It’s been more than a year since I work in my current company. It’s a broadcasting related company and the headquarter is actually in London. I’ve been there quite a lot thanks to the company, but last year April was my first time visiting London. It was a pleasant trip as I got to see things that normally I don’t see in Japan. I was there for 2 weeks and even though I went for work, I did sight-seeing around the city during the weekend. I’ll share you what I see around Central London.
Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, Westminster Abbey
These places are actually quite close to each other. I took the tube to Piccadilly Circus (cuz this place was in Harry Potter) and walk around to Trafalgar Square and Westminster Abbey. I kinda wanted to take a picture at Piccadilly Circus where BTS Taehyung took photo. However, it was so crowded during the weekend, so I gave up. There were a lot of people at Trafalgar Square too (on my second visit actually some people did a protest there). There’s British National Museum there.
OK I lied, it’s not a light walk from Trafalgar to London Eye (Westminster), but I get used walking in Japan, so that distance is actually not a problem for me. I took some random photo on my way there
Then I arrived to London Eye (closest tube station: Westminster). You can see Big Ben too from here, but too bad, it’s currently under reconstruction.
Some Tips:
This area is quite full of tourist, beware of scam and pickpocket. I was almost get scammed when 2 ladies dressed in pantomime attire came to me and insisted me to take photo with them. If I do that, they’ll ask for money (even though you don’t want to do it), so I started speaking in Japanese and they left me alone.
London Bridge, Bank, and Leadenhall Market
Actually it’s Tower Bridge. I went to Tower of London and took the picture from there. You can also see the Shard (is a 95-storey supertall skyscraper). Take the tube to Tower Bridge station, you’ll need additional ticket to get in Tower of London.
Tips
The Shard is a high-end place, you might need to do some reservation and they do check your dress-code. No sandals/slippers and jeans please.
From Tower Bridge, I walked to Leadenhall Market (I knew this place also from Harry Potter). Again, if you see the map, I actually walked from there to Leadenhall, and later to Bank Station. It was a long walk.
FYI
If you see my photos, you might think that it’s so quiet… These pictures are taken on Saturday morning (around 9-10AM). Most stores and restaurants in London does not open until 12PM on Saturday/Sunday.
St. Paul Cathedral, Baker Street and King’s Cross – St. Pancras Station
My last stop for this post is St. Paul Cathedral. I always find the church buildings in Europe are always beautiful. That’s why I always want to check out church building. If you remember my old post, I also went to a Monastery when I was in Lisbon.
What makes this church famous is the dome. The dome is considered as second largest dome in the world. This church has been standing for 3 centuries after being destroyed 4 times throughout the history. I took the first picture from a shopping arcade next to the church (One New Change).
From the church, I took the double-decker bus to King’s Cross station to meet a friend for lunch. Again, I wanted to visit this station because of Harry Potter (again). King’s Cross is actually one of the major hub station and also the terminal of Eurostar (at St. Pancras, you can take a train to Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam).
Tips
Inside King Cross Station, you can find platform 9 3/4 where Harry boards the train to Howgrats. Pictures are free, but if you want the framed one, I think it’s around 10GBP. Next to it, you can find a Harry Potter store.
From King’s Cross, me and my friend went to Central St. Martins Uni.. They have a pop-up market and some food-stall. We had some Korean food there. From there, we went to Baker Street (Sherlock Holmes!) to see the Sherlock Museum and Store.
FYI
The street number 221b Baker Street is given to this museum even though the building is located between 237 and 241 building. The numbering itself has caused few controversies before.
And… those are just few places I saw in London.. I still have few more photos in Buckingham Palace and Greenwich, maybe I’ll share on next post!
Thank you for reading and I’d love to see your comments