My girls and I were watching worriedly as the numbers on the airport scales were turning after we put our luggage on. But half an hour later, waiting for the take-off, with our seatbelts on we were nothing else but excited. We were on our way to the city where the queen lives, where different cultures mix and where you can get a fish’n’chip at every corner. A city where it’s the easiest to travel underground, and where people are driving on the wrong side of the street.
A little less than two hours later we landed on British soil and were welcomed by the typical English weather. A bit cold with a raindrop here and there, still we gut our stuff and took the bus to the centre of the metropolis.
Downtown London
London is a huge city and since we arrived at night, the orientation was a bit off. Luckily we prepared ahead at home and were very grateful for google maps. We found the right red bus that took us to our home from home. A ride to the airport, lugging our luggage, flying, lugging our luggage some more and two more busses took a lot out of us, so we decided to begin the adventure in the morning.
We collected all possible city maps and guides at the airport, as well as the underground and bus tickets (the London pass), which also helped us get discounts for the sights, so we started exploring right after the breakfast. At first we had some trouble with the underground, for although we caught the right line, we were off in the wrong direction. It wasn’t a real bother, for we got the hang of it quite quickly. After the third ride we were like old pros and if it weren’t for all the photos we took on every corner, we would have already blended in like the true locals. We were both typical tourist and children at once. We were interested in everything and took a picture of everything and commented everything… abundantly.
Follow the tourists
Now as true girls, we had to check out a few of the shops the very first day, and realised the staff was very pleasant. They all called us »darling« or »love« or something like that, which we just couldn’t imagine in a shop back home in Slovenia. No one would call you “love” when they handed you the bill, but then again, the wouldn’t charge so much either. We only had four days, so we wanted to make the most of them. We started at the Buckingham palace and made two dozen photos, like the thousands of other tourists there. Next we visited »The London Dungeon«. It’s a spook house that presents the history of London in a fairly hair-raising way. We were sticking together like glue, for there were also life actors there, making the whole experience very real – supported by our screams, which were also real. So we saw Jack the Ripper and met Sweeney Todd, shot ghosts, took the ride of death and tried out the free fall. Our heard and nerves were able to take it, so we left the dungeon with a few frightened smiles. To calm down we visited the aquarium with jelly fish, turtles and little fish that will grow up to be large sharks. But this was not enough, so we went to one of the biggest attractions, the London Eye.
We watched the whole city with a quiet awe and not so quietly muttering about other tourists, who always wanted to take the photo in the spot where we wanted to make it as well. Sure, we were muttering it in Slovene, but the tone of our voices let must have let them know, what we wanted to say. The long day was concluded by a pint of ale before we tiredly turned in for the night.
Monja Dobnik
