London, Take 2
I was fortunate enough last June to spend another 9 days in my favorite city, and after a rocky start… sitting on the runway in Dallas for two hours before we were finally able to take off, of course arriving in London late, then finding out that my driver left and they were unable to send another car (all I will say is stay far, far away from these people!!) and Uber to the rescue… it turned into an amazing getaway! And, which made up for the extra couple of hours in the airplane, we flew right over central London before landing at Heathrow Airport.
Just like last year, this was another solo vacation, and I stayed at the same hotel again because the location was (is) absolutely perfect. And I have to say, this time was even better than last time. I felt more confident, and I still remembered how to get to places, so didn’t have to use the map and directions as much. One concern was the weather. In the week or so before my flight, I kept checking the weather in London, and every day had between a 30% and 60% chance of rain. But then one by one, the rain chances disappeared and every day was supposed to be sunny, or at least dry. Except Saturday…
I had planned on some familiar sights, some things I didn’t get to do last year, and thanks to this book (I follow the author on Instagram), that I bought just before my vacation, some less touristy things as well. I might post about those at a later time.
One of the first things on my agenda was the Shard. It was closed for some kind of maintenance work last year, and as soon as they reopened, I purchased a (discounted) voucher. All I needed to do was pick the date and time to go up. I even took the stairs!! …but only up to the second observation deck.
Thanks to the Tower Bridge website I got to see the bridge open a couple of times. Thanks to some London Instagrammers I also found a new spot to photograph Big Ben.
I visited this fountain lat year, but sadly it was shut off. This year I got lucky and it was actually working.
Neal’s Yard, near Covent Garden was a favorite place from last year, and strolling through St. James’s Park, I ended up at Buckingham Place, although this is as close as I got this time and headed back the way I came.
A red telephone box with Big Ben in the background. Could it get any more “London”? This is obviously a very popular phone box, but everyone waited in line patiently and didn’t get in the way of the people taking pictures. And then there was Love Lane… how could this hopeless romantic not take a picture of that?! Especially with a pretty little park as the backdrop. And thanks to my favorite Brit, I found a new spot to take a picture of the giant dildo. Oops! I meant the Gherkin.
Saturday was spent with this little photo bomber.
We met at Holborn Viaduct. I got there first since it’s only about 10 minutes from my hotel. It was a cloudy but dry when I left the hotel, and while I was waiting for Brian… but as soon as I saw him, it started raining! Not hard, but enough for me to dig my umbrella out of my bag to protect the camera. Clearly little Eeyore brought the rain with him! We walked around for a bit and I made him pose beneath the Cock Lane street sign, which was also where a statue of a naked little golden boy was (haha). For lunch we (I) chose the beautiful Old Bank of England pub (scroll through the pictures on their website to see!) and afterwards we made our way down to the pier to catch the Uber boat to Greenwich Park. Unfortunately when we got there we heard someone tell another group that there were some cancellations and all the Uber boats were already booked. So on to plan B, which was to just wander around London, which included seeing St. Saviour’s Dock from both sides, a nice cold drink at Starbucks, people watching at St. Katharine Dock, enjoying peaceful St. Dunstan-in-the-East, a little tattoo photo shoot in the grass at St. Paul’s Cathedral Garden, and some laughs in between. We also may or may not have gotten ourselves arrested. In my defense, it was all Brian’s idea and I’m completely innocent! As for the weather, it stayed mostly dry except for the shower in the morning and one more in the afternoon (when we were in prison), I think the sun even came out a few times… no doubt due to my weather changing superpower.
After Saturday left three more days to cross things off my to-see-and-do list. These four phone boxes on the back side of the Royal Courts if Justice were another awesome Instagram find and I think they may have also been mentioned in the book I bought. I also spent some time in beautiful Middle Temple Garden, which is only open to the public for a few hours in weekday afternoons. Afterwards I visited Temple Church, which also has some odd opening hours and I was never there at the right time last year. And one evening, when it looked like there might be a nice sunset, I headed to Millennium Bridge and then to Reflection Garden for some pictures.
