8 hours in London

Hemanshu Das
Jul 27, 2017 · 9 min read

The things I chose to see with just 8 hours in London

No, I didn’t take a hop-on-hop-off bus ride.

Apologies to start with a disclaimer, but this isn’t a travel guide by any stretch. Between work and family commitments, I got 8 hours to myself to “explore” London, and I chose to pen my journey down. There are certainly things that I missed out but then for quite a few thats a decision I took. If you want to just check a summary of the places I visited, scroll to the end.


So, my journey started in Ickenham in the west London. And in about 2 mins I fell in love with the London Tube. Get an Oyster card, look at the route map and just board the train (well, don’t think trains are complicated anywhere, but the Tube makes it really simple). The first thing I chose to see was the Buckingham Palace and catch the change of guard. It is the probably most Touristy thing to do in London, and quite expectedly I was underwhelmed by the whole thing. A Sunday & a popular tourist attraction — well, yes — hoardes of people and all trying to see a “poorer” version of the Mysore Palace parade. Apologies, it was pretty great but I couldn’t see most of it as there were people all around and I just didn’t find it worth it. I’m sure if I came on a weekday, I would have loved it (though there isn’t a Change of Guard I guess)

Queen Victoria Memorial

So, the start wasn’t great. I knew the Parliament Square was walking distance. I figured the route and started for it. A lot of my knowledge about London & UK is from the trio of Jeremy Clarkson, James May & Richard Hammond, and have heard about Westminster Abbey. Excuse my ignorance, but I had no clue what the Westminster Abbey was but I wanted to see it (in hindsight a bit of research would have helped).

Never miss an opportunity to mock the French, I guess || Guards in front of the St James’s Park Station

And lo & behold, I reached the Parliament Square with the Big Ben & Westminster Abbey (its the Church where the coronation takes place) behind it.

At the Parliament Square

I loved the Parliament Square for a couple of reasons:

  1. Arguably, it is the most important square in the world. The four sides of the square are the four most important things in UK. The House of Parliament (legislature) to the east, the Whitehall (executive) to the west, the Supreme Court (judiciary) to the north and the Westminster Abbey (church) to the south.
  2. Being arguably the most important square, the Parliament Square has 11 statues and not all of them are British. How amazing is that. Along with 8 British statesperson (its all men though), the sqaure hosts statues of Abraham Lincoln, Nelson Mandela & Mahatma Gandhi. I was amazed that the Brits would be open enough to acknowledge some of the world leaders at their most important place.

You can read more about the Gandhi Statue on the Internet. And, the status is next to Winston Churchill

P.S: As an Indian,I could sort of compare Rajpath with the Parliament Square, but the Parliament Square seems so much in centre that I loved it.

Time Check: Change of Guard at 11 AM, and Parliament Square at around 11:30AM.

I couldn’t visit the Abbey for unknown reasons. They were not allowing visitors on the day, I presume because of the Sunday Mass.

Next Stop — 10 Downing Street. It’s about a 5 min walk from Parliament Square. Thanks to Top Gear and my idiocy, I had built up in my head that I could just walk up to 10 Downing Street. Sure, there will be armed guards and more who wouldn’t just allow me to ring the bell and meet Ms May, but I should be able to take a snap of the famous house/door. Why not after all? In the Top Gear’s India special, I remembered the trio waiting on the other side of road when David Cameron said to them, “Stay out of India”. What could possibly go wrong.

Top Gear’s India Special. The door is right there. Image Credits to the BBC

But low and behold, the whole lane was closed off. I couldn't get into Downing Street itself, let alone 10 Downing Street. Also, I guess talking to the guards wouldn’t have helped and so, I walked on.

The image I wanted vis-a-vis the image I got.

Rejected by 10 Downing Street, I decided to just walk the area along St James Park and Parliament Square. The next proper destination I had on my list was National Museum near Trafalgar Square. Oblivious to the fact that Trafalgar Square was so near, I just roamed for a bit along Parliament Street, the Westminster Bridge and the Embankement. Something quickly caught my attention.

Memorials along the Parliament Street, Embankment and St James Park

I saw lot of memorials acknowledging and paying respect to the sacrifices of the “common” people. It is quite a contrast to India where we celebrate icons from our freedom struggle. Somehow if we too celebrated the common people, maybe our society would be better woven and opportunities for politicisation would be much less. It was pleasantly surprising to see how one can celebrate common people while still not reducing the significance of the event.

