London BABY!
After Hassan and I were married we didn’t have time for a proper honeymoon since we had to get back to work. With just 4 days we decided to make a quick trip to London BABY (Joey from Friends voice lol). As an overachieving planner I was determined to make the perfect itinerary and fit in everything we needed to see.
To start off with we stayed at the Andaz London on Liverpool Street in the Financial District. It was the perfect location with close proximity to the Tube (love saying that, the TUBE). We used the underground public transportation system straight from the airport to hotel and on the first night decided to stay in the area. We were walking distance to the Tower Bridge which was the perfect first thing in London to see, lit up neon at night over the Thames. Walking back we saw a line outside of a restaurant called “Duck and Waffles” so decided to see what the hype was about. Ordering from the late night menu, the duck and waffles definitely reminded me of LA’s Roscoe’s chicken and waffles. Dining on the 40th floor of the Heron Tower with views of the city lit up below us the first night in London was no disappointment.
Day 1: Since we were in a foreign country, we wanted to eat authentic British food. Our first morning we went to eat at a popular spot called “The Breakfast Club”. Unfortunately when we asked the waitress to give us the typical British breakfast she told us that they actually copy the American breakfast. So we ended up with pancakes, eggs and coffee. The first thing on the itinerary was the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Visiting in September meant it only occurred every other day and at 11:30am. Although we arrived an hour early to get a good spot I don’t think it would have mattered, the procession occurs all around and even when you’re close up you’re still cramped for space.
From there we walked down the Mall with St. James Park beside us to Trafalgar Square. We took some pictures with Nelson’s column- Nelson being the guy who led the Battle of Trafalgar. Walking towards Westminster we passed 10 Downing Street, where the Prime Minister of London resides- and more importantly, Hugh Grant in Love Actually. Getting back to our itinerary we moved on to “the best Abbey I’ve ever seen”, as Joey would say. We walked around the grounds without actually taking a tour of the indoors with views of the Parliament House and Big Ben across the street. Everything is within walking distance and easily found. At this point we were starving and went to the area around the London Eye. Looking for more British fare we decided to have fish and chips, but it was probably a mistake to eat them in such a touristy place as that ended up being the second time that day we were disappointed with our meals. We hopped on the London Eye, thankfully the lines weren’t too long, and after our tiring day we could actually sit while we took a spin on the Ferris wheel.
After some napping we were re-energized and went out again. Hassan picked a place called “the Box”, which was a crazy experience. We stayed for the Burlesque show that truly gave us a European vibe and completed our Day 1 with much excitement.
Day 2: We picked a Windsor Castle- Stonehenge- Oxford Tour from Tripadvisor, I can’t remember which one but they all seemed the same. We were picked up from our hotel and taken to the station where all the tour buses were waiting. Our first stop was Windsor Castle and we loved the medieval feel we got as soon as we stepped on the grounds. Seeing the knight’s armor and the decked out state-rooms, walking through the St. George’s Chapel to see the Tudor tombs and Henry VII’s grave; all great reminders of the high school textbooks from Global History. An unfortunate part of being with the tour was the time constraint. All around Windsor Castle are cute little shops and restaurants which we didn’t get to browse through because we had to move on to the next destination.
While on the bus our tour guide kept us entertained with stories of the Royal Family until we got to Stonehenge. The ancient monument is surrounded by endless pastures and you can see sheep grazing everywhere. The actual stones are roped off so you can’t touch them but we could get close enough to take pictures. In my opinion we could have spent less time here and more time at Windsor, there isn’t much to do after you walk around it.
Our last stop was Oxford. We had the option of walking around the town with the tour guide or going off on our own. Since I wanted to see the “Great Hall” from Harry Potter we decided to go off on our own, but alas it was closed since we got there later in the evening. We got back on the bus and went straight to bed that night.
Day 3: After sleeping in we decided to go to the British Museum. The highlight during our visit there was seeing the Rosetta Stone. Afterwards, on a friend’s recommendation, we went to a Brazilian temakeria called Yoobi in the SoHo area for lunch. The sushi is made in the front of the restaurant and you get to build your own roll. Since we’ve been living in Manhattan we couldn’t help but compare the SoHo of London to the NYC one and missed our own city’s liveliness.
Coming all the way to England I couldn’t leave without some tea and crumpets ;). A few weeks before arriving I’d made reservations for Afternoon Tea at the Ritz and later that evening we headed over. Men are required to wear a jacket and tie with a no jeans rule FYI. The Palm Court was beautiful, at one point Hassan said he felt like he was in a scene from Titanic. In the middle of the platters of scones and cucumber sandwiches, a woman in a sequined evening gown serenaded us with a man on the piano behind her. The entire experience lasted about 2 hours and we left with an otherworldly feeling, plus the beautiful pen I signed the check with.
Day 4: I think the week long wedding events and traveling got to us because our last day in London we slept all day, ordering room service when our eyes would flutter open for a few minutes before passing out again. We finally left in the evening for dinner, but that’s it for LONDON BABY!
