England is a place full of art, architecture, musicals, culture, and nice people. And if you go to England, there are a lot of fun things you can do to make your time there more enjoyable. So, here are 11 things you can try to do in England!
1) Ride the London Eye- There are such magnificent views that you can see in London. You can view the Elizabeth Tower (which most people know as Big Ben), view the Thames River, walk on Westminster Bridge… But, if you are fond of beautiful views, you can also ride the London Eye, and see all those things from 443 feet (135 meters)! When I and my friends were chatting before riding the London Eye, one of my friends was extremely afraid of heights, so we were trying to get him to relax before we actually got on the ride because we thought he would faint (he looked that afraid). But when we got to the very top, he said that he overcame his fear, which seemed like a positive thing at first but ironically, turns out I was a little “afraid” of heights, and him, overcoming his fear didn’t help the situation at all! He kept saying “You want me to jump and damage the system so we will all fall 135 meters down?” which definitely made the ride a little more annoying but besides that, the ride was extremely enjoyable. We took nice photos of London, and we took videos of everyone on the ride with us (we knew everyone on the ride with us). And rewatching those, it looks like everyone, even our bravest, was a little terrified, which is completely normal, since everyone walking near the London Eye looked like ants when we didn’t even finish a quarter of the ride. So, a small friendly piece of advice, if you’re afraid of heights, overcome your fear by riding a Ferris Wheel smaller than the London Eye, and if you overcome your fear while riding the London Eye, don’t mess with other people who are afraid. It can be a little annoying😊
2) Go to a musical- In England, musicals are a part of the culture. You can see a variety of musical posters everywhere on the subway walls and the streets. And they have some extremely good musicals as well! We saw a lot of theatrical show posters but three musicals among them stood out for me: “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”, “Matilda”, and “Wicked”. We got tickets for a musical, but we didn’t know which one. And turns out, it was “Wicked”, which is the backstory of the Wicked Witch of the West from "The Wizard of Oz," exploring her friendship with Glinda the Good Witch and the events that led to her becoming a misunderstood villain. The musical was great, especially the use of decors was perfect! There was a gigantic dragon on the very top of the stage, which we thought was just a “set dressing” which was just supposed to stay there and look “pretty” but turns out, the wings and the head of the dragon moved! And its eyes lit up in red as well, which was epic! Also, the actors and actresses did a perfect job, and “The Wicked Witch” actually flew on stage, and it was cool. They were all extremely talented people, and they were applauded a lot at the end, and they completely deserved it. They had a super realistic rain scene which I’m still surprised how they were able to do without using water. But I also learned two very important lessons about musicals that day: The first one is, if you can choose your seat, NEVER choose any seats from the balcony, you can’t see anything from there! You can rent binoculars for 1 pound, but there is absolutely no way to see clearly with those. Also, go and buy sweet popcorn, the price doesn’t matter. One of our friends bought it in the interval, and she offered us some while we watched the musical. And we never expected it to be this good, so we didn’t buy it, but this was a huge regret for us! We still ate a lot of sweet popcorn, but we could’ve eaten more if we knew it tasted this good and bought it!
3) Use public transport- I’m aware, it sounds weird… “Why would we use public transport if we already have a possible car ride, it is pointless!” There are two main reasons. Firstly, the subway and train stations are extremely cool. You can see many posters, and it looks cool in general, of course, it is a personal opinion, but I believe most people who saw the stations would agree with me on this topic. And secondly, you can see how civilized people are on the subways. I was on the train at 11 pm and a mother was playing a card game with her children and laughing, which seemed interesting to me. I talked with them, and they were really nice to me and even explained the logic behind the card game. So, to get to the point, I think everyone who visits England should use the public transportation system at one point or another.
4) If you don’t have an ocean near your country, go to Brighton- Since we didn’t have any ocean near us in Turkey, just seas, we were excited to see one. And it didn’t disappoint us. The ocean is a little different from the sea, in waves, color, and size. But it looked magnificent and the surrounding places like cafes and souvenir shops were so cute. Also, it was extremely windy, but not the usual “windy” in Izmir or Istanbul. So windy that at some point, the seagulls couldn’t fly! They just tried to fly and failed. And, since we’re talking about Brighton, here’s another idea to do if you’re there:
5) Get on Brighton i360- i360 is a sight-seeing tower, but not quite like London Eye, London Eye moves in a circular motion, while i360 moves linear, up and down. For the people who are looking for different food and beverage concepts to try in Brighton, you can buy “canned water” in i360. And, chips, which British people refer to as “crisps”. By the way, you must adapt to the use of language there. If you want “chips” they bring “French fries” … Back to i360, it has some perfect views! Here is a picture I took at the very top, you can see the city and the ocean at the same time:
6) Go and visit some galleries and museums- We went to the National Portrait Gallery and National History Museum. We didn’t have any time to go to the British Museum or the National Gallery, which was sad, especially the second one. We needed some time to eat so we went to a McDonalds and got a Lego passport, and our time in London was over. And we didn’t know that there were “Sunflowers” by Vincent Van Gogh in the portrait gallery! Personally, if I knew, I would not eat anything for the day and go to see it. However, the National Portrait Gallery was beautiful. We saw a painting of Ed Sheeran and the current king and the queen of England. Also, the National History Museum was beautiful as well, there was an exhibition of crystals, earthquakes, human evolution, and more. We got the chance to see a variety of exhibitions and information in one place, which was perfect.
7) Go see Buckingham Palace- And think about how lucky the people living in it are, just because they were born loyal.
8) Visit a Harry Potter Souvenir Shop- If you’re a Potterhead, you’re going to love the Harry Potter Gift Shops all around England. We visited one in London, and it was really cool, but there are also shops like that in Oxford and other places, so you don’t have to come to the one in London specifically. Here’s a video of one in London:
9) Go and see the libraries and universities in Oxford- My favorite place of all was Oxford. Not because it was fancy or anything, but because it was a cute place with beautiful houses and cafes, and they had a lot of cultural places like libraries and beautiful universities. Also, they have a mall, which has a carousel on the ground floor. And you can buy churros (a super tasty dessert) and lie on the fake grass by the carousel, to be honest, it reminded me of my childhood. The universities and libraries are so pretty and cultural, it even motivates people to study! Here are some photos of universities and libraries:
10) See some statues in London- There is a variety, such as the Paddington Bear, and Mary Poppins, and they are really pretty.
11) See the Swiss glockenspiel in Leicester Square- I was filming myself as a memory in Leicester Square, and the shock and excitement on my face when I see the Swiss glockenspiel is just perfect. Me and my friends were walking in the rain, trying to find a dry place to visit (we eventually went to the Lego store) and we saw this beautiful glockenspiel ringing, and they were small people on it moving around, and it was incredibly cute! Here is a video of it:
In the end, do I recommend visiting England: ABSOLUTELY! With no doubt. But it is also important to visit it with the right people. Luckily, my group of friends was perfect. Every pointless thing we laughed at, everything we got afraid of, every step, every visit was perfect. We got on really well with each other and met extremely nice people from all around the world. In the end, we all extremely enjoyed the trip and we’d love to repeat it someday…