Greenwich and a lil' bit of London by night

As I have mentioned already, during our last trip to London we haven't seen much. But that was the point. We weren't set on sightseeing that much. Sure, we had to see something, as we wouldn't have been us. But the whole point of the getaway was enjoying ourselves, browsing through bookstores, just walking, walking and walking a little more around London.

This time we decided to move a little further away from the centre and see the Royal Observatory in Greenwich. The last time I visited the place was back in 1995, when I was a little girl in a big city. At first I wanted to attach a picture or two from back then. Buuuut... well, maybe it's not that good an idea after all ;)

Anyway, we decided to goand see the Royal Observatory since Krzys has never been there before. And he wanted to see it, too. When we were driving through Spain in 2016, we crossed the prime meridian (twice, actually. First time was in France on our way to Spain, but I can't remember it being marked in any particular way. I remember the one in Spain, though). That was when we first started talking and Krzys said he'd like to visit Greenwich. This time we had a chance to do it, and so we did. The weather was nice, it was sunny, it wasn't raining either (unlike the previous day when we visited the Tower). First we went to see the Cutty Sark . Then we climbed up the hill to the observatory.

Apart from us, there were a few people there, but it wasn't crowded. I have to say that the place changed a lot over the past 20 years. I remember the 24 hours clock at the entrance. It still looks the same. But the place where I took the famous "I'm on the hemispheres at once" picture is now hidden in the bushes and fenced. We could see it. But you can't get there now. You can still take the picture, no worries about that. Just in a little different place. It looks good, too ;)

We walked through the exhibitions, learned quite a lot. I loved the rooms, what they looked like, loved the old equipment. The gardens around were also nice and since the weather was working in our favour, we could enjoy a few minutes outside as well. Not at all time lost.

On our way back to the centre, we stepped into a few bookstores and visited a orning market where we had some delicious Scottish breakfast. We got back to London spent some time walking around the Picadilly Circus, met with a friend that we haven't seen almost since our studies in Finland (well, we met in Poland soon after we got back from Finland, but that was it, so it was great to see each other again) and since I was still feeling quite ok (which wasn't given), we decided to stay in the centre and see London by night. Ok, by London I mean the London Eye, the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben. And by "by night" I mean after dark. So 7-8 p.m. was also fine by me ;) We didn't have a chance to see it after dark the previous time we visited London since we were there with young kids. And I love the view a lot.

We enjoyed those few days in London a lot. I don't think it's even possible for me to visit London and say "hey, it was lame. I didn't enjoy it at all". We're already planning our next visits there. As yesterday we decided that me and Arti are going to go there this year (Spring maybe?), he really wants to visit Harry Potter related places (studios included). And since Krzys would love to visit the studios too, he will go there with Paula once she reads the books (and if she doesn't like them as much as we do, he can still wait for Marti to grow a little older ;)).

It's London, baby!

Phew, with all the #Eurotrip2016 posts already written (mind you, it took 2,5 years), I have no idea where to start now. Whether I should start with what we were doing in the meantime, or maybe with our latest #Eurotrip2018... So many ideas! Since writing a series takes me so much time, though (I hope this time it is going to take much shorter), I think starting with single post stories is safer. So, let's start with...

London! Because... well... It's London, baby! It's always a good choice, I love this city and could always get back there.

We last visited London when I was still in my first trimester with our youngest. It was no easy time for me. Even though we were not planning to see much in London then, since we had most of the sightseeing already behind us (it wasn't our, not to mention mine, first visit to London), we still managed to see quite a lot. Especially that we usually had until 2-3 p.m. for sightseeing, as later my nausea usually hit us hard.

Our main goal for London back in March '17 was... bookstores. We love books. Old and new. We hit every bookstore we could find, be it with new or used books. A multi storey one or a tiny bookstore that we could hardly get in. We brought home quite a few books, both new and used ones, but that was our point. We were delighted to do it.

Probably ever since he visited London for the first time in 2007, Krzys wanted to visit the Tower of London. He has a thing for castles and defensive constructions (or whatever we want to call those) and I could see it in his eyes that he really wanted to go there. Our visit back in 2007 was totally on a budget, so we didn't have money for it. The second time we visited London together was with a 5 year old and an almost one year old. Not a company for such a type of sightseeing. We rather spent quite some time in the parks, on playgrounds and.. on workshops in Science Museum. But this time... it was a perfect time to finally see it.

