Upon arriving at Gatwick Airport, I must admit I was surprised by the beautiful weather, especially after the torrential rains in Moscow :) Getting to the city center was easy; National Express buses run from the airport to Victoria station every hour, and I took one of them, arriving in about an hour to an hour and a half. The place where I stayed is near the Stepney Green tube station, which is easily accessible via the District line. A single tube ride is quite expensive—nearly 5 pounds—but if you buy an Oyster card to pay for your trips, it works out cheaper; a single ride within the first and second zones is approximately 2.5 pounds. Costs depend on the time of travel and distance; exact fares can be checked on the Transport for London website.

I arrived on Saturday evening, while classes at the school didn't start until Monday, so I had some time to settle in and visit a number of places I was interested in.

The next morning, I headed to the very heart of the city, where a large number of exciting and historically significant places are concentrated: Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square, the London Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, Oxford Street, St. Paul's Cathedral, and many other memorable and very beautiful spots. This trip is my second visit to London, so it was especially pleasant to wander through familiar places that haven't changed at all over the years.

Not far from Big Ben, I met a young man from Moscow who, like me, was walking through the old streets of the city, inspired by the warm Sunday evening. We decided to walk together to Tower Bridge and the City; these are stunning places that I hadn't managed to reach during my previous trip. We finished our walk with a late, hearty dinner at a cafe near St. Paul's Cathedral. It is worth noting that there are 24-hour buses running in London, so you don't have to worry about the exorbitant prices of cabs when trying to get somewhere after the tube closes.