The hustle of the crowds, the wonderful sites and it's excited pace makes London one of my favourite places to visit. This past year I've been given the opportunity to visit the city quite a bit. I get excited every time I get onto that train and travel London bound! There's so much to see and so much to do – you cannot possibly do it all in one day. Therefore, for this trip myself and my best friend wanted to just do as many tourist attractions as we could. No shopping!

My mum was kind enough to plan this trip, as I was very busy at work. She surprised me with the plans and told me she planned for us to retrace her and my dad’s footsteps - as it is something they did many years ago. If you didn’t know, my dad passed away last year, therefore this felt very special for me to be able to do.
So where did I go? 


Starting with the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The weather at the start of the day was atrocious but it soon brightened up for us! I was really amazed at the scale of the bridge and its beauty. If it hadn’t been such a misty and hazy morning, then I would have been able to snap a few beautiful shots! We didn’t go into explore these places as we really wanted to be budget friendly for the whole day! 





After walking over Tower Bridge we took a right and walked along the Thames, passing HMS Belfast. Moored to this boat was an absolutely massive ship, finding an article on the Daily Mail online this little beauty was worth £225million! And some wonderful dining experiences!



Afterwards we hopped back onto the tube to take us to green park. I love this particular park as it’s very quiet and tranquil - the perfect place to sit down on a park bench and eat our picnic! Of course, Green Park means Buckingham Palace – although I've been here a few times I still get crazily excited when I see the gates leading up to it.






From here we walked up the mall and through Marble Arch – I'd never walked up this particular road before, generally preferring to opt for St James' Park. But again this is beautiful to take a look back at Buckingham Palace at the end of the road.

As we entered Trafalgar Square it was nothing like I had imagined it to be, in my mind I'd pictured it very differently. It was so much bigger than I expected and Nelsons Column was so much taller. I loved standing at the top of the steps and taking a look down all of the different streets, all smoothly running round in a circle. We of course made a wish in one of the foundations. Then we took a stroll through The National Gallery – after walking around the majority of the place, we asked where the Monet and Van Gough exhibitions were, only to find they were closed! So sad!




Walking back through the Marble Arch we happened across  The Guard’s Parade, which holds a special place in my heart as my Great Grandad was one of the guards when he was a young man. Walking through and seeing the guards makes me think of him and the hard work they do each day. And out of respect, I try to never take a photo of them up close, as I imagine it can be irritable to constantly be photographed whilst trying to do your job.



Then onto Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament, a beautiful landmark to photograph but even more beautiful high up on the London Eye! Our experience of the London Eye was amazing and even more so because I had found a 2for1 voucher! Our highlight was definitely this part, though it was marred slightly due to the people who were in the pod with us, but never mind! These things do happen!





Finally, we went for a little dinner before heading back on the train and home!