...and the rest of Europe

So I had said goodbye to all of my friends, packed my backpack, shipped things home, closed my Swiss bank account (unfortunately), and I was ready to go explore again. For the first 10 days of my trip, I decided to hit up the remaining major cities in Western Europe - London, Brussels, Amsterdam!

So first up, London.

It was an intimidating city, just from the number of sights and museums that the Lonely Planet had listed. Of all of the cities that I had visited in the world so far, I think London has the most recognizable must-sees, as popularized by novels and movies. So the first obligatory wander-around of the city on the first day...oh wait, yeah I can't get anywhere without getting on the tube. Problem #1. At least it was sunny...oh wait, it's raining every 30 minutes. Problem #2. So these were my first 2 sentiments about London. But maybe I was being a Negative Nancy because I was sad to leave Lausanne and was just taking it out on London.




To be completely fair, looking back, the 5 days I spent in London were rather spectacular. I met up with a friend from U of i who is now studying in London, and I met all of her friends at a lovely picnic - in the city center! So many huge parks! And it's absolutely fantastic that all of the museums are free. Hell, I even went to the National Gallery just to pee one time.



And another side note. Mom, Dad, if you're reading this, I want you guys to know that A LOT of childhood memories flooded my mind when I saw the painting at the National Gallery that used to hang in our living room growing up.

As always with many of the European cities, the Free Walking Tour turned out to be the highlight of the trip. Though disappointed with the city tour (can't really walk the city), I was very pleased with the old city tour. The London was we know it now is a congregation of small districts, and only a part of the city is really London. This was much more copact and do-able in 3-4 hours. I learned a lot of random facts about the Millenium Bridge, the Beefeaters, the London fire, the Bank of England, etc etc.




The nightlife was so-so. I went out 2 of the 4 nights, one of them being a great pub crawl. It was just so damn expensive! But I'm glad to say that I partied at the Ministry of Sound until the wee hours of the morning.

Oh yeah, and I found some guy in a Star Wars costume planking.



All in all, it was a city of extremely highs and lows for me. Loved the museums, hated the weather, loved the atmosphere, hated the enormity. I'd give the city a 3.5/5.