London - a City of Contrasts
The 4th year excursion from 24 to 26 April 2019
Right after our Easter holidays our class met well recovered at terminal one of Vienna Airport to start off our journey to London. The focus of this short trip was to dive into the history, the culture, the language as much as possible and to get about on our own - practically without any hired guides - in this exciting metropole. After our arrival in Heathrow we took the tube to Hammersmith and checked in at our hotel, which was small and cosy. Our first trip then was to Saint Paul´s Cathedral in the centre, which is known to be one of the most famous and most recognizable sights of London. The dome isamong the highest in the world.Luckily, there were no queues at the time we arrived and as there was a mass going on and we could listen to a professional choir in the festive lights of the dome and enjoy the atmosphere.
As a contrast to English historic spots explored by underground, there was a walk on our schedule on the next day. We met Monica, our guide for the Harry Potter Filming Locations Walking Tour through the city, at Westminster Pier. The three hour walk took us all across the city, over a stretch of nearly 10 kilometres. All the details about various filming locations as well as the explanations of contemporary historic places of London, such as the government area and stock exchange, made this tour – the only one which had been pre-booked – a real adventure. When we were caught in a sudden downpour and got soaked, we dried up quickly in the tunnels of the tube again, luckily.
Hereafter a Hop On - Hop Off - tour to all the central sights in and around the city on a red double decker bus gave us the opportunity to listen, watch and enjoy places of interest. When the sun came out our group manged to get on a cruising boat on the river Thames starting from the Tower to Westminster Pier, a trip we all enjoyed. In the evening we watched the musical „Disney’s The Lion King“ at Lyceum Theatre. The actors, some of which were dressed in mechanic and moving costumes, gave a brilliant performance. Together with the exceptional stage design this musical was certainly one of the highlights of our trip.
The last day of our stay gave us the chance to continue sight-seeing, e.g. Buckingham Palace and to get some lunch before flying home again. Vienna saw us punctually at 7 p.m. Even though many of us would have liked to stay longer in this exciting city we are sure to have got the maximum out of this time. A big thanks to Mrs. Ulrich and Mrs. Kahlbacher who had been with us.
Linda Pieber, 4. Jg.
Fotos in der Fotogalerie