First taste of London
- Andrea
- Nov 22, 2023
- 13 min read
Updated: 6 days ago
A little bit of background 📝
I am writing this post in 2023, 27 years after our (W and me) first big adventure beyond Australian (and New Zealand) shores. I've kept the journals our travels, typed on an electric typewriter and bound in a book, complete with ticket stubs, pictures from travel brochures, and other printed records of the trip. I hope you find it interesting reading, both for the throwback to travelling in a different time and for the world wanderings themselves.
We'd saved for a year for the 6-week trip in July-August of 1996. It was a honeymoon of sorts, as three years earlier when we were married we had no money for one. I had dreamed of international travel (beyond my journeys between Australia and New Zealand, that is) ever since I was very young, so this trip was huge for me as it was a long time coming and I had a bunch of bucket list things to mark off. The trip was meticulously planned using travel guides and my book and tv knowledge of the world. No googling involved! It feels like a different time now, with information so easily at our fingertips. We knew what we wanted to see and experience back then, but it felt much more like heading off into the unknown than travel does today, especially being less contactable once leaving home, as we were in those days.
The post is part of a series of big firsts that we experienced on that trip:
the first long haul flight from Australia
the first time in the United States and Los Angeles
the first time in London (this post)
our first steps in Europe via a long weekend in Berlin
our first experience of a bunch of countries in Europe on a bus tour
the first time hiring a car in another country and driving around England, Scotland, and Wales staying in B&Bs.
💭I've added my reflections on what our first London visit meant to me at the end of the post and my most vivid and lasting impressions of our experience. |
Arrival in London🛬
Our first ever London experience was only a brief glimpse into the iconic city. We'd stopped over in LA for three days on the way to London from Australia and we spent two nights and one full day and two half days in London before flying to Berlin and then returning to London to join a 19-day Trafalgar tour of Europe. We were fortunate enough to stay with my friend, KP, who had been living in London for six years at the time. KP and I worked and flatted together in New Zealand in 1988 before I moved to Australia in 1989 and KP moved to London in 1990. KP had visited us in Australia in 1993 and now it was our turn to experience her new life in London.
We'd left LA in the evening of Tuesday 2 July 1996 and travelled 11 hours east across the US to London on British Airways. This is the one and only time I have flown to London from Brisbane via the United States rather than heading west via Asia and the Middle East. Flight time is around 10 and a half hours in addition to the 14 hours we'd travelled on day 1 of our adventure from Brisbane to Los Angeles via Sydney.
The flight wasn't full so we had a set of three seats to ourselves (bliss). The audio and lights weren't working in the cabin, so we managed to get some sleep. This was in the days before in-seat entertainment!
We were treated to a magnificent view of London as we flew in around noon on the following day. I was so excited to be realising my dream of visiting London! Again, there were so many firsts on this trip, the first of those being the Tube ride with KP to her East London home. There was a Tube strike that day so the journey took longer than usual and the carriages were super crowded. We'd never experienced so many people squashed into a small space like that before. I found the Tube overwhelming on that first visit, so complex compared to public transport systems at home, but I'm an old hand at it now after multiple trips to the city. I also remember thinking how dreary and depressing the area was around Heathrow and how challenging it must be to battle the Tube every day going to and from work.
Making the most of our first afternoon☑️
KP thought we might like to rest in the afternoon but we had so little time in London that we wanted to make the most of it despite the dreary afternoon. The cold weather was something of a shock, especially after the heat of LA. Now I understand London weather but back then I was amazed at how cold it was for summer. The drizzly and cool weather didn't deter us, though, and we were treated to a whirlwind tour around central London on that first afternoon. I could scarcely believe I was there! We saw so many iconic places! I know it sounds a bit twee now, but back then, seeing those famous places for real was such a thrill.
This is us at Covent Garden, now a shopping and entertainment hub in the West End and once a flower and vegetable marketplace. The Royal Opera House (bottom shot) is one of the key buildings in the area, dating back to 1732, although the current building is the third on the site, built in the 19th century after fires destroyed the previous two buildings. We're standing in front of the London Transport Museum. We didn't have time to go inside but I did so on a subsequent visit. It's a super cool museum so check it's your kind of thing.
The weather was a bit rubbish that afternoon, but nothing could dampen our enthusiasm. These shots were taken in Central London, around Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square.
This is my first experience of Trafalgar Square, one of the most vibrant open spaces in the heart of the city. We only had time to take in the vibe, but there's lots to do in and around the square, including the National Gallery. The square is named after Britain's victory in the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson's Column is the square's showpiece, erected to recognise the contribution of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson in the battle.
