Exploring Europe (Part I): London, United Kingdom (Day 1)

It has been close to a year since I have graduated from university and six months since I started to plan my trip to London and Paris. I had given a lot of thought as to where I wanted to go on my first trip to Europe. To be honest, London and Paris were not at the top of my list of cities to visit. It wasn’t that London and Paris were not interesting, but I had always dreamed of visiting Germany, Italy, and Spain for my post-graduation trip. I chose London and Paris after reading some travel blogs on the internet and discussing the topic with my parents – they have both backpacked through Europe. The more I looked into London and Paris, the more I found them to be charming places. After a little contemplation, I settled on heading to London first.

I was a little nervous when we first landed but it was dispelled rather quickly after hopping onto our train towards Paddington station. The subway system was extremely similar to Canada and Hong Kong so we got to our hotel without a hitch. The signage underground is amazing. We came across this amusing warning sign at Russell Square Station while waiting for the lift.

175 steps

After arriving at our hotel, we then set out for the British Museum. On our way, I came across the red telephone booths and just had to take a picture. There were so many telephone booths across London!

Red Telephone Booth

The British Museum had amassed quite a lot of visitors that afternoon. We ate a quick lunch outside while enjoying the view. I had been itching to visit the reading room at this museum and was disappointed when the information desk gently broke the news that the library had not been open to the public for over six years ago. It was a place my parents had spoken fondly of and also a place where many great minds had once studied so I was disappointed. We didn’t manage to see everything though but I thought the lion hunts were very interesting. If we stayed in London for an extra day, I might have come back to see the rest of the museum. They offer free admission although it would be a nice to give a donation to help the museum out.

British Museum

I had made a reservation at The Wolseley after reading the numerous positive reviews of the restaurant. We headed back to the hotel to change before heading off to dinner. I had the plat du jour, roast rib of beef and yorkshire pudding, while my mother had the rib eye steak. The interior of the restaurant was very nice. The place was humming with quiet conversation so the atmosphere was rather comfortable. We shared a vanilla millefeuille before retiring for the night. Overall, the food was decent although you could probably find the same in a better price bracket.