London Blog 1- Places to visit( with the exception of Sea World)

London city-  isn’t it gorgeous with its lush green gardens, picturesque buildings and the polluted- sorry ‘one of the cleanest rivers flowing through a city’, the Thames (despite the heavy metal and high percentage of microplastics still found in it) ? 

Despite its faults I do hold a special place in my heart for this city, having lived here, so I thought the perfect place to start my sort of virtual tour through London was ancient history: monuments and of course, other must see places all around the city.

1. Sea World ( for some reason)

Sea World

Literally my childhood( and for that matter everyone else’s). I don’t have much to say about it. It’s kind of boring if you’re above the age of 7 but extremely captivating if not. I loved Sea World because I loved all the fish aimlessly swimming around in their tanks like coloured darts but come on, I was 6 years old. Of course I loved watching fish. It’s one of those places you only go to appease your tiny children who have little to no understanding of what a good place to visit is. You could go somewhere more worthwhile like Westfield( which I suspect I only like because of the designer shops) speaking of which…..

2. Westfield 

Construction News

Again, suppose the only reason I am so enamoured with this mall is because of my love of designer brands. It has it all the best like Chanel, Gucci, Prada, Jimmy Choo…oh it’s a dream come true! I remember how my parents hated visiting though as even from a young age, I gravitated towards these world renowned and definitely not pocket friendly brands. Mind you it is quite an expensive mall. I mean rates ranging from 3 pounds to 20 is preposterous for parking, so I’d recommend if you are planning to come here, use the Overground. Cheaper, more efficient and eco-friendly ( although I have had my fair share of bad situations with it which I will get into in the transport blog). You could take your kids to Kidzania ( which is leagues better than Sea World), which I can say having been there on a school trip for being the class with the highest attendance in Key Stage 1. Very fun place, you can paint, be a model, go rock climbing( which I couldn’t do because I was wearing a skirt 🥲) and make delicious chocolate (again for this is a recommendation solely for kids, though sensible adults can enjoy as well). There’s also this Indian street food restaurant whose name I can’t remember but do remember enjoying. I am also quite sure that at one point,  7 year old me used to pour over layout maps of this mall, pin pointing all the designer brands I spotted and dreaming up my own. Worth a visit in my opinion but I’m not sure if my bias is clouding my judgement on this one or not. Also visit Selfridge & Co. and Harrods if you’re a designer fanatic like I am!

3.The British Museum

Britannica

The one and only, the “icon” the British Museum! The subject of memes on the Internet this one being my favourite:

The Language of Nerds

Being Indian I am typically among those making fun of this (*cough*) museum but there was a time I, a blissfully ignorant child, simply enjoyed the stolen wonders present here. From the Rosetta Stone from which were were finally able to learn hieroglyphics, to the Lone Caryatid standing in the corner of a room in the British Museum, separated from its sisters, I drank in every last detail of that place with wide eyes, fascinated by the masterfully blended colours in the paintings, the life-like statues and terrified by the haughty sarcophagi. I guess this is where my obsession with ancient history and art began. I never thought I’d say this, but I might have to (*shudder*) thank the British Museum for introducing me to them. At the time though, like every other kid my age I was too scared to go too close to the mummies. Something about them being…. creepy and coming alive to eat me I think. I would recommend visiting this Museum along with the Victoria and Albert Museum. I believe they are two wonderful sources of world history because let’s face it, the British don’t have much going for them history wise unless it’s about the Royal family( which for some reason it always is) .

