One Tuesday we went to Greenwich, a quarter of London. By train we got there and even that was amazing as the huge buildings emerged behind the windowpane. Our first stop was the prime meridian. That may sound boring at first, but it’s interesting, especially for those who like geography. Because on that spot we have on side of the prime meridian the English or rather British time zone (one-hour difference) and on the other one we have the general European, so the German time zone. After that we took a walk to the shore of the Thames. While we walked to there, we passed many buildings like houses and pubs in the old Victorian style. Even the lampposts have little crowns on the tops. That gave such a nostalgia feeling.
We also passed the most famous British ship in history: The Cutty Sark.
Now it’s a museum, but still it hasn’t lost any of its magnificent beauty. After that we had a boat tour on the Thames. The cold breeze blew in our faces and many of us where shivering, but all that was forgotten as we saw how the massive Tower Bridge emerged in front of us.
After that we visited the Tower of London. The place where the crown jewels are kept safe and dark moments of history had happened.
At the Tower of London, you can see the Crown Jewels and old weapons in the White Tower. The castle`s architecture is very impressive and you can visit the chapel where famous people are buried. The Beefeater guards give interesting tours and tell stories about the Tower. You can also see the famous ravens, which are an important part of the Tower´s story. The ravens at the Tower of London are part of a legend.it says that if the ravens ever leave, the kingdom will fall. That´s why there are always at least six ravens living there. They are well cared for, and their wings are clipped so they can´t fly away.
The Crown Jewels at the tower of London are a collection of important royal jewels. They include crowns, scepters and swords used in special and important ceremonies like crownings. One of the most famous pieces in the ,,Impearl State Crown” it is decorated with beautiful diamonds, rubies and sapphires. These jewels represent the power and history of the British monarchy and are kept in the Jewel House
The guards at the Tower of London are known as the Yeoman Wardes, commonly referred to as ,,Beefeaters”. They have been guarding the Tower since the 15th century and are responsible for the safety of the Crown Jewels and the historic site itselfs.
Yeoman Wards are easily recognizable by their distinctive uniforms, whgich are red and gold. To become a Yeoman Warder one must rank have served in the armed forces for at least 22 years and achieved the rank of sergeant major.Their roles includes providing guiding tors for visitors, sharing stories about the Tower history and enshuring the security of the site.
The Yeoman Warders also participate in ceremonial duties, such as the ceremony involves locking the gates of the Tower and has been performed for centuries, symbolizing the security of the Jewel and the Tower itselfs.
We visited Oxford Street on Tuesday afternoon. There were many shops, also shops for only rich people like Chanel or Gucci. We went shopping a lot in London. Oxford Street is the perfect street for shopping and famous for the many shops. We went to Subdued, Brandy Melville, Urban Outfitters and to many more shopping shops. There are also a lot of very good food spots where you can have a small snack or also you can go to a restaurant and sit in or outside. Oxford Street is the busiest shopping street. It has around 300 shops and welcomes more than 200 million people and visitors every year. Oxford Street is 1.9 km long. There is a very high crime rate, and you must take care of your things and your bag. There are a lot of pickpockets who will bump into you and steal your things without you noticing. There are also many famous telephone boxes like on any place in England. Some people play instruments on the street which makes the atmosphere very cozy.
But you must be care full there are also people who don't want the best for you and want to take your money. They will randomly talk to you on the street and seem to be very nice, but they blame you and steal your money also when they tell you they use it for good social things they often just take it to themself. But in all case Oxford Street is beautiful and a paradise for shopping.
The next morning When we came to the Stadium, we met our Tour Guide Tom. He was very friendly and funny. we visited the Entrance for the VIP´s. There were also statues of important people in the History of Arsenal. In the VIP lounge, they get a five-course menu. All drinks are included in the price they pay. During the football game, they close the shutters so that everyone has to watch from the outside. Arsenal is the only football club which has a 49 Games unbeaten cup. The cup is in the VIP lounge. After the VIP lounge, we went to the Diamond lounge. When you want to go to the Diamond lounge you have to get an invitation. You can´t pay to get in there. Next, we looked at the football field. We also saw the way where the footballers go out of the cabins to the field. At the edge of the field are the seats of the managers and substitutes. They are heated but not covered. At the end we went to the press conference room where the players and managers get interviewed after the game.
On Wednesday we had the chance to visit Madame Tussauds after we were at the Arsenal Stadium with our classmates and teachers. Madame Tussauds is an incredible and very famous wax museum. There are statues of celebrities, known tv-shows like Star Wars and Marvel and important people of history. We went there by subway. We were glad that we were allowed to explore the museum in groups of a minimum of three. There were different rooms, and each room had a theme with suitable music. Every statue had their real-life height. As soon as we stepped into the themed room about Jack The Ripper which played in the 1880s, we felt a great feeling of dread. He was active in London and never got found. We also saw some of our favorite celebrities. At the end there was a shop with souvenirs of the stuff that was shown.
After Madame Tussauds we drove to the Hard Rock Cafe and tried to get in earlier, but it didn't work. Our teachers said we had free time till our reservation was ready. At 5:45 pm we got inside. The Hard Rock Café is a Fast-Food chain but it has an own unique style. It has its own merch and is popular around the whole world. The inside of the restaurant is special because there are many disks or guitars from random artists who are or were famous. In the Background plays Hard Rock music or live music. The atmosphere was really comfortable. The food we had was delicious. We had Burger and fries and a soft drink. As a dessert we had vanilla ice cream. The Shop where you can buy merch was next to the Café. You can buy clothes, backpacks, keychains and much more. After the cafe we went to london eye and big ben for a walk. On Wednesday evening when we walked home, we met a boss from Dubai. He said, he invests in real estate Dubai, and we said that were also investing. Konstantin bsh said his dad is a really important man in Russia and that he is really really rich and also has many real estate's, he wanted to give us his number, but we kindly refused and Shaked his hand, suddenly he started running to catch his bus and we never saw him again after that sadly. On thursday we went to Covent Garden.
It’s a big market, where you can shop and eat everything.
There we went shopping and ate sandwiches at “Joe & the Juice”. It was very delicious.
After that we went into some stores like Adidas, Subdued, Urban Outfitters, Brandy Melville, a souvenir shop, Kiko and many more.
After shopping one of us ate really bad tacos at Wahaka restaurant. We ate really good Italian food in Ave Mario. We ordered pizza and truffle pasta. It didn’t disappoint us.
On our way home we saw a man, doing a show, where he was balancing on a rope.
That was our day in Covent Garden. We spent the entire noon in Covent Garden and had so much fun. But that wasn’t everything that we did that day. On Thursday in the afternoon we went to the musical : The lion king.
We walked to the underground and waited for our subway but when the subway came the half of the class took the wrong subway. When we arrived at 19:30 pm at the theater we first had to show the security our bags before we could go inside. So, when we sat down some security guards showed us guests some posters that said “no photos allowed", that we should turn off our phones and if we talked during the show the whole group that we went with would get kicked out. Then the show started. Beautiful voices rang out. Then humans as animals like zebras, giraffes, elephants, tigers and hyenas appeared on stage. The whole thing went on for an hour until the break started. In the break we bought drink and food that was expensive. After the 20 minutes break the musical went on our class thought the musical was beautiful and the music and costumes were breath taking. That’s what we did in London. We had so much fun on our class trip and enjoyed our time there. London is a really beautiful city and there’s a lot to see.
Text and photos by class 10s