We did have time for a pitstop at the café in the crypt under St Martin in the Fields church to the east of the Square. I had to pinch myself that I was sitting at a coffee shop under a church built in 1722. (Note that excavations in 2006 showed that the site originated as far back as 410AD, with its earliest mention as a church from 1222. Cool!)
We caught a glimpse of the two famous towers of the Palace of Westminster that afternoon, whetting our appetite for the further exploration we were to do the next day. Admiralty Arch can be seen in the below set, too, located south west of Trafalgar Square. It is actually a building, with arches that provide access to The Mall, leading to Buckingham Palace. The building was commissioned by King Edward IIV in 1910 as a memorial to his late mother, Queen Victoria. Sadly, in 2015, Admiralty Arch was transformed into a £100 million Armani hotel.
A whirlwind first experience of London💂🏼
We'd made the most of the previous afternoon after arriving in London, and then we had a full day to explore a bit further. In hindsight, I wish we'd had more time in London, but at least I have been lucky enough to return another eight times. Our first experience was a whirlwind but enough to make me fall in love with the history, architecture and green spaces of the city.
We used our full day to do a hop on, hop off tour on one of the famous double decker red buses. We packed a lot into the day but that's the beauty of London. The central part of the city is not all that big and it's easy to get around. We saw lots of iconic sights from the bus, even if it was cold and wet sitting up top in the open!
The hop on, hop off bus tour is touristy, but it's a great way to see a bunch of stuff in a short time on a first visit to the city. Finding your way around and trying to work out what to see in with limited time can be overwhelming, so I am glad we did the bus tour as a taster. I've seen the city in much more depth since, walking and taking the Tube. The hop on, hop off buses run every 30 minutes or so and you can get on and off wherever you like. There are different routes you can take, rangings from two and a half hours to three and half hours to complete the route if you don't get off.
In addition to the places we'd seen on our arrival the previous afternoon, we saw Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, 10 Downing Street, St Paul's Cathedral and Westminster Abbey, plus several famous streets like Baker Street and Fleet Street. We travelled over both London Bridge and the Tower Bridge. We hopped on and off at a few of those places, but our main stop was at the Tower of London where we spent a good chunk of the day.
We also went to Harrods, the highlight of which was using the loo, at a cost of $2AUD. I'd never seen a public facility so clean! It was also our first experience of sensors for toilet flushing and hand washing. It's funny to read my journal from back then and read my marvelling at new technology that is accepted as the norm now!
These are the mementos I have of our first Harrods experience. Honestly, I am not much of a shopper and the stuff in the store is neither my taste nor my budget, but wandering around the place is an iconic experience without the shopping. The best part of the store is the Harrods merch shop!
The highlight of the day was our afternoon visit to the Tower of London. The history nerd in me was all over it! It was so cool to wander around such an historic and important place and immerse ourselves in history. We saw Yeoman Guards and one of the six kept ravens. We also couldn't pass up the chance to take a touristy shot on the historic execution block, first thought to have been prepared for the execution of Simon Fraser, the 11th Lord Lovat in 1747. We had a picnic of quiche, cheeses, dips, crackers and fruit in the grounds and I absolutely loved it.
The Tower of London is an 11th-century fortress and royal palace built by William the Conqueror. It is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There are several areas open to the public" The Crown Jewels, the White and Bloody Towers, the Battlements, the Fusiliers Museum and the Royal Mint Exhibition.
One of the cool things about the Tower of London is the opportunity to view the Crown Jewels. The Jewels have been stored and displayed in the Tower since 1661! This site tells me that there are 23 578 gemstones in the royal collection. I am not sure if it's still the case, but when we visited, the Crown Jewels were encased in glass displays and visitors stood on a conveyor belt that circled the display cases. Awesome!
I bought a book on the Tower of London as I am a nerd. To be fair, this was the mid 1990s when we bought books on things and hadn't yet entered the era of Googling information.
We finished the day with a West End show, the 1994-1998 revival of Oliver, directed by Sam Mendes at the Palladium. It was incredible! The sets, the costumes, and the musical numbers were magnificent. I was worried that we wouldn't be dressed well enough as we were in our clothes from the day, but I was surprised to see patrons in both casual and more formal attire.
Squeezing the last bits in before Berlin🏃🏼♀️➡️
Our last day in London was really only a morning, as we were flying to Berlin in the afternoon. The flight package we'd purchased for our trip included return flights from London to a European capital. We chose Berlin as I had always been mad-keen on Germany and had learnt German at high school. Berlin wasn't on our itinerary for the European tour we were to start the following week.
Before we flew to Berlin in the late afternoon, we returned to Westminster Abbey for a closer look. We were lucky enough to have our morning snack in the cloisters listening to the faint sounds of a practising boys' choir. We didn't pay the (exorbitant even back then) fee to access the whole Abbey, but what we saw was enough to understand its size and magnificence. I remember thinking that the Abbey was bigger than I imagined.
