Landloping in London Pt. 2

Since there isn´t all too much to be said, let´s dive right into how day 3 of the London trip of mine went. Day 1 wasn´t all too exciting but day 2 was filled with walking in parks and visiting iconic London landmarks dedicated to well-known people. (Find out more: Landloping in London Pt. 1)

Bright and not so early in the morning, we dropped by the Globe Theatre again since we couldn’t let the opportunity of seeing a Shakespear Play on that infamous stage pass us by even if that play is not that well known like the Scottish play.

Before the day I set foot in the Globe Theatre I didn´t even know that Shakespear wrote a play named As You Like It. So a modern reiteration of the play sounded not weird but it was still a great opportunity and we got tickets for the evening.

Instead of wasting a day in the Theatre waiting for the play to start, we took the Uber boat to Big Ben. On the boat, we passed under the Millenium Bridge and to our left we could see the London Eye in all its glory.

The boat had a quite posh interior in comparison to the other boats I have been on in my life and in comparison to the sightseeing boat tours, the Uber boats were much cheaper and you have the grand opportunity to see all the sights along the river Thames. So totally worth a visit.

When we arrived at our final destination, we were filled with dread since the amazing boat ride came to an end but luckily for us the dock also had a great view of the London Eye so we could take our time taking pictures in peace.

After loads of pictures of the London Eye, we made our way to the Big Ben to take plenty of pictures there too. Much to my surprise and lack of geographical knowledge the Westminster Abbey was nearby, and we went there too.

The sun was shining bright and the Parliament Square garden right in front of both Big Ben and Westminster Abbey, I decided to take a small break much to my obliviousness in front of the Winston Churchill statue.

Very much to my surprise, the sun (considering the usual weather conditions in England) became a tad too warm for me so we decided to leave. Therefore on the next bus, we hopped and hopped right off at Charing Cross passing Downing Street and Trafalgar Square.

After doing like tourists do and doing some shopping, it was eventually time for the theatre. Not the Globe Theatre but the musical theatre. When you go to London you have to visit a musical since London has a musical for everyone.

Since I have been a huge fan of Hamilton ever since the soundtrack was released on Spotify and the filmed version of the musical was released on Disney + (due to pandemic reasons), I just couldn't get enough of the musical even if I don´t know who Alexander Hamilton was at that time.

So, when I was in London and had the opportunity to visit the award-winning musical, I did not throw away my shot. After three hours of musical greatness, all I wanted to do was do it all again. I don’t care if I listened to the soundtrack, watched the recorded version of Hamilton, or experienced the musical in real life.

But the hours flew by and it was time for another artistic performance in London on the other side of the river and we couldn´t be late so we took the tube and crossed the river just in time for a quick dinner in the swan linked to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

Upon entering the Globe Theatre and seeing it fill up felt somewhat old-timey. I could imagine what it was like back in the day when people would fill up the stands, excited to watch the show. The groundlings stand in front of the stage, not knowing if they should sit down or stay standing.

Then the musical started, and I started envying the groundlings since the performers actively interacted with them and handed them lavender before the show and apples during the intermission.

Since it was a rather unknown Shakespeare play, I didn’t quite know what was happening on stage and since it was a rather modern rendition of a Victorian play it made it even harder to understand but that didn’t stop me from having a good time.

When the show ended, we walked back to our accommodation and went to sleep soon after processing the performances we witnessed that day. It was an eye-opening day and a day which made me adore the performing arts even more. I will certainly visit more of those in the future.

The next day was rather relaxing since there was nothing on our agenda. So in the morning, we went shopping at Harrods. When you go to London you have to visit Harrods, not to buy anything but to simply be there. Harrods is interesting with all the things available in store.

After some shopping in Harrods, we went for afternoon tea near the Palace. There was a cute little tea shop neighbouring the walls of Buckingham Palace. And of course, we had the three-tiered afternoon tea including a variety of finger sandwiches, cakes and obviously tea and scones with marmalade and cream.

We could spend hours in the tea shop sipping tea and enjoying bite-sized delicacies, but we went to that tea shop for afternoon tea for a specific reason. The next stop was Buckingham Palace which included a tour of some interesting rooms.

There was a strict no photography rule in the palace so I could not take any pictures. The security before entering the palace was rather strict. If I can be honest everything in and around the palace was so strict. I mean it is for a reason but still.

