The second destination on our summer European trip was London. We were only in London for a total of two days, and those were two jam-packed days of seeing everything we could. During our time in London we walked over 25 miles. This was my first time to London, so I wanted to be sure to check a few things off my list. Even though it was a nonstop two days of touring, I had a lovely time in this city.
Where to Stay
We stayed at the Amba-Hotel Charing Cross, and we felt like we could not have had a more perfect location. We were steps way from the Charing Cross train station as well as the Charing Cross underground station (the Tube), and minutes away from Trafalgar Square. The staff was friendly, and we made great friends with the concierge, who answered our a million and one questions and gave us some great recommendations. We were part of a package that offered a high tea as well as a Twizzy Tour (I will go into details about both of them further on in the post).
What to do
Buckingham Palace
If you go all the way London, and do not make a pit stop to say hello to the Queen, I will be very disappointed in you. Yes, it is crowded, and yes the chances of you actually seeing the queen are slim to none, it is still something you need to see once in your life. I was slightly disappointed that I saw queenie was home and she did not invite us to tea, but maybe next time. There is the big changing of the guards at 11:00AM every day, and if you want to stand shoulder to shoulder with strangers and barely get to see a thing – then make sure you get a spot close to 3 hours before it begins. We opted for the smaller changing of the guards that happens on the hour every hour. We got right up to the gate, and got to see the whole thing.
Neal’s Yard
Located in a part of London called Covent Garden, this may be the most colorful little alley way in all of London. Neal’s Yard is a hidden gem. The colorful Neal’s courtyard is accessible via two small alleyways on either end. One alleyway is via Short’s Gardens off Neal Street and the other is via the alleyway on Monmouth Street in the middle of London’s Covent Garden. The alleyways of Neal’s Yard are so small that if you blink while passing you might miss turning. The court yard is enclosed by shops and not visible from the streets if you don’t know where you’re going. If you see a Benefit makeup shop immediately turn left and it will lead you right to it!
I don’t think I have ever giggled so much in my life, than during our Twizy Tour. Take a smart car, decorated like the Britain flag, put my mother and I in it, and let us loose on the streets of London and you have a Twizy Tour. I think this is such a fun concept, and one of the best ways to see the city. It is about a 2 hour self guided tour with a little British man audio recording telling you where to go and giving comical commentary about the places you are driving by. People waved, took pictures, and pointed at us during the whole trip. It was so fun and unlike anything I have ever done before. It did rain during our tour, but we were having so much fun it didn’t bother us at all. Plus you always can expect rain in London.
High Tea
Another thing you have to do when you are in London is high tea. This was my first high tea and I was super excited. We did high tea at our hotel, and it was lovely. We enjoyed some hot tea, Prosecco, and a bunch of little goodies. You start on the bottom tier with savory items and work your way up to the sweets.
I think I may be the only person on earth who gets in trouble during high tea. As many of you know, I am a picky eater, so instead of not eating the little finger sandwiches, I decided to peel the smoked salmon off of one and make it a cream cheese sandwich. I had waiters running over, yelling “Madame, Madame!” before I knew it, my plate was taken away from me, and I was not give a new one for about 7 minutes, as this new plate had additional other tiny sandwiches on it. They said if I do not like something I simply just ask for something else. Needless to say I was completely embarrassed!
My favorite tier was the scones in the middle. They were warm and fluffy. I was also excited for the sweets on the top. The chocolate macaroon was good, and I was expecting a lemon bar, but it was actually a mango bar, but it wasn’t bad. The one I was most excited for ended up being the worst of the bunch. The hot pink and lime green bubble thing looked like it would be too cute to eat. Except it was not even good enough to eat. It had filling and weird texture, and I was not a fan – but still give it a 10/10 on looks.
Nighttime walking tour
If you have been following along for a while, you know that I am a huge fan of Free Tours By Foot, and have taken their tours all over the world. It is a tour company that offers free walking tours, and at the end you tip as much as you thought the tour was worth to you. I have never been disappointed in one of their tours. We decided to go on the London Night Tour. We explored the super adorable South London River bank (highly recommend exploring and if we had more time would have loved to spend a night there), the London Eye, and the many bridges of London. We learned about history, present day, stories were told, and it made a great evening. I really enjoyed this tour, and would recommend to anyone visiting London.
