The first part of my trip to Europe was a few days in London
with my dad. By the time we landed and
got to our hotel is already late in the day so we didn’t really set out into
the city until about 5 PM, right before the sun went down. We are staying just across the Thames River
from Big Ben and Parliament so that was the first thing we saw. We got some great views as the buildings
began to light up. Then we walked over
to Westminster Abbey and from there on to Trafalgar Square, which was hard to
see given that it was dark already. We
decided to find an English pub for dinner.
For dinner I had a Carling beer and bangers and mash…pretty traditional
British fare! My dad had a cider and a
meat pie…think chicken pot pie but with beef and ale gravy. Given the jet lag and red eye were both
pretty tired after that and headed back to what has to be the smallest hotel
room ever!! So tiny we have to squeeze
our suitcases under the bed to get to the bathroom.
 |
| Big Ben and Parliament |
Of course at 1:30 AM I found myself wide awake until about 5
AM so I clearly didn’t transition as easy as I had hoped given the lack of
sleep on the plane ride over. The next
morning was a bit painful to get up and moving…but we had a lot to see and I
wanted to get started.
Day two we were pleasantly greeted with beautiful sunshiny
weather. Only a few scattered white
clouds in the sky. It was certainly cold
but quite a pretty day and not the typical London fog or even rain that we were
expecting. Our first stop was the Tower
of London on the tube. Unfortunately for
us, we found that the line that runs along the Thames bank and hits all the
attractions we wanted to see for the day was closed! So that meant A LOT of walking. I’m pretty sure we probably walked over 10
miles between our hotel and the Tower of London and back.
On the way to the Tower of London we stopped for a view of
St. Paul’s Cathedral was unfortunately closed due to Sunday services. At the Tower of London we took an
introductory tour with a Beefeater before exploring various rooms and towers
including a peak at the crown jewels!
From the Tower of London we stopped for some pictures of the
iconic Tower Bridge before making our way across for some lunch on the way to
Shakespeare’s Globe theater.
Unfortunately, we ended having to go back across to the Tower of London
because we forgot our Palace Pass to get us into the other palaces on this
trip. After a stop at the Globe, which
we opted not to tour given the cost, we walked along a beautiful waterfront
path to Trafalgar Square. This
waterfront pass was filled with little restaurants and shops, a few museums,
and dozens of bridges.
 |
| Tower Bridge |
Upon arriving at Trafalgar Square we stopped to rest a bit
before heading into the National Gallery with a couple hours to spend before
closing. The National Gallery is
magnificent museum especially the cost…free!
Absolutely a must see if visiting London. The museum has very famous and recognizable
works by Da Vinci, Monet, Van Gogh, and Rembrandt, along with hundreds of other
wonderful artists.
At the point of utter exhaustion we made our way back to
Westminster Abbey to grab some cash before a pizza dinner. We stopped at the first place we could find
to eat along the path to the hotel, which was a decent escape from the cold
weather and a break for our tired feet!
On our second full day in London, we started the day at
Westminster Abbey, which provides a wonderful audio guide as you tour the
impressive cathedral. This place is just
packed with monuments and tombs and sculptures on every possible surface, high
and low. Notable historical figures such
as Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Queen
Elizabeth I are all remembered here.
From Westminster Abbey we board the tube to head across the
city to Kensington Palace. This was a
bit of a let down to be honest.
Apparently, only a small portion of this palace is available to tour and
those areas a bit kitschy. The reason is
that this palace is still very much used as a residence by the royal
family. In fact, William and Kate
recently decided to make Kensington Palace their primary residence. Oh to be royalty with a choice palaces to
call home….
After our tour we walked through Kensington Gardens and Hyde
Park, stopping at few monuments here and there along our way to Buckingham
Palace. The parks are really quite
wonderful and made me wish parks of that magnitude existed more in
California. At the opposite end of the
parks from Kensington Palace is Buckingham Palace filled with people hoping for
a glimpse of the queen. We stopped to
look and take a few pictures. This place
seems much bigger in person than in pictures.
 |
| Buckingham Palace |
From there we simply went exploring some areas starting with
Chelsea and a stop at Harrod’s department store. After Chelsea we headed to Piccadilly Circus
to explore the Soho area where we stopped for a dinner of the classic English
dish, fish and chips!
The final day of our trip was set to be a bit of a venture
out of Central London to Hampton Court, the home of Henry VIII. Hampton Court was originally a residence of
Henry VIII’s advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, but after his downfall Henry confiscated
the majestic residence as his own. It is
here that Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn set up their court. Several decades later, William and Mary of
Orange moved in and renovated parts of the castle in a Baroque fashion. This creates for two sorts of palaces within
the castle reflecting different eras of the British monarchy. This facility was quite spectacular to tour
with insight into multiple British monarchies.
As an avid fan of the Henry VIII story, I found this most enjoyable to
explore and will find this visit useful to reference in reading Philippa
Gregory’s books.
 |
| Hampton Court |
In the morning it was off to Paris for the next stop on my
European adventure!
No comments:
Post a Comment