"Good ol' London" London by tejanasueca

I first went to London when I was 12. By then my sister and I (twin) had studied English for a few years in school (since 3rd grade), and our dad wanted us to experience it more hands on (he had taken our older sister two years earlier). We went to London for a week, and my sister and I got to pick out some of the places we wanted to go to from a tourist book. It was a very exciting week; we stayed at a pretty nice hotel, went to museums and cathedrals, the changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace, and we spent a whole afternoon at Hamley's (one of the world's biggest toy stores!). We also had afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason and went to a musical (after which I saw my first homeless person - hey, I grew up in Sweden, I was not used t to seeing people sleeping on the street!) In addition, we went down to Hastings for a day (where our older sister was on a study abroad program).

This was my first trip outside of Scandinavia (I had already travelled to most of Sweden, Finland, and Norway), and the first time I was on an airplane. It was a great experience! I did go back to London a couple of years later with some other kids on a study abroad program. Since I had already seen most of the sights and knew where things where, I kind of acted like a tourist guide to the other kids!

I have not been back in London since 1994 (well, I have made plenty of stops at the airport on my way to the USA, and then I always buy some Fortnum & Mason Tea), and would love to go back to this lovely city if just for the weekend to go shopping and sit down and sip afternoon tea at Fortnum and Mason!!