While walking on the embankment, I saw the usual — London Eye, Westminster Bridge & more. I headed to Trafalgar Square for my next stop the National Gallery. Again, excuse me for the lack of research, but I just assumed National Gallery must be UK’s best since it had the word “National” in it.

As I approached Trafalgar Square, I saw huge crowds with the cops helping people get in queue and weirdly (or rather not), everyone was dressed in Green. Voila, it was day after St Patricks Day celebration. And the celebrations were at the Trafalgar Square which was dressed in Green. The celebrations were just getting started and I didn’t have time to wait, so I carried on.

Image sourced from Londonist.com || Yoda outside the National Museum

Well, to keep it simple I don’t particulary understand art and thus didn’t have much to do in National Gallery. I figured I can’t appreciate art and breezed out the place within 15 minutes or so.

Time Check: 12:30ish PM. I had a Lion King musical to attend at Lyceum Theatre (more about it later), and thus had another 90mins on hand.

My pursuit for another museum took me to British Museum which was single tube ride on the Piccadilly line. I’ve been to METS in NYC, but still British Musesum seemed like the best mueseum. I had a couple of granola bars before heading in(Granola Bars & Trail Mix helps on urban tours as well).

British Museum had a special exhibit on the American Dream

Anyone who’s been to British Museum would agree that an hour in British Museum is like having a single chips wafer. It will leave you wanting more. I absolutely loved it even through I visited only a couple of sections completely. Their exhibit on “Cradle to Grave” showcasing all the medicines / medical devices an individual consumes/uses from birth till death. Even more remarkably they showed women & men seperately. The simplicity and yet the depth left me in awe.

I could go on and on, but I’ll rather not. They had lots of awesome stuff. I’ve shared their instagram page below for you to check out.

Time Check: 1:53PM. I had spent way more time than I had planned at the British Museum. For a guy who reaches the movies 20 mins before it starts, reaching a musical late was shameful.

Grabbed a Egg Crossiant at the Starbucks opposite to British Musesum for my lunch and ran to the Tottenham Court Road Station. Tube to Charring Cross, and then again ran to Lyceum Theatre. I was about 10mins late, and panting heavily. Thankfully, the folks at Lyceum had everything ready, and they escorted to my seat. In true Lion King way,

Hakuna Matata

Okay, a bit of history. The Lion King part was sort of planned. During my time in Vegas, I saw a couple of Cirque du Soleil but I never caught a musical in my short trip to NYC. So, a musical was always on my list. So, in the morning I booked myself a ticket for Lion King. And, as I left theatre around 5pm, my heart was content. The London trip was coming to an end, and I had nothing on list really (except Fish & Chips — again from the Top Gear trio).

I walked the streets somewhat aimlessly but in the general direction of Soho Square. Going past the Royal Opera House, I could only sense a missed opportunity. Then the streets were lined with clothing outlets, and as I reached Soho Street, the restaurants were abundant. I’m guessing Fish & Chips isn’t a London speciality, but I still wanted to have it. I came across a ‘The Cambridge’ near the Palace Theatre, and settled in for a Cod & Chips and a Beer. The day was well spent after all.

Images sourced from TripAdvisor. I seldom click pictures of my food

There was one last thing before I headed back. I wanted to visit a famous desert place by the name Patisserie Valerie. It was similar to my desire to visit Flurrys everytime I go to Calcutta. So, I visited Patisserie Valerie and picked up quite a few pastries for my niece and nephew. Then headed to Tottenham Court Road Station and back to Ickenham in the beloved London Tube.

One of the best things I saw on the Tube Station.

Time Check: 8:30PM & I have about a 45 minute tube ride to Ickenham

So, that was my, well about 8–10hours roaming in London (or rather just Zone 1 of London). But I’m happy and in the end that’s what counts.


Prologue: The previous day when I took some time out with my sister-in-law, I did visit the iconic Twinning Tea Shop.


To summarize:

  1. Buckingham Palace & Change of Guard — Not so special
  2. Parliament Square — Wowed
  3. 10 Downing Street — Not Allowed
  4. National Gallery — I don’t understand art
  5. British Museum — Wowed, again
  6. Lion King @ Lyceum Theatre — Super-wowed
  7. Soho Street — Nice way to end the day
  8. Fish & Chips @ The Cambridge— I prefer Sorshe Ilish ;-)

mymuddyshoes

Travel in general, & Hiking in specific

Hemanshu Das

Written by

Avid trekker & love to travel

mymuddyshoes

Travel in general, & Hiking in specific

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