensive, it doesn’t help that the pound is way more expensive than our North American currencies.
It’s awesome how you got sent out to London for a business trip! Even better that you and your husband spent some extra time there to travel around.
I can imagine the multiculturalness that goes around the city. That’s pretty much the same case in LA because you get a different set of culture every corner you go. I can imagine London being a lot more expensive! Especially for the housing situation, since you can get a nice big house in Texas while that same price in London gives you a section of a complex? (Correct me if I’m wrong :P)
Big Ben looks so historic! Same goes with the Houses of Parliament! All of these places look familiar because of movies. I can’t believe the guards still wear those huge shakos!
The food there looks delicious :3. Hopefully the prices didn’t take away from the experience. It sounds like you enjoyed your trip 😀
I am so jealous! London is definitely one place I’d like to go one of these days! I’d be happy just sitting in a pub in London listening to everyone talk since I love the accents on that Isle! Your pictures all look great and enticing.
But yes, London is expensive. That’s what many people have told me, and that’s is the main reason what’s holding me back from going there. I just don’t have the funds right now for it, so going there is out of the question. One day, though, I will make it there!
And NOM! Meat pies! Did you not get any fish and chips? Bubble and squeak? Or toad in a hole or bangers and mash? I’d have tried those 🙂
And I love you for taking a photo of the Buckingham Palace guards. I swear, I’ve always been fascinated by them, so they’d be the first thing I’d see when I get there! ^^
There’s more food photos on my food tumblr! Including fish and chips 🙂 My husband tried bubble and squeak, so I had a bite of his.
I thought the Buckingham Palace guards would be right outside the gates, but they were actually inside. I had to use a long zoom lens to get that photo!
Gorgeous pictures. Thank you for sharing. I want to see England one day. I would especially like to try fish and chips there.
I’ve been to London a few times but still haven’t seen everything there because there’s so much. I was really disappointed when I saw Big Ben. I expected it to be much bigger than it actually was. And Buckingham Palace is lovely, always crowded though!
The view from the London Eye looks lovely. I’d be too terrified to go that high up for so long. And Covent garden is so pretty!!
Hope you had a lovely time in London!
xx
So many pictures! I am so jealous that you got to go to London. It’s on my bucket list and I just want to tour EVERYTHING and be the most obnoxious tourist there. Hahaha. Perhaps, even live there someday. Maybe. In my dreams.
But it sounds like a wonderful trip! I’m going to use this as a reference post for when I do go to London. <3
It’s so nice your work afforded you the opportunity to take a trip around London [even though you and your husband chose to stay extra days]. I’ve never visited London before, but I would’ve expected it to have a good public transportation system. My friends who spent a year there managed to get around via public transport, but also realized how parking [among other things] was expensive as well. I also heard that London is a fast-paced city, much like New York. So really, with the exception of few superficial differences, London would not feel all too foreign in theory.
Anyways, glad you enjoyed your times in London! Maybe I should visit London at some point. I just need to time everything well. xD
That’s so awesome that you got to go to London for a business trip! Love all the photos you took, makes me want to visit the city even more. All the architecture there (and I feel like Europe in general) is just gorgeous, and not something you see in the US. Sorry to hear that the turnout of the convention wasn’t as great as Vegas though, but it looks like you and your husband had fun exploring London so it was worth it 🙂
I remember your Vegas trip! ^__^ ohhh now, London! What an amazing sight. LOL I would have thought all big clocks were Big Ben too! hehe 🙂 SO hungry now… why must there be food pictures…. t-t
London looks like an amazing location to travel to, it’s lovely browsing through your photos. Food looks delicious!
OMG!! I missed you!!
O man … London is one our dream places to go to. We already considered just taking a trip there one day … one day we will! I have always wanted to see Westminster Abby because of the architecture too! Wow … it’s beautiful in your pictures! All your pictures are beautiful!! I want to ride the Ferris Wheel too but both of us are scared of heights hahahah. I figured I would give it a try anyways since when would we ever get to ride that thing again?
That’s the only thing though eh? I heard too that Europe in general is an expensive place to go to. I’m sure it was worth it though!
The food looks really good!!
I’m glad you made a trip out of it and saw the classics of London! I want to do that someday too!!
Beautiful photos! Glad you’re back! Yay! ^.^
WHOA!!! You are so lucky to have been sent to London on the company’s dime!! So exciting. I am very glad that your husband wen with you and that you made the trip a little longer. You saw so many things!! I am very jealous. I hope to one day visit London.