London is a great and versatile city, where everyone can find something they enjoy. With nearly nine million inhabitants, you can tell that there is a lot to explore. It took me a lot of weekends to explore all different spots and I am still not done.
In this blog, I will give you insights into my life abroad as an au pair.
Living in Walton-on-Thames gives me the opportunity to go often to London, as it is just a 25-minute train ride.
London is known for its multiculturalism and its diversity. This is one aspect I particularly enjoy in London and that makes it so fascinating.
It was quite easy to make friends, because there are numerous au pairs in this region. I have the weekends off, so that is when we explore the city together.
Also, in school I met people from all around the world, which is a great way of exchanging and getting to know new cultures.
The first things I did in London was visiting several museums. The best thing about them is that most of them are free. I visited the Science Museum, the Museum of London, the Imperial War Museum, the National Gallery, Shakespeare’s Globe theatre and the Tate Modern.
Moreover, the different parks in London are really worth seeing. In the time before Christmas, there were many Christmas markets, for instance, the Winter Wonderland in Hyde park. London in general was very beautiful that time, everywhere was decoration and the whole city glowed.
Rain is not unusual in London especially in the winter. Obviously, there are activities for bad weather. I went to the cinema several times and visited the musical “Wicked”. There are also a lot of thrift shops with a lot of nice clothes.
But being abroad can also be hard when you miss your friends and family. I was lucky because my friend visited me in the half term holidays in February.
I planned the week ahead so she could see a lot of different things but that the week is not too exhausting. I planned trips for every other day. The first day we went to the Oxford street and went food shopping for the next days. The next day we stayed at home because it was raining the whole day. It was the perfect day to meet up with a friend of mine to spend the day playing games and watching films.
Then, we went to Waterloo by train. From there we walked to Westminster to see the main sights in London. Later on, we strolled to China Town, where we had lunch together. Afterwards Covent Garden was on our plan. At last, we went to Oxford Street again, to Marble Arch and to the Hyde Park.
On Tuesday, we went to see Weybridge and its thrift shops.
On Wednesday, we went to the Tower Bridge and the Borough Market, where we had street food. After that we went to Camden Town, to Stratford and finally to Greenwich.
On the next day, which was our last day together, we were quite tired of the last days. We decided to stay at home in the morning and in the evening, we went to a friend’s house and made lasagne and brownies.
The following Saturday, I went to the Harry Potter Studios, which was amazing.
Now I reported a lot about London. I have to admit that London is a nice city but England can offer a lot more than that.
Other cities I have visited since I am here are for example: Bath and Bristol at one Weekend. Bath is convenient to explore on foot, as it is not that big. The Roman Baths are the most popular attraction there, and definitely something to see. You can also visit churches, parks and the Pulteney Bridge.
Another two places I visited for the weekend was Manchester and Liverpool. The buildings in Manchester display a lot of architectural styles. The widespread of use of red bricks makes the city pretty special.
Liverpool is most famous as the birthplace of the Beatles, which gets obvious while visiting the city. Royal Albert Dock is a complex of warehouses surrounding the harbour basin. There is also “The Beatles Story Museum” and nearby the Tate Gallery.
Northwards in Liverpool are a few of different beaches. I visited the Blundell sands Beach with its life-size cast iron figures, the exhibition of Anthony Gormley’s “Another Place”.
This weekend I planned to go to Cambridge. There are a lot of other places I want to visit as long I’m still here, such as Oxford, Windsor, Brighton and Cornwall.
Visiting cities can be exhausting. That is why I planned in two weeks’ time to go hiking in the Peak District National Park.
Thanks for reading my little report.
by Jana Wobold (2nd from left)
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