A Day Out With the Queen

Saturday was the big day out! We hopped on the train in the morning and as easy at that we were on our way to London! Or as the locals call it "town". The advantage of living within a 30 minute train ride is that I can basically come and go within the city as I would like... so there will for sure be many more adventures to come! But, I digress. We took the train from Dartford to Victoria Station and once we got there we were right in the heart of London. After some searching, we managed to get our hands on a tour map of the city and we set off on foot in the direction of Buckingham Palace.

Along the way, we passed a lot of the iconic red telephone booths. For those Harry Potter fans, I even tried to use one to get into the Ministry of Magic but that was to no avail... I will try again later. We also passed the theatre where Wicked is being performed! I have put it on my list of shows to go and see. Downtown London is such an energetic place to be! The hustle and bustle is not like what we can find in downtown Toronto though... it's much more invigorating here! Maybe it's the presence of the Queen, who knows! 

(I'm secretly hoping that the Queen is
photobombing my selfie from one of those windows.)

The Jubilee Coach

Buckingham Palace is certainly a sight to behold. We decided that it would be neat to go inside the Palace Mews... and it was! The Mews is where the Royal carriages are kept. The oldest of the carriages is the Gold Coach, and it is about 200 years old and has been used in every coronation since it was built! The newest would be the the Jubilee Coach, which was built specifically for the Queen to ride in for her Diamond Jubilee back in 2012.

The Gold Coach (it weighs 4 tons)

From Buckingham Palace, we wandered over into Green Park where we found a hot dog stand and enjoyed a royal meal before we trekked along The Mall, and found our way into Trafalgar Square. After making our way through the busy intersection, we took a short break in front of the National Museum, and then headed off towards Westminster! While walking down the street, we encountered a protest which was promoting that Britain should be doing something more about the situation in Gaza... I made a mental note that I should take more of an interest in British politics so I will have somewhat of an idea of what is going on in my new country of residence. Not long after, we passed Downing Street, where there sadly wasn't much to see, and so we carried on towards Westminster.

It was upon reaching Westminster that I was really taken aback. Between the Abbey on one corner, and The Houses of Parliament and Big Ben on the other, it is absolutely breathtaking to stop and marvel at the architecture and to think about the amount of history that has been made in those two places. While we didn't go into Westminster Abbey, we did go into the adjacent St. Margaret's Church, where it was just as breathtaking, and absolutely peaceful to be inside. Heading back out into the busy street, we crossed over to stand on Westminster Bridge and take in the River Thames view of Big Ben.

We carried on over the bridge to see how long the queue was for the London Eye, however it was quite long and threatening to rain so we decided against it. By this point, we were all exhausted anyway so we decided that it was time for us to head back to the much slower paced setting of Dartford. On our walk to Charing Cross Station, we stumbled upon the home of Benjamin Franklin! It was a very unexpected find, but a cool thing to see nevertheless. From everything that we saw, it has given me a taste of what London has to offer, and has sparked my interest to go and explore the rest of the country. What I find the most striking, however, is the way in which these pieces of history coexist within the busy life of the city. Stay tuned folks, there's lots more to come!