SOLO EUROPE IV: DAYS 25-27 [LONDON & WINCHESTER]

the next morning, i took the bus to the dublin airport where i would fly to heathrow. i originally planned to fly home from dublin, but flights were very expensive with layovers in the us or canada. the flights were almost half the price if i flew out of london. that justified me to use the difference in cost to get a budget flight to london & extend my trip a couple of days (since it was not peak season, budget direct flights with norse were only twice a week). girl math :)

i flew into heathrow, which was nice since it is closer to london center than gatwick. i did though have trouble finding the tube entrance from the airport. unfortunately, there were major delays on the tube & with my transfer line, so i got off early & decided to walk the rest (a little less than a mile). this worked out well as i was able to walk down belgrave road. the street is known for its mostly residential buildings that were built in the 1840s and uniformed townhouses with white stucco exteriors & terraces. i was also able to see some of the theaters of the west end, including where hamilton & wicked are performed.

green park station

after dropping my stop off, i walked to the tate museum. almost my entire walk was in westminister & was noticeably upper class. i originally planned the tate museum for the beginning of my trip, but ran out of time. the tate britain was the one art museum i really wanted to visit when in london. there are a few tate art museums, but this one houses mostly british art including jmw turner. i really wanted to see sir john everett millais' opehlia. it felt really fitting since a week before, taylor swift's album was released with the song ophelia. there must have been a college field trip as there were a lot of young people drawing the art.

tate britain

ophelia

i then started one of rick steves audio walking tours. this one was on westminster & the government of london. it was pretty busy in this area (after all it is very touristy), but i enjoyed learning.

parliament square

st. margaret's church - medieval church from 1523

st. stephen's chapel

westminster bridge

the london eye & the statue of the celtic queen boudica 

the cenotaph & the national war memorial

horse guards

i then walked to trafalgar square. i heard this was a tourist trap, but there are museums around the area & therefore no way to avoid it. i first stopped at a pret for a quick small bite & then went to the national gallery in the square. 

trafalgar square

national gallery

the execution of lady jane

it was starting to get dark, but i decided to be adventurous & stay out later than i normally do. i am normally a traveller who is out before everyone & return before everyone, but this was my last full day in london.

convent garden

unfortunately i got to the market when it was closing

mother mash ended up being one of my favorite places i went to. it was still a little early for the dinner crowds so i did not have to wait. it felt like an english diner as they were playing 1950/60s music & serving english comfort food. i had a beef & stilton (i love all cheeses) meat pie, bubble & squeak (potatoes with cabbage, peas, & onions), & farmer's gravy (made with wine, onion, bacon, & mushrooms). i also needed to order desert, so had sticky toffee pudding (but learned from my time in haworth to have it with ice cream, not custard - the latter makes it wat too rich).

a beef & stilton meat pie with bubbles & squeak

after eating, i walked down convent garden & also saw another street of the west end. from there, i took one of the double decker busses through westminster to my hostel. i enjoyed seeing the city at night (i rarely walk the streets at night when travelling).

one last look of big ben while on a double decker bus

my hostel was in the pimlico district. for both of my stays in london (as this trip was sandwiched with london) i wanted to stay in 2 different areas. this would be more convenient for my itineraries & experience staying in 2 different neighborhoods. for both i was central, but at the start of my trip i stayed on the east side (the shadewell neighborhood) & at the end stayed on the west side (the pimlico neighborhood). this hostel was interesting. the bottom floor was a neighborhood pub (very local, not touristy). the top floors were hostel dorm rooms & private rooms. the dorm room was very quiet & nobody spoke. i only stayed for one night as for the 2nd night i would stay close to gatwick. it was definitely worth my stay & very affordable compared to some other hostels. also the owners were very nice. there was a free breakfast, such a rarity in hostels. not the best, but still free nonetheless (i cannot complain).

the pub at my hostel

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the next morning i snacked a little in my hostel & then made my way to waterloo station. from waterloo, i would take the train to winchester for the day. i had a hard time finding a place i wanted to visit as a day trip from london. i knew i wanted to spentd one of my days outside of london, but nothing was calling for me. i settled on winchester, 60 miles southwest of london.

winchester has settled by the romans & was a important location for the anglo-saxons as a cathedral city. this area is also known for some of its english authors as john keats spent time here & jane austen died & is buried here.

an old water trough that is now a planter dedicated to horses in war

i wanted one last stop in nero (and enjoy their pistachio croissant)

the medieval buttercross to identify this area as a market town.

some cities still have old meters

after coffee & walking through the market town (the main business street), i went to the visitor center located in the old guildhall. here i purchased a brochure for the historic walk through winchester. the weather was wonderful & felt like fall.

the visitor museum is in the guildhall (c. 1873)

 

the city corn mill built in 1744, now a part of the national trust

the river itchen

the oldest section of the roman wall

part of john keats daily walk when he visited & wrote 'tis autumn.

i then visited wolvesey castle, the bishop's main residence in the medieval ages. it was built in the 12th century, but is now mostly in ruins. it was destroyed in the english civil war in 1646.

wolvesey castle (c. 1100s)

i then contiued my walk & saw 8 college street, the house jane austen died in. ironically, next door is a bookstore.

one of the coolest storefronts i have ever seen

i then walked around the grounds of winchester cathedral. i decided to not go inside as it was pretty expensive and i am not a church girl. i did visit the gift shop which was nice. the cathedral started being built in the 1100s but took over 400 years to complete! it is the longest medieval cathedral in the world. jane austen is also buried here. 

winchester cathedral (norman & gothic style)

i purchased the combo pass to visit all the city history museums. the first one i visited wasthe city museum that shares the history of the city winchester. they also had a good gift shop where i was able to get a cross stitch kit. there were interesting exhibits on roman remains & burial practices.

the winchester city museum

i then visited the westgate museum, also part of the city museums. the museum is in one of the old anglo-saxon gateways that was part of the old city walls. it was built in the 1200s and used until 1959 by the military.

the westgate museum 

i love a dress up opportunity

the last city museum was the great hall & winchester castle. it was built by william the conqueror in 1067 & some sections are still preserved, including the great hall. 

the great hall

the so-called king arthur's round table 

queen eleanor's garden, a medieval garden

a soldier memorial

winchester station

i then made my way back to london. i wanted to go to borough market as it is one of the oldest markets in london - since the 1200s! unfortunately i was dumb and did not realize that it is not open around dinner time. by the time i got there (which took much longer than i had hoped after several transfers), everyone was packing up. after walking around a bit, i traversed near the jubilee walk & had some wagamamas. not ideal, but it was in a really nice area along the jubilee walk & looking out to the river. 

borough market

after i eating, i went back to my hostel to pick up my things & take the train to gatwick airport. i splurged on a hotel room walking distance to the aiport. i like having the piece of mind being to be so close when i have a morning flight. i had the hardest time trying to figure which airport exit would allow me to take the pedestrian bridge to the hotels. i did choose the wrong exit & had to run across a vehicles only bridge to the hotel, but i got there safely. and that was the end of my trip. the endings of my trips are never glamorous. my direct flight left in the morning with no issue.