On my very last day, I strolled along the Thames again, took the Tower Bridge Tour, which I really enjoyed last year (I might have a slight obsession with this pretty bridge), finally caught the Thames at low tide and walked down the Shad Thames steps “into” the Thames, and fought my way through the crowds at Spitalfields / Old Spitalfields Market.
As you can imagine, it was another memorable trip that was over much too quickly. So many more things crossed off my list, and so many more I didn’t get to do (again), which means I’m just going to have to go back again someday. Hopefully soon!
I miss you London ❤️
I Left My Heart in… London
Hello! Remember me? Yes, I’m still around. Somewhere.
I got to check London off my Bucket List last June and thought that this deserved a blog post (finally).
I had been saving up for years and was all booked to go in June 2020, but we all know what happened in March! So I cancelled and put the trip on hold until the restrictions eased up, and finally rebooked for June 2023. The best (and scariest!) part was that I went solo! No husband, no kids. Just me! To do what I wanted, when I wanted, and no missing out on things because they “cost too much”.
I spent nine AMAZING days there, and other than a couple of light rain showers on my first full day, the weather was absolutely perfect, and I finally got to meet a very good friend and fellow (former) blogger in person.
My flight to London was long, sleepless, but otherwise uneventful, other than being delayed one hour (British Airways is great! Much nicer than my flight back with American Airlines) but I went into a bit of a panic after we landed and I get a welcome message from T-Mobile, but had NO data service!! After I got to the hotel and connected to their wifi, said very good friend and fellow (former) blogger…. also life saver… figured out that I had data roaming turned off and once I turned it on, all was well. Phew!
I didn’t have the energy to do much that first afternoon, but did walk to St. Paul’s Cathedral, since it was close to my hotel. They were already closed to tours, so I just walked around the outside and then went back to the hotel to figure out what I wanted to do the next day.
Miles walked: 2.6
On Day 2 I walked along the South Bank to the London Eye, then across Westminster Bridge past Big Ben / Houses of Parliament to Westminster Abbey. Unfortunately you can only buy tickets online and the earliest still available were for that afternoon. So I went back to the London Eye and was able to get tickets to get on right away. Then back to Westminster Abbey for the tour. I think I spent more than an hour inside and probably didn’t see all of it.
After a late lunch I walked past the narrow House at 22 Fleet Street and the Royal Courts of Justice to Twinings, the oldest tea shop in London, and of course bought some tea there.
Miles walked: 7.5
On Day 3 I walked across Millennium Bridge past the Tate Modern, Shakespeare’s Globe, the Golden Hinde replica and City Hall to Tower Bridge and took the tour. Again, it’s preferable to buy tickets online, but I was able to get a ticket right then and there. The tour was pretty interesting and my favorite part was the glass floor you can walk across and see the cars and people below.
Then it was off to the Tower of London where I spent a good couple of hours, but decided to skip the crown jewels because the line was at least 12 years long! (Best to get there as soon as the Tower of London opens and go straight to where the crown jewels are). After that I walked through Borough Market and back to St. Paul’s Cathedral to take the tour. Even walked the 528 steps to the top of the dome for an amazing view of London.
Miles walked: 8.6
On Day 4 I walked to Temple Church (closed), past the Royal Opera House, through Covent Garden, the Victoria Embankment Gardens, stopped at The Sherlock Holmes (pub) for some pictures, to Admiralty Arch and down The Mall to Buckingham Palace. Then through Green Park to Royal Albert Hall and the Albert Memorial and though Hyde Park, St. James’s Park (my favorite park in London!) to Somerset House and finally back to the hotel.
Miles walked: 11.1
On Day 5 I decided to take it a bit easier and not stray too far from the hotel. My first stop was the Walkie Talkie and I was lucky enough to get a ticket to go up to the Sky Garden. Not sure what is up with the Sky Garden tickets, because they give away free ones online for each day, but you can’t buy any online. Of course you have to be lucky to score a free ticket, and, well… I wasn’t. So I walked in, went to the ticket counter and asked if they had any tickets available, and she sold me one. Yes!
