London (Top 10 free things to do)

To a girl from the countryside the journey to London just seems romantic and exciting. Going through cities and seeing many fields through the window before having to change at Birmingham and take the other train towards the glamorous hustle and bustle of the capital. The place gives me the same excitement now as it did when I left high school and ventured down to the big city with a friend. Before then it was just a faded memory from my childhood. There’s the excitement of the underground I still get as I stand on the left of the long escalators pulling you deep into the heart of the city. I just love navigating through the maps of coloured lines leading to places I’d never been. For me nothing beats coming out the station at Charing Cross and popping your head out into Trafalgar square.

London is such an exciting and fun place in my mind. It will always have the appeal and I’ve never lived closer than 3 or 4 hours away from London. Even when choosing my uni choices I considered it until I looked at the cost of living and settled on a very different capital instead. As I’ve visited London on so many occasions, its hard to write about one experience alone so I’m going to do a summary/guide. I’ve decided to list my favourite and in my opinion the best 10 free things to do in London:

1.  The Natural History Museum – Without a shadow of a doubt the best museum of all the London free ones! There’s so much to do it can take almost a full day so pack a lunch and be ready for dinosaurs, mammals and the restless earth as those are my favourite exhibits. You can also go and take pictures of headless dinosaurs (he does have head but there wasn’t enough room in the camera lens). Worth it but if you dislike crowds then weekends and school holidays are to be avoided!
2. The National Gallery – London’s best gallery and so fascinating. The best rooms show Van Gogh and Monet but there’s so many other fantastic pieces of artwork. The only down side is that only 5% of paintings are done by women but we can’t have it all!! 
3. Trafalgar Square – once you’ve come out the gallery then you have no choice but to stare at Nelson on his column, gaze at the installment on the 4th plinth (in changes yearly) and soak up the atmosphere of central London.
4. Buckingham Palace – Who doesn’t love to see if the Queens in residence? Changing of the guard 10.30am/11am daily during the summer (get down early to catch your spot) is something that cannot be missed. The whole show lasts about 30 minutes but is very impressive for the guardsmen.
5. The science museum – It’s a great museum, next door to the NHM with lots of activities but I personally don’t enjoy the museum as much as others around London. Got lots for kids and has some great events so always a busy place and the space exhibit is really worth it.
6. The Houses of Parliament – This one is only free if you plan FAR FAR in advance! I managed to get a guided tour and tickets to the public gallery after writing to my local MP and securing the trip far in advance. Otherwise if you want to visit inside it costs about £25. But if even if you don’t go inside, you still need to stand by St Stevens tower and take a picture of big ben!
7. The Imperial War Museum – This is another classic free museum in London. If you are interested in the World Wars, Cold War and everything else war related this really is the place for you. There’s a very harrowing Holocaust exhibit which I think is by far the best part but there’s also a life sized WW1 trench and a room full of tanks and bombs.
8. The London Eye – This isn’t free and can cost a lot to go up inside it but I recommend just watching it. I find it a real feat of engineering and great to watch across the skyline. 
9. Hyde Park – Worth going around while you’re visiting London. Big open space right in the middle of town!
10. Last but not least : The Victoria and Albert Museum, this one has a lot of different exhibits and has so many floors of things to see and do.

That’s not everything there is to do in London I can think of Picadilly circus, going to Hamleys, walking around Harrods, the Dungeons, Tate Modern and Tate Britain just to name a few but I hope this helped fellow travellers off to visit London anytime soon.

Enjoy – it’s my favourite capital city!

 

 

 

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