Your Classic American Tourists: Big Ben, West Minster, and the London Eye

By Amelia Turnbull

Today, we had a late start to class, which meant that we were able to explore the city on our own during the morning. Irish and I decided to do some sightseeing of some famous landmarks in the city.

We started by getting on the tube (which we have now mastered) and made our way to Westminster Abbey. You may know it as the place where King Charles was coronated. We accidentally walked into the parliament building, which was not our best moment, but at least the guard was nice and pointed us in the right direction. We made it to the Abbey and waited about thirty minutes before we made it inside. It was so big and so beautiful, but so crowded. We walked around, looked at artwork, and even saw the tombs of Queen Mary and Elizabeth, which was pretty cool. We were even able to go to a higher story of the Abbey and see even more.

After spending an hour at Westminster Abbey we made our way to what Irish had been waiting to see. Big Ben (which is actually the name of the bell inside the tower, not the clocktower itself). Big Ben was not as big as I expected it to be, but maybe that’s because I didn’t actually get to see the bell itself. It was super cool and I was very happy to see such an iconic landmark in London. 

We tried to go on a boat, but that did not work out too well for us, so instead we walked across a bridge and made it to the London Eye, a really big Ferris wheel. All in all, it was a great day of sightseeing and learning about British history. Next, we’ll make our way to a jazz club.