Tag: london

London Trip: Day 9 Pints in Regent’s Park

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We needed an extra cup of coffee this morning because this was our last full day in London and had a lot to do! We enjoyed a full English breakfast at the hotel restaurant and made our plans for the day. My most helpful travel advice is to plan what you want to do before you go and have your day mapped out before you head out. We were able to pack so much into our last day because we had it mapped out with where we were walking and where we were taking the Underground.

While we were here, we wanted to stop by the London office of the company he works at. They were in the process of moving offices so we stopped by to say hello to his coworkers and see the new office. It’s next to St. Paul’s Cathedral and I wish we had more offices with this view here in the States!

We walked around St. Paul’s Cathedral and it really is magnificent. I was hoping to be able to go inside but they charged money for people to go inside and it was just a bit too pricey for an entrance fee. While we didn’t go inside, the grounds around the cathedral were beautiful. It’s definitely worth making time to just walk around it, not so sure it’s worth the 25 Pounds to be able to go inside though.

From there, we took the Underground to Kings Cross Station to catch a train to Hogwarts. JK! But we did go to Kings Cross Station and visit the Platform 9 ¾ gift shop. It’s a bit of a queue to get inside the store but the line moved quickly. There is also a photo area where you can get a photo of you traveling through the bricks to get to the Hogwarts Express. There was a long line to get a photo and we were trying to accomplish a lot this day so I said we could skip it since we had already gotten photos of the same thing at Harry Potter Studios.

We got lucky and the sun started to peak through the clouds. Of course the sun finally makes an appearance on our last day! We then made our way to the Sherlock Holmes Museum and got tickets to visit the museum. If you don’t have time for an hour to visit the museum part, you need to make time for the gift shop. It’s perfectly currated for the best souvenirs and gifts!

By the time we finished up at the Sherlock Holmes Museum, the clouds were gone and the sun was shining brightly! Jacob wanted to take me to one of his favorite parks in London, Regent’s Park, so we started to make our way there. We had to stop at a pub when we saw that they had takeaway pints for the park. We both grabbed a Camden Hells and made our way through Regent’s Park.

Can you imagine being able to walk through this park every day??

Next up on our list was shopping at Harrods! I was hoping to treat myself to a nice handbag while we were there but I wasn’t in love with anything. In the lower level there is a Harrods Gift Shop with much more reasonable prices 😉 I fell in love with this large tote bag and also got the matching cosmetic bag as a nice souvenir. We picked up a few other items for gifts for our friends and family while walking around the very large floor of Harrods souvenirs.

We left Harrods and made our way to Piccadilly Circus to walk around. It’s London’s version of New York City’s Time Square. We walked around enjoying the bustle of the street and did some window shopping. Piccadilly Circus is filled with so many restaurants and stores that you could spend the whole day here.

We chose to walk back to our hotel so we could walk past Big Ben one last time. For our last night, we decided to get dinner at the restaurant at our hotel and it was the perfect way to end the night. We got all dressed up and enjoyed a nice dinner and drink to celebrate our last night in London. We spent the dinner talking about our favorite parts of the trip and planning our next trip back! It was also hard to say goodbye to our beautiful hotel, The Royal Horseguards.

London Trip Day 8: Tower of London

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By day eight, we were exhausted from the time change and all the walking we had been doing. So we stayed in bed and ordered room service to the room. We had such an amazing hotel suite so I wanted to enjoy a slow morning enjoying it! When in London, you must have an English Breakfast at least once!

With a slow morning, we enjoyed our brekkie and some coffee before getting dressed for a full day of sightseeing. Be sure to pack layers because the weather is constantly changing! One thing that made this trip so eventful is we had our full itinerary planned in advance so we could fit so much into our days without feeling rushed to do everything. We tried to do one big thing a day and made time to walk around the area before heading to dinner. It also helped that Jake had been to London in the past and he knew what to do in a day to make sure we do a lot but not too overwhelming.

We walked to the Tower of London, a famous London monument, that was on our list of places to visit. In our heads, we had planned to be there for two hours max for some sightseeing before going to our next stop. We had no idea the property was so large with so much to see that we didn’t even see everything. The Tower of London has a lot of historical significance which is why I originally wanted to go but there were a lot of other exhibits; torture, weapons, jewels, etc. to see.

We left the Tower of London with plans to visit again because we could spend hours walking around the large property. Next on our itinerary was dinner at the Sherlock Holmes pub that everyone includes on lists of things to do in London. I hate to be that person to pop that bubble, but it’s fun to walk past and walk in to see the decor, but I found it not worth the hype. The wait was too long for a table to sit and eat and I was secretly relieved. We grabbed a beer at the bar and decided to walk around to find another pub to eat dinner at. One thing I LOVE about London is there are so many pubs with amazing decor and themes to choose from. It seems like everyone after work goes to a pub to grab a pint with their friends and I wish we had that in America.

Since we were hungry but not starving, we decided to walk through the neighborhood, Covent Garden. The neighborhood is appropriately named because just like other parts of London, there are parks every few blocks. Whenever we found a park, I would insist we walk through it to enjoy the greenery because I love how neighborhoods are developed around green spaces. It’s something I also wish we had more of back at home because it was so lovely to walk through. Jake had been to a restaurant in this area on his last trip so we took the long way to do some sightseeing and see The Royal Opera House. Next trip I hope we can find a reason to go inside!

There are plenty of amazing restaurants the challenge is which one to pick. After a week of pubs, we got dinner at an Italian restaurant, Cafe Concerto, and it was such a fun vibe! I love the pubs but it was nice to get some pasta and a cocktail. They had my new go-to, Pornstar Martini on the menu so I was a very happy girl! Some days we had dinner reservations but my favorite dinners were ones we just walked around to sightsee and picked a place when we were hungry.

With a full belly, we made our way to Trafalgar Square, another must-see when in London. The city was alive at night it was hard to walk back to our hotel even though we were both exhausted. There’s so much to do and by now I was starting to be able to walk around and still find our hotel. Luckily, to find our hotel you just needed to find Big Ben since our hotel was next door. A part of me wanted to stay out and grab another drink, but I was happy to get comfy in our hotel room because we had a busy day planned for the next day too!

London Trip: Day 6

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One of my favorite things about five-star hotels is the breakfast. For the first time since we got to London, we slept late and then dressed to head down to breakfast. Our only concrete plan for the day was our engagement dinner in the evening so we spent the day as tourists.

We walked through St. James Park to meet up with our friends to say a final goodbye to our friends who were flying back home that afternoon. Jacob had been to London a few years ago and fell in love with Pimms so we got a pitcher to share. St. James Park has a cafe with quick-service food and cocktails. When we ordered Pimms cups for four people, the girl who worked there asked if we would like to order a pitcher instead and Jacob’s eyes lit up when he found out he could order one!

I learned that every park has a little cafe or two and often sell Pimms so we made a deal that if we see one we have to order a Pimms because it’s a drink that is hard to find in the States and is very delicious!
From there we made our way to the London Eye to view the city from up high. London weather is very bizarre because it was sunny one minute and then started to rain while we were in line to get on the London Eye. It’s definitely a touristy thing to do but you have to do it at least once.

Jacob chose our hotel because it was in walking distance to Buckingham Palace so we made our way there next! We took the long way to see as much of London as we could.

At this time we were weeks away from the Coronation so streets were starting to get blocked off for the preparations.

We made our way back to the hotel to get ready for our engagement dinner at Petrus, a Gordon Ramsey, Michelin star restaurant. It is a fixed menu that was delicious and a wonderful experience!