I still have this beautiful sketch on a wall in my home, almost 30 years after buying it at the inevitable gift shop. Despite nine trips to London I am yet to see properly inside the Abbey, but I rather like just admiring it from the outside. The church is considered to be an architectural masterpiece spanning multiple centuries and it has been the setting for every Coronation since 1066. The original abbey was rebuilt in the 13th century in its current Gothic style.
Squeezing every last moment out of our time in London, we wandered along the Mall to Buckingham Palace, where we were fortunate to see an inspection of the guards at the Royal Mews. The palace isn't all that architecturally, but it is pretty cool to stand in front of such an iconic place.
Birdcage Walk and The Mall are pieces of London that have since become two of the places I most associate with my experiences of the city. The roads form a loop around Buckingham Palace, connected by Horse Guards Road. Birdcage Walk (bottom shot) is a street that runs along the south side of St James's Park, one of two beautiful green spaces that flank Buckingham Palace. (The Green Park is the other one.) Birdcage Walk is so named from the aviaries that used to house exotic birds in St James's Park during the reign of King James I, and part of the royal menagerie in the park. The Mall, running along the northern side of St James's Park, is a grand ceremonial road leading to Buckingham Palace, originally laid out in the 17th century. The top shot below doesn't quite capture it, but the Mall has a red tarmac, intended to look like a red carpet, as the road is used for royal parades and processions. The pretty tree-lined grand streets are a stunning part of the city.
I have returned to St James's Park on every visit to London since this first one and it remains my favourite park in London. I don't have any surviving photos from our first London wanderings, but the ones below were taken on my next visit in 2011. What a difference those 15 years made to photo quality!
One last wander before preparing for Berlin was around the edges of Hyde Park. We only had a little bit of time to soak up the vibe as we wanted to drop our big suitcases at the hotel where our European tour started from after our Berlin long weekend.
Our European tour started from the Tower Thistle hotel at St Katharine's Docks (now called the Tower Hotel) the morning after our return from Berlin. We only took hand luggage to Berlin for our three-day trip and that was so much better than lugging our big suitcases around. You might recognise the Tower Hotel from film and television, as the cafe with views of Tower Bridge often features in London productions.
On the way to the hotel we crossed Tower Bridge. I was so excited to stand on the bridge! I remember that there was an interesting mix of tourists, business people, and the homeless that I noticed walking alongside the Tower of London from Tower Hill station to the hotel. We lived in a city of around 120 000 people at the time, definitely not a tourist place and a good two hours drive west of our state's capital. We were so unused to the amount and diversity of people whom we encountered in London. It was an exhilarating experience for us and, at the risk of sounding clichéd, this first visit to London really broadened my view of the world.
I bought the below print from a stall near Tower Bridge. Again, I still have it on a wall at home and I love that I have this reminder of the city to glance at each day. The print cost £2, but it is one of my most treasured London mementos.
Our first taste of London was definitely just a taste even though we packed a fair bit into our time there. It was hard to take it all in, though, as I felt like I spent a lot of the time just in awe of the fact that we were there. This was a pre-Internet time, when you could only read about far away places or see them in film or on TV. It was more of a thrill, I think, than it is these days to set foot in place you have only dreamed about visiting. I feel in love with London the moment I stepped off the plane.
I was thrilled to see KP again. It was a privilege to stay with her and gain some understanding of her life in London. It's a much richer experience staying with a local than in a hotel.
This was my first experience of London of many more to come. It will always be meaningful for the "firsts" , including our first Tube ride and seeing iconic buildings for the first time.
London is noisy, crowded, and a little dreary, but history oozes out of its pores. Just being in the city is an unforgettable experience.
We were so wide-eyed back then. It's hard to describe that feeling now. Social media was not a thing, so it a big deal to see a city that had seemed so magical and faraway.
The cold and dreary weather was a shock after the heat of LA. We live in a hot place so it was an eye opener to have such a different experience of summer.
There are so many small moments that left an impression: Tower of London picnic, hearing choristers in the cloisters of the Abbey, walking over Tower Bridge, sitting on a double decker bus, to name just a few.
Even though our time in London was brief, it whet my appetite for future experiences. I've been lucky enough to visit London eight times since that first trip. Although I have seen so much across those experiences, there are still places to explore. London feels like a city never to be tired of, where no amount of time spent there would feel like you had seen everything.
If you're interested in reading about my subsequent London wanderings, check out the posts on my 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2022 (April and November), and 2023 trips. London is still one of my favourite cities in the world. You can also read about the next part of our journey on our first foray into the world - our Berlin wanderings...
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