I’ve been in England for almost two months and have completely fallen in love with this country of rolling green pastures, endless rain, and tea. And I’ve taken advantage of the fact that my university in Norwich is only about an hour and a half outside of London, making visiting the city easy to do on the weekends.

London is the capital of England, a vast, thriving metropolis and now my home away from home. With so many different neighborhoods offering a myriad of food, entertainment, shopping, and exploration options, one could never get bored. I love to spend weekends visiting London, usually by taking the Megabus for only 10 pounds (about 20 dollars) round trip.

The three hour trip usually taken early in the morning lets me get some much needed shut eye before the sun wakes me up as we enter the city. Amazingly, London can be seen from 45 minutes away from the highway. Many of the major buildings that make up its famous skyline on either side of the Thames can be seen glittering in the distance like Emerald City, but without all the green.

One of the newest additions – the Shard, looks like a giant thick needle, double the height of most other London buildings. If you book advance tickets, for 24.95 pounds you can gaze upon London from its top floors.

The Megabus also takes you past the old Olympic Stadium where they will be opening up the aquatic center March 1, 2014. Other parts can be seen via a tour, and eventually football (soccer) games will be played their by West Ham United. Then you are brought to Victoria Coach station, which can also be reached by airport cabs from Heathrow Airport.

Buckingham Palace

On one trip to London, I strolled through the touristy Colonnade, just off of Buckingham Palace Road, which contained numerous tourist trap shops. I stopped to buy some postcards and a “Mind the Gap” sticker for my laptop. The “Mind the Gap” comes from the amount of times the automated voice says “Mind the Gap” when riding the Tube.

After resisting the urge to stop at the McDonald’s, KFC and Subway that littered the strip, I continued north along Buckingham Palace Road and happened upon a tiny park with a cool statue about fifteen feet tall of a man upside down with his head in the ground titled “Alien” By David Breuer-Well. After I munched on a snack I brought (London is pretty expensive so I packed my own snacks,) I followed the throng of people heading towards Buckingham Palace.

There were hordes of people outside the gates on the bright, sunny Sunday morning. Curious, I stayed and listened to all the different languages, translating the ones I understood so I could figure out what was going on. Eventually, I discovered that I happened upon the Changing of the Guard which occurs every day in the spring and summer and every other day in autumn and winter at 11:30 a.m.

The whole thing was pretty exciting as the guards, policemen on horses and band came down the road like a parade as the crowd ran back and forth from the fence and sidewalk edge every time they went in and out of the gates.

When you go to Buckingham Palace there are three main gates. My best advice  would be to walk past the first two and settle for a spot along the fence to the right side of the middle gate where most of the action happens. Be wary though of pickpockets as this is a prime place for thieves to do their work.

After the Changing of the Guard, maybe an hour long event in total, I was feeling quite hungry so I took my pre-packed lunch and walked through Hyde Park, sitting on a bench next to “The Serpentine,” a man-made pond. Try getting food beforehand because the food stands and small shops within the park have exorbitant prices, some as crazy as the equivalent of 12 dollars for a single hotdog!

If you venture further you can see the Kensington Gardens where Kate and William are living in Kensington Palace for 13.50 pounds for adults and 11.16 for students. The Kensington Palace is a museum of what the house looked like throughout it’s history. It also includes exhibits on women’s royal fashion over the ages, “Fashion Rules,” and an exhibit on “Victoria Revealed.” This self-guided tour takes about two hours to enjoy at a relaxed pace.

The Museums

Afterwards, I took the Tube or the Underground Piccadilly line from Hyde Park Corner to Holborn station. The Tube can seem confusing at first but is actually very well planned out. There are free Tube Maps in every station. Tickets can also be bought by using your debit or credit card, so make sure you have it on you to buy your ticket. You can buy one trip (getting there and back) for about four pounds or you can buy an Off Peak Day Pass for zones 1 – 6 (all the major attractions and main part of London are within these zones) for 8.90 pounds which I found very useful for getting around.

Once you get your ticket, hold onto it because unlike in America, you need your ticket to get in and out of stations! I almost got stuck in the station because I forgot about this and thought I had thrown out a one trip ticket. You can get into a lot of trouble if you don’t keep them on you for the duration of their use, whether you are riding bus, train or subway. These Tube tickets can also be used on buses and trains within the zones you chose.

Then, from Holborn station, I walked about five minutes to the colossal British Museum, a collection of artifacts from Ancient Europe. Some highlights include the Rosetta stone, yes the actual Rosetta stone, it is an actual object beyond what you learn about in history class. Numerous mummies, the controversial Elgin Marbles (Parthenon Sculptures), the Assyrian Winged Bull, the Nereid Monument, the Portland Vase and much more are all on display. One could spend hours here walking through time all at no cost for the main exhibits (special exhibits have a separate fee!)

Nearby (only a Tube stop or two away) is King’s Cross where (if you’re a Harry Potter fan like me) you can wait in line to take a picture in front of Platform 9 ¾. The station has staff that takes your picture, gives you a choice of House scarf to wear, as well as tosses it in there air to make it look like you are running though the wall. Inside the Harry Potter shop pictures can be bought, along with other touristy trinkets but I advise having a friend or someone in line take a picture for you on your own camera: then it will be free.

Before you get in line though, grab a hot pasty (meat pie) from the Pasty Shop for a couple of pounds and enjoy the delicious treat while you wait in line for about 30 – 45 minutes. I had a delicious chicken and mushroom pastry and was able to finish it with plenty of time to get ready for my photo op.

Only a 10 minute walk away is the British Library where many famous works are held such as the Magna Carta, the second oldest Bible (the Pope has the oldest), the world’s earliest dated printed book The Diamond Sutra, the sole surviving manuscript copy of the poem Beowulf, one of Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks, and much more. It gets half the amount of visitors as the British Museum but is just as amazing, and well worth a visit.

After, if you time it right, you can take a Tube to the Southbank and stroll along the promenade as the sun sets behind Big Ben and Parliament. There is also great people watching here, a local book flea market, a carousel, cotton candy, street performers and more. In addition, there is the London Eye, which you might spend an hour or so in line for, but is well worth the 20 pounds and wait in line to see London as it lights up, right as the sun is setting. I would aim to get there around 4 p.m. or 4:30 p.m. to time it right.

If you have the time, I would also recommend going to the National Gallery, which hosts so many famous works it would take forever to list them here. Basically, if an artist is important, they are in the National Gallery. Not to mention, it’s also free! The most striking part of the gallery to me was a small dark room, off of the main gallery. I walked in and found myself alone with a low lit Leonardo Da Vinci work. I sunk into the bench opposite the large sketch for a painting, taking in every pencil mark, every stroke, amazed at such beauty, even in an unfinished piece. A silent moment or two alone with Da Vinci made every other annoyance well worthwhile.

I could go on forever about London. There are so many cool neighborhoods, small shops and places to visit, each catering to a different experience. My advice is to just take a couple of days (at least) and explore everything London has to offer, go beyond the touristy areas and just walk around. Make yourself go into that pub and order some chips and beer; ask the bartender the coolest place they’ve been to in London. Take the Tube to a neighborhood you haven’t experienced like Camden with its awesome food market. Take a chance, chances are, it will make a world of a difference.

Vincenza Parella is studying abroad at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. She can be reached at [email protected].