I began this blog post on the way home for London... and there it sat! I'm back, over two months later, trying to piece it together.
We had a whirlwind of a trip to London - it was amazing, tiring, refreshing, COLD, congested, and educational... and I have a few tips for any of you traveling, as well as our itinerary. Some of this was "by the seat of our pants" because we wanted some extra time later in the trip to do whatever we wanted. This itinerary used *lots* of travel on the Underground, which you may do well to independently research later. I followed Love + London on YouTube (she also blogs!) and enjoyed her tips, especially with the tube, whether the London Pass is worth it, and other city tips. She is awesome, and pieces all of this information together more thoroughly and eloquently than I can.
I also use Sygic Travel to piece together all of our big trips - Paris, Munich, Berlin, and London have all been pieced together this way. I am a planner and I love that I can access all of an attractions vital info - website, hours, prices, etc. - from one place. We do still rely on Google Maps for up-to-the-minute transportation routes, because Sygic hasn't incorporated that, though they do map out each day's events for you. I cannot recommend this enough! The app is free. Hop on it!
Overview: Our trip to London was Thursday, April 20 - Friday April 28, 2017. We went right after Easter, so we enjoyed a few relevant festivals, the Queen's birthday (though the actual celebration is in July) and lots of blooming flowers.
Thursday
Flight day! Our British Airways flight left from IAH mid-afternoon, and we landed at Heathrow on Friday morning. We got amazing flight deals through Escape Houston - if your city has a branch of this website/service, follow them on Facebook and get their emails! Unbelievable travel deals.
Friday
Arrival; Tower of London, London Bicycle Co Love London Tour
We landed around 7:30 on Friday morning. It was an 8-hour overnight flight from Houston, and despite our attempts to relax and sleep we couldn't. We knew we wanted to hit the ground running, and we couldn't check in before 3pm, so we dropped our bags with our AirBnB host (we planned this in advance) and figured out which nearby attraction was covered by our London Pass (I do highly recommend this) that we could do first thing. We opted for the Tower of London. Admission was free with our London Pass, and - major perk - we had fast track entry because of the London Pass.
Quick blurb on the Pass (I am not being paid for this endorsement, or any on this page): we opted for a 3-day pass. We wanted to do the included bike tour on the first day so we could get a feel for the city, so we knew we had to make the most of the first day all-around. This is why we opted to go to the Tower first thing - our pass would expire after 3 days, so every hour mattered.
After visiting the Tower, seeing various torture pieces and weaponry and crown jewels, because there was some kind of celebration for the Queen's 91st birthday - which was that April day - our route back was blocked and we scoped out the Tower Bridge. (This is included with the London Pass but we opted not to enter the attraction.)
We felt like we were crashing so we grabbed some coffee and trekked onward to the London Bicycle Co. We took the Love London tour (see link for specific stops), which is included with the London Pass and it was an amazing ride! This started at 2:00pm and lasted three hours. Cycling through London is a little scary, so if you're not proficient, you should probably practice a bit before you go, or just not go. It's intimidating, but so worth it, though, because we got to see several attractions at once. We had no interest in standing around for the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, for example, so seeing the palace then was quite enough for us, and our cycle guide filled us in on some interesting trivia while there. My word to the wise here: WEAR A HELMET. My parents just went to Spain and witnessed someone on their tour crack skulls with another cyclist and they both went to the hospital. Not something you want on your vacay.
We made it to our flat around 5:00pm (booked on AirBnB) and settled in, but went back out for dinner afterward, as we were desperate to adjust to the time zone.
Saturday
Shakespeare's Globe, National Gallery, Trafalgar Square, Bus Tour, Westminster Abbey & Wicked
We were early to Shakespeare's Globe, so we grabbed coffee at the Starbucks across the street. We got free reusable coffee cups because it was Earth Day, and got a really hilarious tour while we were there. This was also included on the London Pass, and though it's a reconstruction of the original Globe, it's certainly worthwhile as we learned a lot about both the original Globe and the reconstruction, as well as the city and culture of London itself.
After our tour, we went to the National Gallery, where they had a touring gallery of Rembrandt pieces as well as their usual amazing gallery. We saw a few famous Monet and Van Gogh pieces (we enjoy Impressionism). This attraction also had free WiFi, which is important when you opt not to pay for data and rely on airplane mode for your trip!
Just outside the National Gallery, we wandered into Trafalgar Square, where the Feast of St George was being celebrated. There were rides and games and food stalls, as well as a concert and other activities. It was pretty amazing to stumble across!
To check another item off the list, we made our way back on the underground to Westminster Abbey (also included on the London Pass), and used the audio guides to walk through the various monuments. We had stopped in Dean's Yard on the Love London tour (highly recommend that bicycle tour!) so we entered the Abbey from another angle this time, but it was cool to know some history to the Westminster school on the other side. The Abbey is unmissable, and one of the attractions I would definitely visit again the next time we find ourselves in London!