In my honest opinion, the Palace was overcrowded. It was hard to enjoy the palace tour and admire the building, artworks, interior design, and exhibition pieces when you are pushed around by other people. But at least the guided tour was interesting, and the staff knew their stuff.

After the tour, we walked around the palace to the front gate to see Buckingham Palace from the front as well, not only the back. From there on we walked into St. James´s Park and had a little picnic there overlooking the lake.

The park was a nice change of scenery since the park had people but was not too overcrowded like the inside of the palace. So we could sit on the park bench in peace and watch as people walk by without much of a disruption.

Since the agenda for the evening was rather empty, we decided to head to Euston to visit the real-life filming location of the Sherlock Holmes series starring Benedict Cumberbatch. On the way there excitement built up since I was so excited to see the real-life filming location.

However, once we got there the excitement died really quickly. I don’t know what I was expecting but that was most certainly not it. The street was unkempt, and the place looked like any other street in London.

When we got to the front door, the movie magic faded completely, and I just stood in front of a random door in London. It looked just like in the series but at the same time, it looked nothing like the series. The door was the same but the environment looked nothing like the series.

It was disappointing, to say the least, but I don’t know what I expected to begin with. I knew that series wasn’t real but some part of me hoped it was. In other words, I believe that was just a reality check for me which I didn’t take too well.

For the rest of the evening, I was rather down and closed off. It always happens when I need to process something big. With my head stuck on some cloud, I went through the rest of the evening rather half-heartedly until I went to sleep.

The next morning, all was forgotten when we visited the site of the original Globe Theatre there was a huge plaque commemorating the original site and some markings indicating where it used to be. Right on top of those markings are some apartments.

Now I know why the third Globe Theatre was not built where the first two were built. If I can be completely honest, those apartments weren’t what bothered me but instead how unreadable the plaque was. I wanted to know what it said but I just couldn't make out the word since it was all worn down.

Anyway, we made our way to Blackfriars Bridge shortly after since we wanted to go to Windsor. Since a train line was very unconventionally closed, we had to take at least three trains to get to Windsor.

Once we were there we were greeted by a cute town with old architecture and a lot of British flags. The sun was shining and we headed out of the train station in the direction of the castle. But before we visited the Castle it was time for another afternoon tea.

We sat down at a tea shop in front of the castle and enjoyed the midday with a lovely cup of tea and some snacks since we booked a tour of the castle in the afternoon and we were somewhat too early. At that time, we didn’t believe we could enter the castle at an earlier time.

After the afternoon tea, we found out that we could have entered the castle at an earlier time because no one there was checking for when the tour was actually booked and the castle grounds were rather big.

Just like Buckingham, the security was tight but not as tight as in the palace and just like Buckingham there were so many people from all over the world visiting the late queen´s favourite residence but by comparison not as many as the people who visited the late queen´s main residence.

I guess in that aspect I liked Windsor Castle more than Buckingham Palace because it wasn’t as strict and as overly crowded. However, from my uneducated point of view, Windsor Castle was just like every other castle in Europe.

If I can be honest, it wasn´t too special since the interior design reminded me of many castles I have been to before and the decorations were unique but at the same time too similar to ones I have seen before.

The only difference is that Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle are still being used by real monarchs in comparison to the other Castles I have been to in Europe. However, I don’t know there is something stuffy about castles in my opinion.

Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed that tour of the castle since there were many things in there, that I found rather interesting, but it is still somewhat pretentious if I can say since some people are barely scraping by while some have an art collection and multiple residences. But that is just my opinion.

Much to our surprise, the castle closed pretty early in my opinion so my mother rushed through the St. Goerge´s Chapel while I didn’t even go inside since I am not that big a fan of graveyards of any kind no matter who might be buried there.

It comes to no one´s surprise at this point that my mother only wanted to go to Windsor Castle to pay her respects to the late queen. However, I respect that so I let her pay her respects while I tried to take pictures of the outside of the castle since I still find architectural photography interesting.

After we rushed out of the castle, we visited the shopping street which was just down the road. We strolled through the street in peace preparing to head back to London soon after but we took our time nonetheless to enjoy a quieter shopping street in England.

Exhausted, we went back to London. It was an interesting four days in London but there is still one day to come and some interesting experiences so check in the next two weeks when I finish my London article series.