London

The first time I went to London was in April 2004, and I must say I instantly fell in love with the city!! It's a wonderful mix of old and new, full of amazing places to visit and friendly people ... I strongly recommend anyone who hasn't been to London yet, to make it a top-priority! I'm hoping to be able to visit it again this summer, and in that case, I promise to write a detailed review of the journey and add it here!

For now, I figured, I'd write a little about some of the wonderful sites London has to offer! Most of them, I have visited myself, but I will also include some sites I'd love to see on future visits! Please note that all the pictures here are my own!

Oxford Street
Oxford Street - the world-wide known shopping street! -"What did you do today?" - "Oh, I went shopping on Oxford Street." Doesn't sound too bad, does it? I've actually only spent time on the western part of Oxford Street, from Marble Arch to Oxford Circus, but it's been terrific! The atmosphere alone is fantastic, and the shops are amazing!! I found this wonderful bookstore when I was there in September 2004, I think I spent a couple of hours in there! I could easily have spent an entire fortune, but managed to restrain myself to "only" about £35 ...
It would be nice to see what the "rest" of Oxford Street looks like. I guess that will be a future project!

Regent Street
I really like the way Regent Street curvs its way up from Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Circus. What is completely amazing is that all the houses and buildings follow the curve of the street! Unfortunately, I haven't managed to get a good photo of Regent Street, it's hard to find an angle that will really show the street's unique form.
The boutiques on Regent Street are a bit too exclusive for me, but I have been to the very impressive "toy store", Hamley's, and seen all six floors! Truly amazing! They have so much more than just toys, among other things really rare collectibles! I found a lot of James Bond stuff; large action figures of various actors (Roger Moore, Honor Blackman, Richard Kiel and more) and a lot of models of James Bond cars! Pity they were so expensive, I would have liked to buy at least something, but I just couldn't afford it!

Shaftesbury Avenue
One of the theatre main streets in West End, Shaftesbury Avenue cuts from Piccadilly Circus northeast up toward New Oxford Street. This particular street has a special mening to me, because on Shaftesbury Avenue you'll find Queens Theatre, which is currently showing Les Misérables, my number one, absolute, total, complete favourite musical ever!
I went to Queens Theatre to see Les Misérables both in April 2004 (with my Dad) and in July 2004 (with myu Mom), and ... well, I don't think words can describe my experience! However, Shafesbury Avenue wasn't the nicest place when I went there in April ... in a huge thunderstorm!! To say it rained a lot is the understatement of the century ... My Dad and I - and a whole lot of others - entered the theatre completely soaked! I guess I can laugh about it now, but I didn't exactly find it amusing at the time!

Hyde Park / Kensington Gardens
It wasn't until my third visit to London, in September 2004, that I came to realize that Hyde Park was only one part of the huge park, I had always thought all of it was called Hyde Park! But when I was out taking a morning walk I took the time to read some information signs and realized that one part was actually called Hyde Park, the other one was Kensington Gardens.
My first experience in the park was on my first trip, in April 2004, when my Dad and I walked from Queensway through Kensington Gardens down to Royal Albert Hall. We passed Kensington Palace (but didn't go in) and Round Pond. We also saw signs to the Peter Pan statue, which I would have loved to see, but there just wasn't enough time.
One funny thing I experienced in Hyde Park ... I was on my way to the hotel one day, and suddenly a man kneeled on the grass before me. When I got closer, I saw that he was feeding a squirrel, that actually ate from the man's hand! So cute!!
Other than that, I haven't seen much of Kensingtond Gardens or Hyde Park, expect for that wonderful, brisk morning walk in Hyde Park on my third trip.
The park is enormous, and I'd like to explore more of it on future visits to London.

Bayswater
I've stayed in Bayswater on my trips to London, and that has worked out very well. If you don't want to pay a fortune, the hotels aren't the best you'll find of course, but they've been clean and nice, and that's after all the most important thing. It's not like I want to spend the entire time stuck in a hotel room anyway ...
I think Bayswater is an ideal place to stay - you don't have to pay the outrageous prices of the very central London, yet by bus (or underground) it is very easy to get around! You can easily reach Oxford Street, Regent Street and Piccadilly Circus in mabye 20-30 minutes - plus you get a bit of free sightseeing when travelling by bus! Also, there are quite a few shops and restaurants in Bayswater, if you don't feel like going into the city every night. Particularly Queensway has a lot to offer!

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