Last Updated on July 2, 2015 by
Hi! I couldn’t resist a quick selfie!
My study program is in Prague, but those of us who opted for the flight package have been lucky enough to have a couple days in London. It has been a nice way to adjust to being away from home and immersed in another culture, while still feeling somewhat familiar.
We had an excellent bus and walking tour with a really wonderful guide, followed by independent sightseeing that I did with a friend.
Most AIFS programs in Europe have a London Stopover as part of the flight package. It consists of two nights and two days in London. The group arrives, meets each other, has a mix of guided tours and free time and gets a taste of being abroad before the real thing. The third day is travel day and everyone is off to their final destination.
This is my day of sightseeing, in pictures.
Our first stop on the tour was, of course, Buckingham Palace
Not the Official Changing of the Guard Ceremony, but they were changing watch.
Next we saw the Houses of Parliament.
It’s so big and so beautiful, it really can’t be captured in just one photo.
So I’ve elected to provide three.
Also with the Houses of Parliament, we saw Big Ben. This was by far my favorite shot of the day.
The National Gallery. Inside, you can find every major artist and every major school of art, and it’s free to get in.
Unfortunately we didn’t see Johnny Depp in full Sweeney Todd costume, but it’s a beautiful street nonetheless.
The Black Friar Pub. I just found the exterior and that statue of the cheerful-looking friar absolutely charming.
The Lyceum Theatre where John Lennon played his last show.
A rather offbeat tribute to William Shakespeare. “All the world’s a stage, and…one man in his time plays many parts.”
This is the shell of a church that was bombed during the blitz of London during World War II. What’s most amazing about London is that you can find a beautiful gem of history right alongside something modern. This city is alive and always growing and changing.
The remains of the church have been made into a lovely garden.
No tour of London’s sights would be complete without St. Paul’s Cathedral. I have to admit that I had songs from “Mary Poppins,” particularly “Feed the Birds,” playing in my head as I gazed at this beautiful building.
The obligatory red phone booth shot. They are pretty cool to see everywhere, and an added bonus is that many of the phone boxes around London now double as WiFi hotspots.
The Admiralty Arch that separates Trafalgar Square from The Mall (a street running from Buckingham Palace to Trafalgar Square).
Covent Garden, where our tour ended. Fun fact: Covent Garden was once the center of the flower-selling market, and it’s where Professor Henry Higgins discovered Eliza Doolittle in the musical “My Fair Lady.”
This is the cloister inside Westminster Abbey. We went by the Abbey during the tour but didn’t go inside, so I returned with a friend to see the whole thing. It costs £20 to get in, or £17 if you have a valid student ID. Totally worth it, in my opinion.
The Chapter House is the only interior area of the abbey where you can take pictures. The ceiling and the stained glass windows are breathtaking, and there are also beautiful biblical murals on the walls.
The exterior of the abbey is as breathtaking as the interior.
So that was my day of sightseeing in London. Of course, there is way more to see than what I have pictured here. This is just a sampling of a truly incredible city. It has been a great start to my adventures abroad!