Broadway Show
My mom and I are huge musical nerds, and we could not come to London and not see a show. When buying theater tickets we love to use TKTS to purchase them. They open up at 10AM and you can buy discounted tickets for shows that evening. We waited in line, and after already seeing pretty much 3/4 of what was playing, we decided on Dolly Parton’s 9-5. We felt silly being in one of the theater capitals of the world, and seeing this musical when huge productions of “Book of Mormon”, “Wicked”, “Lion King”, and “Les Miserable” were all playing around us. We wanted to see something new though. We both greatly enjoyed the show. They did an amazing job with it. It was funny, the actors were great, the storyline was good, and the music was all Dolly Parton. I would definitely recommend this show.
Where to eat
We went to Borough Market for lunch our first day in London, and it did not disappoint. We unfortunately went during lunch break, so it was crowded but we didn’t feel like the lines were too long. With hundreds of food stalls, selling hot food, fresh fruit and veggies, raw meat/fish, you can find pretty much anything and everything in Borough Market. I love exploring markets when traveling to new places because you never know what hidden gems you may find. Like the naughty brownie- the most gooey and chocolatey brownie one can have. I have listed out the two food stalls we tried out, but if it wasn’t for a full stomach there was so much more I wanted to try.
DELICOUS empanadas. I am a sucker for a good empanada, and these passed the test with flying colors. First of all they were the size of your whole hand, and filled with the freshest ingredients. We shared a beef and a chicken.
You can never take the Italian out of a girl. We saw this stand and immediately had to try it. You chose your own pasta shape and then chose your toppings. All you had to say was fresh pasta made the night before, and we were hooked and standing in line. Our favorite pasta is gnocchi. Gnocchi is a potato pasta, and I like to describe it as little fluffy pillows of pasta heaven if prepared correctly. We decided to try the gnocchi with the pesto and tomato sauce. Talk about yummy- you can’t beat fresh homemade pasta.
Rock & Sole Plaice
This restaurant I have to give a shout out to our concierge. It was our first dinner in London, and we wanted traditional fish and chips. He told us we must try Rock & Sole Plaice, and we are so happy we did. First of all it is the cutest little building, with flowers everywhere. It was a nice night, so we sat outside. We ordered ourselves some London Ales and split the fish and chips. Marrying Mitchell, I have learned to be a fish snob since he is quite the fisherman. However, this fish was delicious. It was cooked to perfection, the inside was juicy, the breading was crisp, and it was everything I wanted British fish and chips to be. If you don’t know fish and chips aren’t served with potato chips. They call their French fries chips. These were just as good, not soggy, and had great flavor.
We found this place, thanks to Pinterest. I am a sucker for an instagrammable dessert and Milk Train does the trick. Take soft serve ice cream, add some sprinkles and then add a pillow of cotton candy. Whoever thought of this idea is a genius. Milk Train is located in Convent Garden, and not a far walk from Rock & Sole Plaice. We got there before the line was out the door. Also, not only is the ice cream cone itself instagrammable, but the inside is as well. It was too cute.
Peggy Porschen
Peggy Porschen is practically a Brittany heaven. With pink decor, pink everything, beautiful flower displays, and yummy cupcakes and treats. This was probably the top place I wanted to visit in London. This was the last thing we did before meeting Blake at the airport to head over to Amsterdam. First things first, the cupcake was actually really good. I had a red velvet cupcake, and mom had the berry summer cake. I felt so Kate Spade because we were legitimately eating cake for breakfast. I was in my happy place. While we were sitting enjoying our cupcakes, there were no joke 8 photo shoots happening – including mine. They all pretty much went the same. The girl would stand in the door way with the flowers, then she would take pictures with her elaborate latte and cupcake. But all Instagram worthy things aside, it is just a cute shop that if you have a sweet tooth you should make a visit to Peggy Porschen.
I enjoyed my short time in London, and glad I experienced it. I crossed it off my bucket list and now onto the next. What are your London recommendations? If you find yourself in London and end up visiting one of these places let me know and tag me in your posts!
Leave a Reply