After meandering through the Abbey, I made a quick call 😉 and we found our way onto the blue double-decker bus tour which was included on our London Pass, and provided a great and enjoyable tour for us through the city of London. Our pass was good for 24 hours, but we only used it that afternoon. We'd walked so much, it was good to relax on the blue busses. It was also one of the more temperate afternoons of our trip, so we did sit in the open-air upstairs and enjoy the views. I can't recommend these tours enough, and while they're expensive without the London Pass, they're really worth it. We learned so much about the surrounding buildings, the great fire, and other local and national history through the provided audio guides.
We stopped at the apartment to change our clothes and headed out to the theatre that night to see Wicked. It's been out for a while, but I'd never made the time to see it, so as a former thespian, I was overdue. If you're in London, you do need to see a theatre performance of some kind - they have such a broad offering!
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| Notting Hill Gate Tube Station |
Sunday
Windsor & Hampton Court Palaces, The Mute Swan Pub
We spent Sunday outside of London, and we did well with using public transportation to do it (... sort of!).
We started at Windsor Palace. Train transportation to Windsor is included with the London Pass, as is admission to the palace, which makes getting there pretty easy! This palace is still used by the queen, and if you make time to stop in the town to shop and eat, it's a really cute town, a little less crazy than London. We didn't have great access to this palace, but it is still used by the royal family, has stunning views, and is a lovely walk. The audio guides are wonderful and we really enjoyed this castle. Don't take photos - the security staff will sharply remind you that you're in the home of the Queen! This Palace is beautiful inside, which is unfortunate given their strict photography rules.
From there, we took the train back toward London but got off a bit early and then took the bus quite a ways, which got us to Hampton Court Palace. This where Henry VIII lived, and they have the kitchens set up as they would've been in the 16th century. This castle actually felt a little bare in the rooms where Henry VIII lived, but the gardens were lovely and would be a wonderful place to visit on a warm day. It seemed at though everything were in bloom while we were there! The gardens here made the trek worthwhile.
We needed WiFi to get directions back (it was complicated and involved the bus to a tube station, but we really enjoyed the bus ride. I recommend figuring all of the routes out for this day before you even leave your home base if you are wild like us and choose to combine the two), so we stopped in a local pub, The Mute Swan. It's a traditional pub and Austin was able to get the Sunday Roast. This was probably my favorite pub, as it wasn't in the heart of London and had a bit of a traditional, more country appeal to it. It was cozy and the beer was good!
I should add that I never had any issues getting vegetarian cuisine in London - every pub and restaurant had something I could eat. I can't speak for other dietary restrictions (my body does not do well with processing meat) but it ended up being easy for me. I'll also add that most restaurants/pubs had free WiFi, and some areas of London had free street WiFi as well as most of the museums/attractions. We'd signed up for an international data plan just in case, but didn't end up using it at all (AT&T was only going to charge us if we used it).
Monday
Portobello Market, Harrods, Bengal Clipper, Mayflower Pub
By this time, our London Pass had run out. If we'd planned a little better, we would've ventured to the Churchill War Rooms (that's Tuesday) before it did, as we had to pay for that, but it had been included in the pass. Oops!
We stayed in Notting Hill, so Portobello Market wasn't terribly far. We walked there, and I ended up buying a cute wrap! While some of the street vendors are the same things you see sold at most other street markets, but Austin really enjoyed an old map shop, and there were some fun, eclectic shop all along the way. We didn't get to venture into all of them, but they're worth a visit!
From there, we took the tube in to Harrod's, and the store was nothing short of an adventure. You can eat lunch there at the nicer restaurants, but their regular food stalls are all to-go, which threw us off, so we grabbed a sandwich down the road (because we needed to sit!) after we sorted through every single high-dollar floor! We snagged some wine as gifts for some of our child-watchers and journeyed back to our flat for a bit of rest.
That night, we met up with one of Austin's coworkers who relocated to London with his wife a few years ago. He met us at our tube stop and walked with us through a few great attractions, which took us past the original foundation of the London Bridge (remember, it keeps falling down!) and then to a fantastic Indian restaurant - the Bengal Clipper! If you're looking for something off-the-beaten-path which doesn't require reservations, this is it! (Though London is notorious for restaurants which need reservations, we stuck with gastropubs and restaurants like this one, and never had an issue!)
After the Bengal Clipper, we made our way, walking by the Thames, to the Mayflower Pub! I can't recommend going here enough. From their website: "A traditional and typically English pub surrounded by cobbled streets, the outside decked jetty and cosy candlelit restaurant have stunning river views. You can spot the original 1620 mooring point of the Pilgrim Father’s Mayflower ship, warm yourself by the open fire and imagine who may have been sitting in your seat 400 years ago!"
Tuesday
Camden Market, British Museum, Borough Market, Imperial War Museum, Churchill War Rooms
Camden Market was a bust for us. It was eclectic and fun to venture to, but we didn't take the time to research it as we should, so while we saw the bulk of the market, we didn't enjoy it as we would've had we known a bit more about it.
