Over summer, what started as a ticket to see Harry Styles performing in London became a weeklong trip, exploring the wonderous sites of London, England. My mom and I spent the week of June 7- June 14. Staying on the South side of the infamous Thames River, in a more residential area only a ten-minute walk from the main attractions the city has to offer.  

Where we stayed and the first day  

When we first arrived, because of the beautiful quaintness of where we were staying, we used the day to rest, just exploring around Tyers Gate. In our neighborhood there were many restaurants, cafés, and bistros. It was nice how the street had no cars and tended to be majority walking and bicyclists. Further adding to the ambiance was the flower gardens behind our One Fine Stay, an upgraded version of Airbnb or Vrbo. 

Later that same day we walked around the South Bank Stroll to shake out our legs after the eight-hour plane ride. Which followed along the edge of the river, where there were many different street vendors. The walk allowed us to see some of the famous bridges like, London Bridge, Tower Bridge, Southwark Bridge, and Millennium Bridge. The coolest part that taught us a lot about these was a river boat cruise. The New Waterloo Bridge for example is nicknamed ‘Ladies Bridge’ because during World War II, men were off at war, women finished the construction on the bridge. Which happened to be done ahead of schedule and underbudget. 

The second day and museums  

The second day on the way to touring St. Paul’s Cathedral and going to the Tate Modern Art Museum, we stopped at Borough Market. A fresh food market in Southwark, with a long history dating back to the 12th century. You can find all types of cuisine, fresh produce, and goods, I got the popular chocolate covered strawberries that I had seen all over Tik Tok. Needless to say, for how simple a cup of strawberries with chocolate is, it was outstanding. The last days we were in London I begged my mom that we had to make another quick stop to get another cup of five-star strawberries.

The stop for strawberries wasn’t only good fuel, but it was perfect because it was along the way to the Tate Modern Art Museum. It takes a good one to two and a half hours to thoroughly observe every art piece and exhibit. However, we did choose to spend less time, which cut out getting to see every single piece. I was very impressed and entertained by what I saw, an hour and a half is more than enough time for anyone who’s not the biggest art fan and is enough time to get to be able to say you’ve seen famous paintings. 

The Tate is home to famous works from Picasso, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, and Henri Matisse. One of my favorites were some of the sculptures and immersive installations. Bable by Cildo Meireles is a tower consisting of old radios, constructed all in working form, to produce an immersive light and sound experience. To me, the audio and light visuals made viewing different works more exciting than just analyzing paintings on the wall.        

St. Paul’s Cathedral 

Continuing walking around, next we toured St. Paul’s Cathedral. It was wonderous exploring its stunning architecture and iconic dome, which happens to be the second largest dome in the world. When seeing these British historical sites, including the Tower of London, it was like jumping back in time. The stairwell heading to the top view has 528 stairs, and as in the olden days, people were way smaller, so the stairwell was fit to their size. So, it was funny seeing taller people in front of us having to crouch down through the halls. Doing all these steps during the summer didn’t make it an easy walk up, when we got closer towards the top you could feel the heat rising.  

At the top, the view was amazing and made the trek worth it, to see the city skyline, with the London Eye, the Shard building, Shakespeare’s Globe Theater, as well as the Thames River and most of its bridges. On the contrary, going down all the steps and to the basement it felt cooler and cooler the lower it was. In the basement is the Crypt at St. Paul’s, “the final resting place of some of the world’s greatest heroes, poets and scientists.” Stated by the St. Pauls Cathedral website.  

Bus tours 

The following day started nice and early so we could figure out a bus tour to take. A staple when visiting new places, especially with the history and size of London. It was never difficult to find a tour bus with all the comotion of tourists in the city, just by walking down towards the London Bridge we were able to buy passes that took us all over. First stop was Parliament square where from the top of the bus is a spectacular view of the Elizabeth Tower, more commonly known as Big Ben. Then was Trafalgar Square, and slowly wiggled our way toward Piccadilly Circus, through different streets, Buckingham Palace, and the British Museum.  

Now this couldn’t have been done all in one day, so we used the bus to our advantage to get to the cite, then we’d spend a good amount of the day walking around that area, hop back on the bus and tour one more area before calling it a day.  

Shopping 

One of my favorite places to walk around was, Bond Street and Oxford Street, famous for all the designer shops. While not buying anything, it was more fun being able to see so many designer stores all in one place, with their beautiful window displays. Most of our shopping was done in either local shops, found while walking around, or shoping Covent Garden, or Selfridges.  

Buckingham Palace 

At Buckingham Palace, one of the icon’s for British royalty. Once again taking the hop on hop off bus we were able to get there and coensidently, when we arrived near the Victoria Memorial, the changing of the guard was in precession. For all the commotion of the event, I didn’t find it worth it, but its definatley a must see to check off your travel bucket list. Many people will tour around the palace,  however we walked our selves, seeing just as much as the groups.  

End of our trip 

The week quickly came to an end the second to last day was very chill, my mom and I got up early and walked over the water to tour The Tower of London, the closest thing to where we stayed was the last thing we actually did. The tower is known for being a historical calste, fortress, prison, zoo, and jewel house, for the crown jewles.  

I enjoyed every moment expierencing life in a different city, first time to London ended on a high note, getting to Harry Styles preform at Wembley Stadium June 13, 2023. It was a little crammed at the end, because we got back to our place from the concert at one a.m. and had to get up only a few hours later to go to the airport and the long plane back. Which was nice to sleep and catch up on sleep and rest from the many miles of walking each day.