London Tour

I had to switch hotels today, requiring me to move my bike and luggage to the new one. After that I had some time to waste, so I hopped on a train that took me to the Waterloo terminal, which was close to many interesting sights.

I walked from the train station to Westminster. It turns out Westminster is its own city, but it has most of the parts of the British Government.

I got to see the Palace of Westminster, featuring Big Ben. The palace also holds the House of Commons, although I didn’t go inside to see that.

Across the street was a rally taking place in Parliament Square, so there were a lot of people with flags and signs. Also present were plenty of police and many road closures and diversions.

I checked out the outside of Westminster Abbey, and then wandered over to Buckingham Palace. I couldn’t see the King, and there was a closed fence in front so I wasn’t able to get too close to the famous guards.

I then wandered off to get some lunch and then to the train station to start my return back to the hotel. The Victoria station is huge and it was quite confusing as to where I needed to go to catch my train. I bought a ticket but it turned out to be the wrong ticket, which I discovered after going through the turnstile and not finding a train going where I needed it to. After chatting to a couple of helpful staff, I got pointed to the Underground, which is a separate system from the one I had bought my ticket to. So, time to buy another ticket, or, as I ended up doing, just wave my phone at the turnstile. After that, I navigated the maze underground and finally found my platform. It was a good thing I didn’t need to be somewhere in a hurry, but it all worked out and I got back to my hotel with no more problems.