We took the tube and visited the British Museum, which most notably houses the Rosetta Stone (no, that's not just a language software). We made our way to the flavorful Borough Market afterward (this was just before the terrorist attack there, which still gives me goosebumps) and I enjoyed Thai cuisine, which I had craved all week, and Austin got some kind of meaty sandwich. We tarried there for a bit before journeying on the the Imperial War Museum. This museum is solely dedicated to WWI and WWII, and has a large Holocaust exhibit which is worth visiting and remembering. (Note: each of these museums were free.)
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| Rosetta Stone |
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| Imperial War Museum |
Remember how I said the Churchill War Rooms were a big oops? Yeah - that's my bad. Not that we probably could've managed to squeeze in anything else in our 3 London Pass days, but we ended up paying for this. We enjoyed learning about Churchill's upbringing in the interactive museum, as well as walking through the well-preserved rooms where Churchill spent the majority of his time during WWII. Austin's a history nerd/buff, so this really was his day, and he did love this museum!
Wednesday
St Paul's Cathedral, Kings Cross Station, Cambridge/Trinity College, Fitzwilliam Museum,
I'll be honest: we just didn't want to pay for St. Paul's. We visited it on Saturday thinking it was included in the London Pass, but it wasn't, so we left. Instead, on Wednesday, we chose to attend a prayer service as well as the Eucharist (spoiler alert, they used sweet white wine - did not expect that!). We really enjoyed taking communion with believers from across the globe! If this intimidates you, don't let it. In the services we attended, it was clear that most of the people attending were tourists, and we all seemed to follow the lead of 1-2 people who seemed to know what they were doing. The liturgy was a nice change of pace for us, which allowed us time for reflection and time before the Lord before we began the rest of our day.
We took a few different lines on the tube to get to King's Cross Station, where I got my Potterhead photo (jealous?!) before heading to Cambridge for the day. I cannot recommend Cambridge enough! We got a few cute books at a kids book store, and they offer little boat tours through the town. We didn't take one because it was unbearably cold, but we did stop in a cute cafe near Trinity College, which we paid just a few GBP to walk through. This is a 700-year old college, the original college of Cambridge, founded by King Henry VIII.The history is evident in the architecture, the grounds were peaceful and, in true British fashion, it was hazy and misty the entire time we were there.
We walked along the river behind the colleges for a bit - and, word of advice: if the signs outside the college say they're private, don't listen to your husband and follow students through, even if he gets a great photo. Someone will definitely yell and you and make you feel ridiculously guilty. We were just trying to find food, though, which we did find at The Eagle, which has some WWII history involving the ceiling which I can't remember or find online.
The Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge is free and while Austin loved it, I'll be honest - I was exhausted! I walked through a bit and waited for him when I was finished. From there, we made our way back to the train station, and headed back to London. There must've been a football match that night, because every stop, we picked up more fans decked out in red!
We had dinner in London and waited for Roisin to arrive! We got to hang out with Austin's former nanny, Roisin, who is from and now lives in Ireland, for the day on Thursday! We hadn't seen her since she left the US when Ethan was a baby.
Thursday
Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden Market, Jerusalem Tavern, Duke of Kendal Pub
We had to visit Piccadilly Circus just to get it checked off, so we drug Roisin over there before heading to Covent Garden Market, which was my favorite market of the trip! I got an adorable E mug, which I collect, and Austin later surprised me with a "Mum" mug for Mother's Day from a cute, eclectic shop in there as well!
We stopped for a rest, lunch, and a pint at Jerusalem Tavern, which also had free WiFi and a delicious vegetarian pie!
For dinner, we wanted something different, so Roisin's friend, Katie, took us to Masgouf Iraqi Restaurant and enjoyed some traditional Iraqi cuisine. (This may be a good time to mention that most dinners are expected to last a while, tipping isn't quite as high as in the US (10-15%), and you have to REALLY hound some servers for the check.)
Austin had seen signs in pubs for Trivia night, and he was dying to find one all day. The pubs he'd called that day all said they didn't have Trivia anymore, but we happened to wander into the Duke of Kendal Pub, just across the street from our restaurant, which was in the middle of a Trivia night! Had we competed, we would've failed miserably, as we aren't competent in British trivia, however, watching the end of the trivia night was a blast!
Friday
Let's be honest: It's been two months and all I remember was the train of sadness and hope: sadness for the end of a vacation, hope because we couldn't wait to be reunited with our babies! Then off to the big metal tube, and a return to US of A. Heathrow was fun, though, and I got wine at Starbucks, grabbed some Kinder eggs, and prepared myself to binge-watch the latest releases on that plane!
OVERALL
I enjoyed London, but my favorite parts were the day trips to Windsor Palace, Hampton Court Palace, and Cambridge. That probably says I enjoyed being out of the city a bit more than I did being in the city. Our next Euro-trip (God willing) will not involve a large city.. probably just a few quiet, relaxing towns. (When you have toddlers, all you want to do is relax!)
Still to come in 2017: beaches, mountains, and big boat, and more beaches. Stay tuned...
xo,
Elizabeth