I visited the Tower in 1995. A long time ago. And it was...so different! Especially the Crown Jewels. I remember climbing down the stairs, with the crown jewels on our left and right. Now, they are much better exposed and so much better described. Other exhibitions were also well presented and interesting to see.

I will not describe the history of the place, what it was used for, why the ravens are there and what the exhibitions present. The information is easily available online, described in so many places, on so many pages that it doesn't seem sensible to describe it once again. I'd rather devote my time and ienergy to other activities. Maybe to another post even? ;)

The view of the Tower Bridge from the Tower walls is stunning. The day was rainy and grey, but it was still amazing. After all, it's London anyway.

We spent around 3 hours in the Tower. Later, we went for a walk along the Thames River. Enjoying the views, spending  lovely day outside.

I wanted to walk the Millennium Bridge. Walk the narrow streets of the City. Go to King's Cross. And we did all that, of course. You don't say no to a pregnant woman ;) We sat by the river next to the Millennium Bridge. With a view of the City and St. Paul's Cathedral. Having lunch with such a view can never get boring, can it? ;)

I only missed one thing,actually. When we were walking the Millennium Bridge, there was no black cloud or smoke moving over it, it didn't start swirling, there were no deatheaters anywhere around...

Luckily, there's always King's Cross for some Harry Potter experience. The cart stuck in the wall on the way to platform 9 and 3/4. And the Harry Potter shop next to it. Although I have to say that I remember the cart being in a different place. Before there was a shop, of course. But I might be wrong. Aaand back in the days when we first saw it, there was no line to taking a picture with the cart, even though it was end of August. And now, in March, if we wanted to take a picture with it, we would have had to wait for like 30 min, more or less. Things change (and staircases change, remember? ;)).

2014 in a nutshell

We have seen more in 2014 than I ever expected to see. Some of our trips were planned way in advance, others were more spontaneous. We managed to step our feet in six different European countries (including Poland). Considering the fact that we have a baby in the house, I'd say that was a lot.

Each of our trips was different. Each was memorable. Each had its great moments. I'm about to share with you my favourite travel memories of 2014:

W roku 2014 udało nam się zobaczyć więcej miejsc niż mogłam przypuszczać, że się uda. Niektóre z naszych wycieczek były zaplanowane z dużym wyprzedzeniem, inne były bardziej spontaniczne. Udało nam się postawić stopy w sześciu europejskich krajach (wliczając Polskę). Biorąc pod uwagę to, że mamy w domu małe dziecko, uważam, że to całkiem sporo. 

Każda z naszych wycieczek była inna. Każda godna zapamiętania. Każda miała swoje bardzo dobre momenty. Chciałabym się z Wami podzielić moimi ulubionymi wspomnieniami z podróży 2014:

1. Standing on the stairs (and Dome) of Sacre Coeur and looking down at warm and sunny Paris.

Patrzenie na ciepły i słoneczny Paryż ze schodów (i kopuły) Sacre Coeur. 

2. Making my childhood dreams come true by meeting Mickey Mouse in Disneyland Paris.

Spełnienie dziecięcych marzeń i spotkanie z Myszką Miki w Disneyland Paris.

 3. Relaxing in the pools of Lalandia before spending a whole day in Legoland.

Relaks w basenach Lalandii przed całodziennym pobytem w Legolandzie.

 4. Seeing the excitement on Arturek's face when he finally got to see Big Ben.

Radość malująca się na twarzy Arturka, gdy po raz pierwszy zobaczył Big Bena.

 5. Climbing up a lighthouse to look down at the place where I spent the first years of my life.

Wspinaczka na latarnię morską, by spojrzeć z góry na miejsce, w którym spędziłam pierwsze lata swojego życia.

 6. Seeing Copernicus in his hometown and learning to make gingerbread cookies. 

Zobaczenie Kopernika w jego mieście i uczenie się robienia pierniczków.  

 7. Finally being able to see all five of the Cinque Terre and hiking between them.

W końcu zobaczenie wszystkich pięciu Cinque Terre i wędrówki między nimi.  

8. Feeling as if on top of the world when looking down at Alesund, enjoying colourful sunrises and sunsets overs fjords.

Czuć się, jakby się zdobyło szczyt świata, gdy spogląda się w dół na Alesund, a także podziwia kolorowe wschody i zachody słońca nad fiordami.

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How was your 2014? What were your favourite travel memories?