London Gentleman

Around Christmastime, everyone I knew had somewhere to go. Most of my American friends were going back to the States and my Irish friends where mostly traveling or doing other family things. I had to get out of town, so I booked a cheap ticket to London. By myself… (Queue sad, lonely, emo music. In this scene, I’m walking with my head down and then I look back like I’m expecting someone to be there, with a single solitary tear running down my cheek…)

Just kidding, it wasn’t that bad. I actually like traveling by myself because I can do anything I want and I never have to wait on anyone. It’s very liberating. I flew out on Christmas Eve, which was only two days after I got back from Germany. I really didn’t have any plans, other than a show on London’s famous West End. It’s like Broadway in NYC.

My flight was in the morning, so I was in London by noon. It would have been earlier but I flew into Gatwick, which is further out and you have to take a train to get into the main part of the city. I took the train to a main tube (subway) station and then took several different tubes to the area my hotel was in (sort of), Piccadilly Circus. I stayed at the Hotel Russell in Russell’s Square on Great Russell Street. How could I not? I had to take several different ones and go out of my way because, of all the tubes in London Underground, the one that I needed was out of service. And my hotel wasn’t as close as I thought it was so I ended up taking a cab from the subway station. I got there eventually. Piccadilly Circus is kind of like Times Square in New York, lots of lights and very busy and right next to the West End and all the shows. It is also very close to one of the main shopping areas of London. Overall, it’s very central and near a lot of things to see.

My show, Les Miserables, was that night so I checked in to the hotel, went for a quick bite, and headed to the theatre. I’ve been to several shows on Broadway and you always hear how good this one is. The acting was great, as were the costumes and everything else, but the show was not my cup o’ tea. Rather boring if you ask me. I appreciated it but didn’t particularly enjoy it.

I went back to the hotel hoping that there would be some people in the bar to chat with but it was virtually empty, so I just went to bed.

My plan was to take the open top bus tour on Christmas day. I had bought a ticket the previous day while I was out and about. When I woke up (first of all Santa had not been there, I need to talk to you mom…) it was raining enough that the bus tour didn’t look like much fun. Neither did walking around. The rain really dampened my spirits (bad joke, sorry). So I didn’t do much in the morning but eventually walked down the street to have lunch. I had a nice bangers and mash and by then the rain was intermittent, so I went for a walk. I went back towards Piccadilly but there wasn’t much going on, so I figured I would catch a movie, common enough on Christmas day in the US. Every theatre was closed, I passed several. So I went for fish and chips and went back to the hotel where I watched movies until I fell asleep. Not the most festive Christmas I’ve had, but like I said, I was just relaxing.

The next day, Boxing Day, it was still raining but it was my last day so I decided to use my bus ticket anyway. I didn’t have as much time as I would have liked because I had to catch the train back to Gatwick for my evening flight.

The tour wasn’t that long, so I got to see quite a few things. I picked it up from Trafalgar square, which commemorates British victory at the Battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic Wars. Just down the road were Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament. Across the street from that was Westminster Abbey. I would have liked to have gotten out here and walked around a bit, but no time. Just over the River Thames and I was at the London Eye, which is the biggest Ferris wheel in Europe. I was really looking forward to going on it but, again, no time. From there it continued through the streets of London, past St. Paul’s cathedral and across Tower Bridge to the Tower of London, which is one of the more important monuments in London. It is a castle that has served as a fortress, a royal palace, and a prison. I was dying to go in but as you can probably guess, I didn’t. The next place I stopped was Buckingham Palace. I’ll be honest, it’s not that impressive from the outside. I hear the inside and the gardens are amazing but I’ll have to see that next time. I missed the changing of the guards as well.

From there I took the bus to the stop nearest my hotel, where I picked up my back and headed to the airport. It was short and sweet, I knew I would be back. I’ll spend another day there in July (on my way to run with the bulls in Spain!), hopefully I can go up in the London Eye or maybe the Tower, if time permits. Check back later for that.