Ms. Hen reviews London

Ms. Hen at Tower Bridge

 

Ms. Hen went on a trip to London recently, and she has never been there before. She decided to go on the spur of the moment, because she got a good deal on airfare and a hotel room, and she had a week off from work.

She didn't know the weekend she was going was the time of the Notting Hill Carnival. The hotel where she stayed, the Ruby Zoe Hotel, is located right in the middle of Notting Hill. The carnival was a disaster, and she felt unsafe, with people screaming covered in paint and glitter, and drinking on the streets. Ms. Hen did the things she planned to do, and tried to avoid the carnival.

On Ms. Hen's first day, she walked to Kensington Gardens, and enjoyed looking at the birds in the different ponds. She especially liked the Italian Gardens.

On her first full day in London, Ms. Hen took a Vintage Double Decker Bus Tour around the city. She saw all the sights, including Tower Bridge, Westminster Abbey, and Buckingham Palace. The tour also included a boat ride, and the changing of the guard, and the weather was lovely.

Ms. Hen on the boat with Big Ben

Ms. Hen had always thought that British people were prejudiced again Irish people, but she found that nobody flinched at all when they heard her full name (which is Shannon O'Connor), even when she was outside of London. She thinks this might be the way people used to be, and the British are used to the Irish by now. Also, London is incredibly diverse, and there are many different kinds of people.

Also, she learned that people in England walk on the left side of the sidewalk, and walk up and down the left side of the stairs! She had always suspected this, but she found this to be true.

After her double decker bus tour, Ms. Hen went to a place called Sloane Square because it was on her way back to the hotel, and it was mentioned in a song by Morrissey called "Hairdresser on Fire." She was looking for a cup of coffee, and there is a beautiful park in the middle of the square, but they had three bars and no coffee. Ms. Hen had a cappuccino with a pistachio rose muffin at a cafe combined with a Yoga and a Pilates studio.

Ms. Hen found that people would start talking to her in London, and nobody does that where she lives (in Boston). She thought it was nice, and found people to be friendly. She felt more comfortable in England than any other place she has been recently in Europe.

Ms. Hen was a complete tourist and had her picture taken at Platform 9 3/4 where Harry Potter got the train to Hogwarts! She paid to get her picture, because she thought there was a chance she might never go back there again.

Ms. Hen is going to write a separate review on four literary houses she went to in England, so stay tuned!

Below is a picture Ms. Hen took on her last day in London in Portobello Road, around the corner from her hotel. Ms. Hen loved London. She hasn't been out of the country since before COVID, and she missed the thrill of traveling somewhere she's never been and having an adventure. London gave that back to her.