Mirjam in London

Today were our last day in London which was really sad, it’s been a wonderful and fun trip and I would have loved to stay longer, especially when the weather were so great.


Yesterday we went to the design bureau SeymourPowell so today we swapped with the other half of our class and we went to the design museum. We took the tube to Tower hill and from there we walked the rest of the way to the museum. On the way we crossed Tower Bridge, which I thought was really cool, it was very beautiful painted in blue and white along the railing. Though I can’t say I was equally impressed with the design museum, it’s not a good judgement when you find the gift shop more interesting than the actual exhibition. Okay I’m not going to be all negative. The exhibition had a lot of cool stuff but I didn’t feel inspired of it, which was the intension of our visit.

Tower Bridge

When we felt we didn’t have anything more to see we were free to go and me and some friend went to Oxford Street for some last minute shopping. We only had about an hour before we had to go back to our hotel and catch the bus to the airport so I didn’t buy much.


When we came to the airport we had a little time to kill which I spent getting rid of my last coins at the supermarket. The cashier was really kind helping me make out what all the coins were worth. I guess he was used to it. 

Wednesday morning we ate at the other breakfast area in the hotel and that place was slightly better. No McDonalds décor and better space but sadly it was the same plain food.

Although the breakfast was bad our mood soon lit up when we got out of the hotel. It was great t-shirt weather with brilliant shining sun. We went to our places once again and this time we did a lot of statistics on which kind of people that came by. I mentioned in my previous post that I interviewed a police man and I’m now gonna deliberate a little on what he told us. He was really nice to talk to and he knew a lot about the place, both from growing up in the area and through the work as a police man at Leicester Square. He said that during daytime there are a lot of children coming whit their parents or school classes to go to the cinemas and later in the evening older people come here to see shows, visit bars, restaurants, and nightclubs. But it isn’t just party here. The downside is the drunk and homeless that roams the place, increasing theft and generally ruining for other people. They usually hang out in the park in the middle of the square so now that the park is closed off for renovation there isn’t as much of that going on. He himself doesn’t usually come here on his free time because he lives to far away but he likes the place very much and think it’s a pleasant place to be, especially in the summer and the park is open.

 
Leicester Square at day

Something we noticed when we came to Leicester Square at night that it really is a night place. It’s a lot more people, the place is lit up with neon signs and facade lightning and everyone is trying to get us to visit just their club.

Leicester Square at night 

For lunch we decided to buy lunch at Tesco which is similar to Pressbyrån in Sweden, tough it’s cheaper. I bought a pasta salad, dried fruit and nuts and a bottle of water for about 45 kr. Then we sat out in the sun at Trafalgar Square and ate. It was really nice.

 
Sandra, Moa and me eating lunch at Trafalgar Square 

In the afternoon we split the class in half, the Leicester Square group and half the Bethnal Green group went to visit the SeymourePowell design bureau and the other half visited the design museum. The design bureau was in fact located in a lovely area whit small pretty houses and not in some big office complex in city which I thought. It was really interesting to see the place and hear they talk about their projects and design solutions.

On our way to SeymourPowell 

Later we went to London eye and met with all the others to take a Sightseeing boat on the river Thames. The guide told a lot of interesting things about the sights we went by but it was really cold on the boat although it was sunny and summer weather on land.

A collage of the boat trip and London Eye

After the boat trip we rode the London Eye which I thought was really boring since I already done that about a year ago and there was nothing new to see or take a picture of, but it was great weather and the sun was about to set so it was still very pretty.

When we came back down on the ground we walked a short distance to a restaurant which was very cosy decorated. Me and some friends passed the time before our food was served by staring at the people walking by outside the window to see if we got a reaction from any of them. Most people didn’t notice us but some looked really freaked out. That was great fun.

The breakfast at this hotel is not to recommend, it was really boring stuff to eat an half of it cost extra. On top of that the room itself looked like a McDonalds and just as busy. Tomorrow we are going to try out the breakfast place at the other side of the hotel to see if it’s any better, but I doubt it.

The McDonalds breakfast room. The butter was a weird yellow color and it all tasted a little off

After the breakfast we went to Leicester square again and this time we were people watching and interviewing by passers about what they were doing here and what they liked and disliked about the place. I interviewed among others a police man, who was really nice and he could tell a lot about the place.  So today I’ve spoken English quite a lot.

For lunch we went to China town and found a nice little restaurant that served a delicious Chinese buffet.

The restaurant and what I ate.

At the afternoon we were free to do whatever we wanted and me and some friends went to Oxford Street to do some shopping. Luckily I bought new shoes because after walking down Oxford Street and around in the stores my feet were pretty sore from my old shoes.

We ate dinner at a restaurant called Fire and Stone, located by Covent Garden. Then the Leicester Square group went back to Leicester Square to see what the place was like at night time. And it was a lot more crowded and all the lightning where on. Though I thought the place was a little too busy to e comfortable to walk around in.

Day and night at Leicester Square

Today we’ve done so much that it feels like I won’t remember all of it but I’ll try to do a summary anyway. We started out really early this morning and flew to London. At the airport we had a tour bus waiting for us and it took us on a very interesting and fun sightseeing tour all across London. We saw all the main tourist attractions like Big Ben, London eye, St: Paul’s cathedral and Buckingham palace, and also some parts of London I’ve didn’t even know existed. I particularly liked the pretty pink/purple trash bins they had in East End. They lightened up the otherwise mainly gray area.

After the tour we came to our hotel and checked in. Our room are okay but they could have decorated it much better and the fluorescent bed lightning is just awful.

When we were rid of the bags and stuff we took the tube to our given places, in my case Leicester Square, to have a first real look at the place. The tube wagons here in London are really small compared to those in Sweden and it feels like the doors will chop your head off if you stand too close to them while closing. However at Leicester Square we gathered a lot of information about the place and I’ve come to like the place, mostly because all the colorful advertisement- and show posters. In the middle of the square there was supposed to be a park but it was now a closed off construction place so it was difficult to get a good overlook of the place and how the different streets are connected to each other, but I think that was just as good because I would probably concentrated too much on that park instead of the surrounding area.

We had some free time after that and we walked up to Covent Garden and looked on the market there and in some surrounding shops before retreating to the hotel for dinner. We had to take the tube one station and then walk for a while before reaching the restaurant, which wasn’t located in the hotel area as we’ve thought. At the restaurant we found out that one of the waiters were from Sweden so we really didn’t had to use much English there.

Then we went back to the hotel and had a little while to relax before going to bed.

A mix of day one

Our room

The very spectacular view from our window

Me and my class are going to London during week 12 for a project in design class. The project is about making a change to a place in London so that the life of the people there become easier, happier and more fun to live. Therefore the class has been divided into three groups each given a location; Docklands, Leicester Square or Bethnal Green. I'm in the Leicester Square group and on this blog I'll post what me and my group are doing during these four days.

I've made this blog for the English class and therefore this blog will be all in English. So while you're waiting for the next update you can take a look at the pictures above. They're from my previous visit to London, about a year ago.