4.Buckingham Palace

Georgian House Hotel

Ahhh Buckingham Palace. I still remember all these years later that my first thought when I saw it wa s that I would like to live here and the second that it was very pretty and shiny (the mind of 5 year olds😑😑) My first time here was on my family’s first proper trip around London. As far as I can recall, we’d gone to Hyde Park, the Tower Bridge, the Big Ben and here towards the evening. I’m genuinely surprised by how vividly I remember visiting the Palace since my recollections of the first trips to those other destinations is hazy at best. I visited during the magical ‘golden hour’ time and I am sure of this because of how distinctly I remember the gold carvings on the gate being blindingly bright. Like stupid 5 year olds do, I pressed my face against the gate and remember being supremely annoyed that I couldn’t see the Royal Family 😂. After a long 2 minutes of watching the boring guards stay still as statues,  if I’m not wrong, me and my family sat down along the fountain just outside the Palace where I tried to steal the pennies people had thrown in it. Unfortunately though, my dad caught me, made me put the money back and throw 5 extra pounds in as well. After that, we ate a sandwich, called it a day, and went back home. I don’t think I ever really toured the inside of the palace, I just wanted to include this story but I assume from the pictures I have seen online, that it’s gorgeous on the inside.If I could visit London again, I would definitely tour the inside for the sake of my own satisfaction, and even though castles and palaces being one of the few monuments to tour in the UK  and can get a bit boring after a while I’d say to at least check out this one, Kensington Palace and Windsor Castle (which is in Windsor NOT London, I hate when people do that for some reason) as they are the only ones, really with worthwhile things to see in my opinion. Probably because they are current Royal residences unlike the others which are abandoned and only fixed up for the purpose of superficial sightseeing and clicking pictures.

5.Hyde Park

Londonopia

Hyde Park, lovely green Hyde Park. How beautiful thou looks with thy thick green trees and how fertile thou art with thy…. water bodies? I’m going to be honest and say that I do not remember much about my err doings, in Hyde Park, only the things really. However I do recall constantly running away from my parents just so that I could explore the park leisurely and throwing a fit when they didn’t want to go boating. I loved the Lady Diana fountain for some reason(probably because I was imagining how it would feel to sit with my legs it it’s water, don’t come at me ok, a lot of people actually do it), the numerous swings located around the park and the Diana, Princess of Wales playground. Now, I only ever went there on ordinary days but if you go there around Christmastime, say, you’d be able to attend Winter Wonderland( why couldn’t I go 😭) and enjoy the live performances, rides and fun games. Definitely worth the visit, especially during this time.

Honourable mentions (some of which aren’t in London):

The London Eye: Overhyped in my opinion. Yes, the view of London is beautiful but it is not really the most exciting thing to see there.

Madame Tusasde’s Wax Museum: Never been there but I’ve heard that it’s a great place to visit from my brother who has.

Tower of London:Again not very exciting unless you have tickets in which case you can see the Crown Jewels which are absolutely stunning.

Tower Bridge: It’s not as special as people make it seem. I mean yes, the bridge part lifts to let ship go through but it does that everyday. Not that exciting to be honest.

River Thames: It’s just another river with the bonus of the ferry.

Harry Potter Studios in Leavesden, Watford: Not included on this list since it’s not in London but Watford but it’s a spectacular place to visit. The entrance is amazing, it’s like a path surrounded with famous Harry Potter Quotes, you can see the wands of the different characters, the sets which are surreal, digital Dobby, fly on broomsticks, etc., and choose to go on a quest which you are given at the start of the tour. Beware the gift shop if you’re on a budget though. Very expensive.

Windsor Castle: Been here twice for some reason. Once on a school trip, once with my family. It’s very grand and I uhhh may or may not have tried to sit on the throne of then Queen Elizabeth the Second but that’s a story for another time.

Legoland Windsor: A very fun place, again not in London, but great for avid Lego lovers like me. In fact I love it so much I’ve been here twice.

Peppa Pig Park, Paultrons Park: Don’t judge, it’s very fun very on brand, and I have still have Peppa and George Pig plushies I bought from there (seriously it’s amazing).

Last but not least: Literally any trampoline park, they’re soooo fun.

I hope this blog was helpful, I didn’t include some places like the Big Ben since the only reason you’d want to visit it is to get good pictures for Instagram but really, I hope that these places I have mentioned help you narrow down some places you can go to if you want to go to England for a trip. It won’t take long to visit all of these as they are very close together, at most a week, unless you want to visit Wales and Scotland too, which are blogs for another time.

Ciao!