After the Sky Garden I went to the Lloyd’s Building (aka Inside Out Building), the Gherkin (is it me, or does it look like a giant… um… ok, this is a family blog..) and through Leadenhall Market to The Garden at 120, which is a free rooftop Garden, and eventually ended up at St. Dunstan in the East (very pretty and peaceful church garden). Then I went to The Monument and climbed the 311 continuous spiral staircase steps to the top for an (again) amazing view of London.
Miles walked: 5.7
Day 6 was definitely one of the highlights of my trip because I finally got to meet Brian (aka FS Photography in person. We met right here on the blogs (can’t remember on whose exactly) way back in 2010 and even though we’ve both been neglecting our blogs, we stayed friends all these years.
So that day he came to London and we spent the day walking through Covent Garden, Neal’s Yard, the British Museum (didn’t actually spend much time there, I just wanted to get a certain shot), Chinatown, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, sat talking and people watching in the grass in St. James’s Park, admired the graffiti in the Leake Street Tunnel, and even had time for a Guinness somewhere before Brian had to head home again. Strangely enough (and I’m a bit sad about it) this was the day I took the least amount of pictures. Guess we were having too much fun to think about the cameras much.
Miles walked: 8.8
Day 7 was one of the most exhausting! As usual, I left the hotel right after breakfast and walked to St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel because it’s a gorgeous building. Then on to Coal Drops Yard to browse the shops and through Regent’s Park to the top of Primrose Hill for a view of the London Skyline in the distance. The back through St. Mary’s Garden, which is part of Regent’s Park to Daunt Books (very photogenic, and yes, I did buy a book!) and then in search for a phone box outside Russel Square Garden that sells tiramisu. What better excuse to sit and rest for a while, and enjoy some delicious dessert?
Made it back to the hotel at some point, and then went out again for dinner and a stroll around St. Paul’s Cathedral and down to Millennium Bridge for some sunset shots.
Miles walked: 12.9
Day 8 was again a lot of walking. I went back to Leake Street Graffiti Tunnel because when I was there with Brian, we saw one in the process of being painted and I wanted to see it finished. Sadly it was already painted over again. From there I went to “Big Ben Viewpoint” for more pictures, and then past Lambeth Palace to Battersea Power Station, which has been converted to a mall. Then I strolled through Battersea Park before finding a place for lunch, and on the way back to the hotel, I found Little Ben (which I didn’t even know existed) and Westminster Cathedral (not quite as impressive as Westminster Abbey).
Miles walked: 12.5
Day 9 was my last full day in London and even though I still had some things to see and do on my list, I decided to revisit some of my favorites…. although everything was my favorite!
I walked to St. Paul’s Cathedral first, the down to and across Millennium Bridge, and along the Thames past City Hall and Tower Bridge to St. Savior’s Dock to get some pictures at high tide. Then back across Tower Bridge to St. Katherine Dock and then found my way to Borough Market to eat lunch. Then, at Brian’s recommendation I did the London Bridge Experience. He claimed it’s scary, but… meh, I disagree.
Then I went back to Tower Bridge and Shad Thames, where there are steps to walk down to the river at low tide. That was pretty cool. I also went back to St. Savior’s Dock to get some pictures at low tide.
Then finally back to the hotel via Somerset House in search of Carting Street and London’s only surviving sewer powered gas lamp.
Miles walked: 12
Day 10 was just enough time to finish packing and have breakfast before I had to head back to the airport… and back to hell Texas. I hate Texas.
Miles walked: 1. For a grand total of 82.7 (133km)
This was without a doubt by far the best vacation ever, and I can’t wait to do it again. Because…. I have to! There are still things left to see and do on my list, and I’m finding even more things I need to see and do!
If you’ve made it all the way to the end, thank you for reading. Wish I could have included pictures of everything, but that would have made this post about 5 miles long.
Look for my next post after my next London vacation. Whenever that will be…
The Daily Click 