London is the capital and also the largest city in the UK. It has a population of about 9 million people. The city is filled with rich history and a lot of interesting stories and events that took place there. Because of that, it attracts around 30 million tourists each year.
This year, on March 11th, 9th graders from Višnja Gora, along with 9th graders from classes A and D from Stična, were one of the tourist groups to visit this historical city for three days.
On the first day, we saw a suburb of London, where we got an insight into how Londoners lived their lives. They resided in typical houses made of red and brown bricks. Most of them were the same as if someone copied and pasted them there. The biggest shocker, though, was how they dispose of their trash bags. You could see many bags just lying on the sidewalk. While seeing this, we also noticed a lack of litter bins around the suburbs and even the main city. You’d be lucky to find a litter bin to throw away your trash.
While on the topic of central London, there we saw multiple buildings and monuments such as Buckingham Palace, Victoria Memorial, Big Ben, London Eye, London Bridge and others.
After walking for hours and visiting different sites, we were allowed the freedom to roam the streets of Piccadilly Circus. There we bought some souvenirs and ate cheap fast food. Most of us chose Mcdonald’s, which was a poor decision because a lot of us didn’t get the order we wanted and even one of us got scammed. The food was also not the best, especially the McNuggets.
Finally, we went back to our hostel, Premier Inn, where we rested our sore legs.
On the second day, we visited the Shakespeare Globe, the Millennium Bridge, the Cutty Sark, the Monument to the Great Fire of London and many more. On Oxford Street, we were again given the freedom to explore and tame our hunger for food. Again, a lot of us chose Mcdonald’s as our go-to, and it was better than the one in Piccadilly Street. After eating, we just walked around and bought more souvenirs to take home with us. In the end, we walked about 20.000 steps that day, which is about 16,60 km, from nine in the morning to eleven in the evening. To say we were tired was underestimating it.
On the third day, we were all still tired from yesterday, our legs aching and screaming for rest. But before we got our well-deserved rest, we visited the National History Museum. There we could see dinosaur fossils, remains of our human ancestors, minerals, insects and other animals, experience an earthquake simulation and so on. The museum was absolutely huge, so, of course, we couldn’t look at it whole in just an hour and a half. But in that hour and a half, we enjoyed ourselves to the fullest.
Finally, it was time to board the plane and fly back home. The flight back was calm and relaxing for some, and an opportunity to talk about the most random things to others. After the flight, we landed in Slovenia and we quickly met up with our parents, who took us back home where we could finally, properly, rest.
It was a tiresome journey in London, walking almost all day for three days straight, but it was a fun one too. We experienced something that not a lot of people do in their lifetime, and we will cherish the memories we made there forever.
Tanaya Kamnikar, 9.V
