London is a city that I love and hate. I love everything there is to see and I hate that I never have enough time to see it all. I was pretty busy while in the UK but still managed to make time to make two trips into London. On both trips I was fortunate enough to have good friends show me around otherwise I’d probably have ended up on the news after being mugged and left for dead.

While in London I got to see Big Ben, Buckingham Palace (a bit tacky), the London Eye, Parliament House and my two favourite attractions; a haunted house at County Hall and the British Museum. I had my camera out most of the time and even the grey sky and constant drizzle couldn’t keep me down. What did get me down was getting lost. People in London, lovely though they are, do not like being stopped in the street. Perhaps it is the prevalence of begging and magazine subscription sellers, I ended up buying a book off a Buddhist Monk-in-training, which makes them walk on and pretend that they haven’t heard you talking to them. Honestly though once you make them realise that you aren’t trying to sell them anything they are quite happy to point you in the right direction, which is often the opposite to where I’ve been heading.

I think one of my favourite features of London is the statues and plaques on what seems like every corner. Some of them aren’t exactly exciting but others, like the statue of Winston Churchill, are amazing pieces of history. The old buildings also serve to make the skyline something attractive although sometimes only from a distance. It was pretty cool visiting 221b Baker Street where a certain famous detective was purportedly from, although it was full of slightly creepy statues that were just life-like enough to freak me out.

Sadly I couldn’t afford the zoo so that still remains on my list of things to do but the British Museum was amazing, sort of the treasure rooms of a now defunct empire and filled with all the associated spoils. The museum, like most of London, probably requires more time than I could give it but I still felt like I’d seen enough to satisfy me till the next trip. If you’re in London then visit the museum, you will not be disappointed.

But all too soon it became time to hop on a train home and I remembered why I hate London. One day I think I will have to make the time to truly appreciate it which may take months or even years but I think it would definitely be worth it.