London is a great city to visit. Having been there quite a few times now, the experience is always different. To celebrate my dad becoming special professor at the Leiden University, we decided it was time for a city trip.
My father, brother and I decided on staying in the beautiful St. Ermin’s hotel, right in the heart of Westminster. A nice old fashioned hotel, on crawling distance from Buckingham Palace. My hotel room had a view of New Scotland Yard.
We spent a lot of time walking through the city, seeing the sights, and actually for the first time ever, took a bus tour of the city. The bus tour was a surprisingly good decision, as it finally tied all the landmarks together in such a way that you actually get an idea of how the city is put together. A view usually lacking when visiting everything by tube.
At my brothers suggestion we spent one day going to the Harry Potter experience. I wasn’t a fan of the Harry Potter movies, but I am a fan of great setbuilding. And I wasn’t disappointed. The experience consists mainly of a museum of all the set pieces and props used in the movies. It’s great to see them up close, and to a surprisingly high degree, hold up to scrutiny. It’s all incredibly detailed.
Getting home turned out to be a bit of an issue; there was a general public transport strike on the day we left. Keeping a watchful eye on events as they unfolded over a few days, we finally decided to just book a taxi in advance, and take enough time to get out of the city, which was predicted to be completely gridlocked. Driving through the city of London in a taxi is an experience in itself. Dodging tourists and weaving the car through tiny streets, the good man managed to get us to the airport, somehow.