London- One of the best experiences I've had

London is one of the most metropolitan and eclectic places I've been to.

When we went there, the weather was absolutely horrible. It rained a lot, and there was barely any sun. However, two out of three days there was sun, so it was quite okay.

First of all, even though I spent only three days there, I was thoroughly impressed by the Underground aka Tube. It is one of the most efficient and well-maintained local transport systems I have seen in my life. Reminiscent of Mumbai's local, except way cleaner and with much politer people! Although it seems complicated at first, it took us only half an hour to understand it, and we used it throughout our stay. Our hotel was a bare three minute walk from Victoria Station, so we travelled everywhere using the tube. Surprisingly, I think that the Underground is going to be the part I will miss most about London.

Our hotel demonstrated the London space crunch in a not-so-pleasant way. Our hotel room was absolutely minuscule! And they had crammed two double beds, a closet, a chair and a dresser in that much space. Plus, there was no elevator, only stairs. And we had ten bags. Five carry-on and five check-in. So we ended up leaving most of our luggage in the lounge downstairs. Breakfast was served in the basement, and it was very disappointing. Cereal, Milk, juice, tea or coffee and toast served by an extremely hostile waitress. I have no idea what was wrong with that female, but whenever we asked her for another rack of toast, she would glare at us like we were committing a crime. And the most annoying part was that she would only treat us like this. I suppose it was because we're Indians or something. In any case, I found her exceedingly irritating. But our hotel made up for its faults with its prime location.

In our three days, we spent most of our time searching for something unexpected: toilets. My dear brother had to use the bathroom every half an hour. Wherever we went, my mother made it a point to find out where the nearest toilet was, so that we could take him when he needed to go. Luckily, it being London, all the toilets were impeccably clean. Of course, it did put a bit of a damper on things when my dad started to yell at both my mother and my brother. Typical of him. He yelled at my brother for having to use the toilet so much, and he yelled at my mother for supporting "this madness". Not so strangely, I agreed with him completely. My brother was being an incredible spoilsport, and I did want him to get what he deserved. My mother, too, was being a bit biased. Okay, understatement. She was being really, really, really biased. If I was in the same situation, she wouldn't have run half a mile in the rain (she did that for Omkar). Okay, enough cribbing.

Now, about London, like, actual London. It is one of the most beautiful cities I have seen. With lots of greenery, a state-of-the-art transport system, an exciting history and a large amount of random statues on every street corner, it exactly the kind of city that appeals to me. We did so much walking each day that by night all our feet and waists were aching! We walked at least fifteen to twenty km per day. The problem is, cabs are just way too expensive and renting a car wasn't possible since my parents don't have international driving licences.

We spent ages just doing museums! In three days, we saw The British Museum, The Natural History Museum, and The Science Museum. Each museum had a minimum of three floors, all filled with beautiful exhibits. Actually, each museum takes at least a day to view it fully, and we did these three and loads of other stuff in three days! So we didn't get to see all of them properly. However, whatever we saw was very interesting and informative.

In the Natural History Museum, we found out a lot of cool stuff about the earth in general, and we got more than our fill of cute stuffed animals! I guess I've never seen a better stuffed animal collection in my life!

In the British Museum, we saw various historical artifacts from places like Egypt, China, Japan, Greece, Persia, Mexico, Spain, Peru and India. It was fun, if a bit outdated and boring. Actually, I've seen stuff like that too much in my past for it to appeal to me. I did enjoy the exhibit about Egyptian mummification.

The Science Museum is reminiscent of the Tech Museum in the Bay Area. I enjoyed this museum the most. With informative exhibits on various scientific topics, it is a treasure house of information. There is also an area called 'Launchpad', where children can perform experiments on their own.

We saw all of the famous landmarks that put the 'L' in London. Trafalgar Square, Piccadilly Circus, The Tower of London, The London Eye, Big Ben.

The Tower of London is a castle where the monarchs of London used to live before the Buckingham Palace was built. We took an extremely informative and fun tour with an old 'Beefeater' with an above average sense of humour! He kept cracking jokes and making us all laugh. He answered the question that all of us seem to have - Why are they called Beefeaters? Apparently, they don't know either. After a tour of the Tower, we went to see the famous Crown Jewels that were on display. Yes, we did see the Kohinoor Diamond, actually, in front of us. I was completely dazzled by the display, and a bit angry too. What right do they have to such splendor when there are people dying in the streets? Not fair, but I won't elaborate.

The ride on the London Eye was amazing. For those of you who don't know, The London Eye is a huge Ferris Wheel, built smack on the bank of the River Thames, about a five-minute walk from Big Ben. It offers spectacular views of the city. And we got lucky, because the moment we went up, the sun came out. It was beautiful! We took loads of pictures and soaked up the sun.

Trafalgar Square was nothing like I imagined it, but it was still nice. We met a colleague of my father's there. His wife had brought food with her, and can you imagine what we did? We sat in Trafalgar Square and ate veg biryani and mango shira! I had so much fun, and the people all around were looking at us as though we were mad.

Piccadilly Circus was overwhelming. Seeing so many huge billboards and screens made me seem insignificant, even to myself (horrors! can you imagine that?) I wonder, how much do you think renting a billboard would cost there?

However, out of all of these, My ABSOLUTE favorite was the National Gallery. The National Gallery is the British Government's collection of paintings, which is open for public viewing. It has paintings by almost all the influential painters in Europe. We took a guided tour, and the lady described a few paintings and told us their history. It was belittling to look at works by some of the greatest artists in the world. I had seen many of the pieces before, and it was hard to imagine that people like Rembrandt and Van Gogh actually moved brushes over the canvas with their own hands and we are getting to see it now. We spent only one afternoon there, and it so totally wasn't enough! If you told me to spend a week in there, I would do so happily! I truly enjoyed it, and will definitely go back to London if only to see the rest of the paintings in the Gallery!

But the best part? ALL of the museums and the National Gallery were completely free of cost. Absolutely no money for tickets. In some places, even guided tours were free. It seems that since they are tourist attractions, if they charge money, then tourists will stop coming. Plus all of these are government-owned things. Cool, huh?

So, all in all, my London trip was a great success. Lasting regrets are a lot though: I did not see Westminster Abbey, Madame Tussuad's, and could not complete all of the museums and the National Gallery. I also wanted to see a proper London musical, which I could not. So, it seems I'll have to do another trip soon enough!

P.S. London is also added to my list of top favorite cities!

P.P.S. Will add more when I remember.