I intended to write this blog as I was on my way from Geneva to London, but I completely forgot. My bad! So here's two days of activities.
To be honest it's probably good that I have something else to write about because I didn't really do too much in Geneva so it would be a short blog.
On Monday morning I took the train from Montreux to Geneva, where I was staying in a hotel right by the airport. With my hotel I got a free public transport pass, so I took advantage of that and in the late afternoon I went for a little wander around in Geneva.
I didn't have anything particular planned, but since I had the transport pass I figured I should make the most of it. So I just wandered around taking photos and checking the city out. I went to the United Nations building, saw the Broken Chair sculpture (one of the top things to do in Geneva according to TripAdvisor), grabbed a bubble tea and something to eat and then headed back to the hotel because there was a spa at the hotel and obviously I wanted to take advantage of that too!
The following morning I flew back to Stansted and then took the train to Whitechapel. I was staying in a hostel right by the tube station as I had booked a Jack the Ripper tour for the evening!
The tour wasn't until 7pm and it was about 2pm by the time I'd checked in to the hostel (which, I will mention, was a lot nicer than I had anticipated given that it cost £12 and was literally located around the side of a JD in the East end of London). I knew I'd have some extra time in London, so I bought tickets to go see Tower Bridge and the Great Fire of London Monument.
I'd surprisingly never really seen Tower Bridge in the countless times I've been to London. I think I may have gone over it in the sightseeing bus when I was in London in 2016, but I'd never walked across it or been inside, so that was fun. Then I walked to the Monument and climbed the 311 steps to the top. The view was phenomenal once you got to the top but boy was it a workout to get up there. I was really surprised when I found out it was only 300 steps because it sure felt like more than that! That's only like climbing the steps at the Rocks three times, but it felt worse because there was no place to stop and it was a narrow, windy staircase. I actually found it worse going down because I got super dizzy and ended up going really slow because I felt like my feet were gonna stumble over each other and I would go tumbling down the staircase!
I wandered around London a bit more after that, went for a pint at the Viaduct Tavern (a former gin palace and supposedly haunted, but they've got all the original tin ceilings in there and it's absolutely gorgeous), went back to the hostel to charge my phone for a bit and then went on my Ripper tour.
This tour was one of the first things I booked for this trip and was honestly one of the things I was most excited about. We walked all around Whitechapel to all the various locations where the murders happened and it was really interesting. Our tour guide, Jamie, was brilliant. As a tour guide myself I can appreciate when someone does a good job and this guy was so passionate and informative that it really took the tour to another level.
Right now, I'm on the train back to Norwich where Mel and Sophie should be waiting for me. Apparently, after dropping me off last week, every time they drove past the train station Sophie would say "train! Ally gone... Uh oh!" which is just too damn cute.
I still have a week left in Norwich until I head back to Canada. Tomorrow I'm doing an escape room with Amy, Kate and Chloe and this weekend it's Sophie's 2nd birthday so there's still lots to look forward to.
Thanks for reading about my adventures around Europe! Hope you've enjoyed all my stories and photos, here's a few more for good measure.
To be honest it's probably good that I have something else to write about because I didn't really do too much in Geneva so it would be a short blog.
On Monday morning I took the train from Montreux to Geneva, where I was staying in a hotel right by the airport. With my hotel I got a free public transport pass, so I took advantage of that and in the late afternoon I went for a little wander around in Geneva.
I didn't have anything particular planned, but since I had the transport pass I figured I should make the most of it. So I just wandered around taking photos and checking the city out. I went to the United Nations building, saw the Broken Chair sculpture (one of the top things to do in Geneva according to TripAdvisor), grabbed a bubble tea and something to eat and then headed back to the hotel because there was a spa at the hotel and obviously I wanted to take advantage of that too!
The following morning I flew back to Stansted and then took the train to Whitechapel. I was staying in a hostel right by the tube station as I had booked a Jack the Ripper tour for the evening!
The tour wasn't until 7pm and it was about 2pm by the time I'd checked in to the hostel (which, I will mention, was a lot nicer than I had anticipated given that it cost £12 and was literally located around the side of a JD in the East end of London). I knew I'd have some extra time in London, so I bought tickets to go see Tower Bridge and the Great Fire of London Monument.
I'd surprisingly never really seen Tower Bridge in the countless times I've been to London. I think I may have gone over it in the sightseeing bus when I was in London in 2016, but I'd never walked across it or been inside, so that was fun. Then I walked to the Monument and climbed the 311 steps to the top. The view was phenomenal once you got to the top but boy was it a workout to get up there. I was really surprised when I found out it was only 300 steps because it sure felt like more than that! That's only like climbing the steps at the Rocks three times, but it felt worse because there was no place to stop and it was a narrow, windy staircase. I actually found it worse going down because I got super dizzy and ended up going really slow because I felt like my feet were gonna stumble over each other and I would go tumbling down the staircase!
I wandered around London a bit more after that, went for a pint at the Viaduct Tavern (a former gin palace and supposedly haunted, but they've got all the original tin ceilings in there and it's absolutely gorgeous), went back to the hostel to charge my phone for a bit and then went on my Ripper tour.
This tour was one of the first things I booked for this trip and was honestly one of the things I was most excited about. We walked all around Whitechapel to all the various locations where the murders happened and it was really interesting. Our tour guide, Jamie, was brilliant. As a tour guide myself I can appreciate when someone does a good job and this guy was so passionate and informative that it really took the tour to another level.
Right now, I'm on the train back to Norwich where Mel and Sophie should be waiting for me. Apparently, after dropping me off last week, every time they drove past the train station Sophie would say "train! Ally gone... Uh oh!" which is just too damn cute.
I still have a week left in Norwich until I head back to Canada. Tomorrow I'm doing an escape room with Amy, Kate and Chloe and this weekend it's Sophie's 2nd birthday so there's still lots to look forward to.
Thanks for reading about my adventures around Europe! Hope you've enjoyed all my stories and photos, here's a few more for good measure.
Broken Chair in front of the UN building in Geneva
The UN building
Geneva at night
Tower Bridge during golden hour 😍
View from the top of the Monument
London at night
The Viaduct Tavern
What's a bubble tea?!
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