London, End of May - beginning of June 2023

London was on my travel bucket list ever since I was a child, as many things I like are associated with the city — above all, I love the Harry Potter series and I am a fan of Chelsea FC. Lucky for me, ICRA 2023 was taking place in London, where I was organising a workshop on execution failures, so this was my chance to finally visit.

I was not disappointed — London is a really impressive city (very large, well-maintained, and so full of people). The weather was a bit cold on some of the days, but luckily it didn’t rain much while I was there. I was staying in a quite central location, so I could reach many interesting places by foot, but the tube was also great for moving around.

I had two “structured” visits during my stay — I went to the British Museum and had a guided tour of Stamford Bridge. Other than that, I was simply walking around and enjoying the city (when I wasn’t at ICRA).

The British Museum

I’ve been into history ever since my school days and still like learning about it as a small hobby; for this reason, I think the British Museum is probably the best museum I’ve visited thus far (although I do find the name “British” rather strange; something like “World History” museum would be much more accurate, although I guess that would create confusion with the Natural History Museum). Anyway, I found the museum fascinating because of how massive it is (I spent about five hours there because I had to go to ICRA eventually, but I could easily have spent multiple days inside), the amount of artifacts that are on display, and the range of the historical period that it covers. Basically, it’s like a dream come true for someone who enjoys history (seeing statues that I’d previously only seen in my old history books was particularly satisfying).

Here are some visual highlights from the museum, including artifacts from the Assyrian empire, Egyptian statues and mummies, statues and artifacts from ancient Greece, and artifacts from Africa, East Asia, North America, as well as Australia and Oceania.

The British Museum from the outside Assyrian stones Assyrian statue Assyrian gate statues in front of a door The Lion of Babylon Egyptian tomb Statue of Ramesses II An Egyptian mummy Clay pots from ancient Greece Statue of Apollo Statue of a hellhound Easter Island statue Totem-like statue (I believe from Oceania) Wooden chairs from Africa Native American clothing Aztec mask The double-headed serpent Outfit of an ancient Chinese warrior Stones from a Persian temple Skeleton from the Barnack burial Statues of the Olympian gods Statue of an Etruscan woman

Stamford Bridge stadium

As a Chelsea fan, I didn’t want to miss visiting Stamford Bridge, so I went for the guided tour there. During the tour, we visited the conference room, the dressing room, and even came out of the tunnel, just like the players do before a game. A very enjoyable experience.

Here are various photos from the stadium.

Wall showing a list of all trophies won by Chelsea Stamford Bridge from the stands 1 Pitchside selfie Player tunnel from the outside Manager and bench player seats Stamford Bridge from pitchside 1 Stamford Bridge from the pitchside 2 Panelist table in the conference room Me seating in the manager's seat in the conference room Chelsea logo in the conference room Part of the dressing room for the injured players Dressing room - shirts in the goalkeeper corner Selfie in front of Thiago Silva's shirt

Pictures from around London

While walking around and exploring the city, I passed by various London landmarks: the British Library, Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden, Regent’s Park, Hyde Park, Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the London Eye, the Sherlock Holmes museum, and, of course, Platform 9 3/4. I had lots of fish and chips during the stay :). The Porcupine turned into my favourite pub, but The George Pub was also a highlight.

Various photos I took around the city are given below.

University College London Street near UCL Park near UCL The British Library Harry Potter Shop at Platform 9 3/4 Small bridge in northern London Colourful modern art installation Small canal in northern London Regent's Park 1 Regent's Park 2 Regent's Park 3 Small lake in Regent's Park Sherlock Holmes museum entrance Jane Austen Hall entrance Leicester Square The Royal Opera House Covent Garden 1 Covent Garden 2 The Thames Trafalgar Square 1 The National Gallery Hyde Park 1 Hyde Park 2 Hyde Park 3 Hyde Park 4 Hyde Park 5 Hyde Park 6 A lake in Hyde Park with swans in it Road to Buckingham Palace 1 Road to Buckingham Palace 2 Road to Buckingham Palace 3 Road to Buckingham Palace 4 Square in front of Buckingham Palace Garden gate at Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace selfie Garden next to Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace from afar Big Ben The London Eye Vegetarian English breakfast Fish and chips in The Porcupine Camden Town lager in The Porcupine Ice cream in the shape of a flower Trifle in The George Pub