Hamsterita's Ramblings and Photos

[Thin Lizzy]

That's what makes us great hammy owners, when we talk about and learn from past experiences and mistakes.
I love a good ramble, rambling is a must Hamsterita!

[Hamsterita]

As I said in the first post, today I'm going to show you some photos of my tavel to London, that way you can see your city (or a part of your country or just another city) from a tourist perspective.

I went there with my bf on the summer of 2015. We stayed one week and we had a lovely weather. I didn't spent much time seeing anything in particular but I tried to see all the typical places (except for the Tate, that for us was totally expendable). For instance, I didn't visit the whole National Gallery, but I was there watching a few pictures, and I tried to visit all the important museums, but I only stayed a long time in the ones that interested me the most.

It was hard for me to select some pictures, because in most of them I'm showing my face and I didn't want to spent time a lot of time covering it and neither I feel confortable showing it to everybody. Anyway if you like this post I can show you more photos another day.

The day that I enjoyed the most was the day that I went to the Imperial War Museum in the morning and to The City and roundabouts in the afternoon.

I didn't know the existence of the Imperial War Museum, but when I was looking for information of London and I learnt of its existence I knew that I had to go there. Apparently it isn't well known among the citizens either, because we asked for directions to went there from the closest underground to several people and only one person knew about it, but he didn't know how to go there either. I don't like History, but I like the History of the World War II, I think we all should know more about it, about how mean the human being can be, and try to learn from our mistakes and never make them again. It was very interesting to visit. It's where I spent more time compared with the other places where I went.



Another thing that I found fascinating was the contrast between the regular old buildings and the skyscrapers. Where I live houses usually are new, it's strange to see a building older than 30 years or so, so imagine how it feels to walk around streets where all the buildings are from another century. And in my city there aren't skyscrapers, I've seen some in Madrid and Barcelona but there aren't a lot of cities in Spain were you can find skyscrapers. So it was even more strange to me to see those huge buildings so close to really really old and tiny buildings.



I would have love to visit the London Tower from the inside, and even more the HSM Belfast but we didn't have enough time.



I also was surprised by the size of St. Pauls Cathedral. My parents had told me that it was huge, but you don't understand how huge it is till you see it. I took this photo from the... milenium? bridge (there were a lot of bridges, I don't remember exactly what bridge it was) when I first had a good sight of it, and I decided that I would take more photos of it when I was closer, but later on I couldn't do it because when I was closer it was impossible for me to fit the Cathedral in the picture.



It may sound weird but I was also amazed by the underground. Everybody said to me that it was really big and that it was hard to don't get lost in there or make mistakes choosing the right line in the right direction. It's true that it's really big, but I found it very easy to understand, and I was particularly surprised by the order. There were signs everywhere telling you what side was meant for each direction, everybody followed lines, there were one line for people that didn't want to run and another one for people that wanted to walk in the stairs... I loved it. I wish we were so organized here. We were near Angel station because our hotel was in Illington.



I know that Angel Station has the longest escalator in Europe (or something like that). I have a photo of them but I couldn't find it at first sight.

As I said, I have tons of photos of that trip. If you liked them I can share some more.

[cypher]

It was interesting to read about London from your perspective Hamsterita, really enjoyed your photos, it's such a long time since I lived in London I'm still really surprised when I see photos of the newer buildings!
I can't believe no one knew about the Imperial war museum!
I used to love the underground too but it would be way to busy for me now I think!
I think you meant escalator when you said mechanical stairs!

[Hamsterita]

Yep, thanks for the correction, I've already edited the post

If you think that London underground is "too busy" you would die in Madrid underground. Everybody is pushing one another, the crowd walks wherever they want, in whatever direction, it's very chaotic compared with London underground.

[BorisPasha]

Lovely pics Hamsterita I've only been to London a couple of times when I was a child so I don't remember all that much apart from I didn't want to see any culture or history and just wanted to visit the toy shops, a famous one in particular

[Drago]

Very lovely photos! I've been dying to go to London, I've actually only been out of the US twice, once to go to Canada, and once on a vacation when I was really young (to a place I cannot recall). Glad to hear it is lovely there

[pinkneon]

I loved seeing London from a tourist perspective - I've never been to London really, only through it. I guess I find it too loud and busy - which sounds crazy considering I also live in a city, but my city isn't as big as London I really liked your photos

[Thin Lizzy]

I too loved my trip to London which was over 20 years ago, I did freak out at the pigeons, my friend was quite happy for them to land on her and was feeding them. Me, I nearly fell into one of the water features trying to make a run for it lol!
As for the underground, I thought over 20 years ago it was busy when we were on it and I felt claustrophobic then, There's no way I'd attempt it now.

[Hamsterita]

Originally Posted by BorisPasha

Lovely pics Hamsterita I've only been to London a couple of times when I was a child so I don't remember all that much apart from I didn't want to see any culture or history and just wanted to visit the toy shops, a famous one in particular

Do you mean Hamleys?? I loved it! I had tons of photos of Hamleys! They are all garbage because my camera was dying and I didn't have the charger (they lost my luggage in the airport for four days and the charger was in the luggage), and I had to use it with the lowest settings and without flash. It's a very interesting place, even my bf (that didn't want to go) enjoyed it.

Originally Posted by Drago

Very lovely photos! I've been dying to go to London, I've actually only been out of the US twice, once to go to Canada, and once on a vacation when I was really young (to a place I cannot recall). Glad to hear it is lovely there

And I would like to go to Canada and the US but it's freaking expensive. When we were planning that trip to London we saw a trip to Canada and US (NY and Niagara falls) and we were thinking about going there but it was a 14 days trip and I only had 10 free days... it was expensive but it was really cheap for what they were offering

I've been in a couple of places outside Spain in the last years, I didn't travel abroad till I was 18 because my parents back then hadn't a lot of money, but now with internet (and my bf's help) we find pretty good deals and sales.

Originally Posted by pinkneon

I loved seeing London from a tourist perspective - I've never been to London really, only through it. I guess I find it too loud and busy - which sounds crazy considering I also live in a city, but my city isn't as big as London I really liked your photos

It's very busy, I came back home more tired than when I left that's why now I don't want to spend all my holidays outside, because I don't have time to relax and rest.

Originally Posted by Thin Lizzy

I too loved my trip to London which was over 20 years ago, I did freak out at the pigeons, my friend was quite happy for them to land on her and was feeding them. Me, I nearly fell into one of the water features trying to make a run for it lol!
As for the underground, I thought over 20 years ago it was busy when we were on it and I felt claustrophobic then, There's no way I'd attempt it now.

I didn't see a lot of pigeons, there are more where I live. However I enjoyed watching the squirrels at Hyde Park.

[AmityvilleHams]

Sometimes you can get lucky with NY and not spend too much!When you book a flight in advance it's usually cheaper,plus the food there can be inexpensive if you get it from the right places.For example you can get huge slices of pizza for less than the cost of McDonalds,but if you go to fast food chains and certain restaurants you spend more on food.A lot of people expect NY to be expensive,but it all depends on what you buy and how you travel and things like that One day I'd love to go there myself,but for now I'll live that dream through family members and such!