London, England
/(June 9th - June 12th, 2015)
As soon as we said goodbye to Greece, we knew we were going to have to start bundling up again. We were headed back to cold and cloudy weather, but had a jam packed itinerary to fill up our time and keep us warm in London. Once we landed at Heathrow airport, it was comforting to hear English again (especially with the accent!). While we had no idea where we were going, navigating was much easier when we could read all the signs and understand the announcements at the train stations/airport. We made our way onto the Tube and set out to find our last AirBnB apartment. We wandered around for awhile and asked for directions a few times, but finally gave in and called our host to figure out where we needed to go. It turned out that the address that was provided to us in the reservation was incorrect, so while we thought our navigation skills had failed us, we were relieved to know that any one else would have struggled in a similar manner :)
Once we got everything sorted out, we quickly settled into our tiny London flat. Allen and I admired the smallest bathroom sink we had ever seen. It was a rectangular sink (probably 12" long and 6" wide) that sat parallel to the wall behind the door. So when the door (which opened into the bathroom) was open, the sink was completely hidden. It was also impossible to wash your hands or face without spilling water all over the ground. Everything else about the apartment was really nice and the host left us a bottle of sparkling wine and chocolates as a welcoming gift. After connecting to the wifi and doing a little research about the surrounding area, we set off to explore.
We absolutely loved the location of the apartment as it was a few blocks from the Leicester Square station and between the Covent Garden and SOHO neighborhoods. We wandered through Trafalgar Square on our way to see Big Ben. We took enough photos of Big Ben, the iconic telephone booths, and the London Eye to make sure everyone knew we had never been there before and then continued our walk past Westminster Abbey and the River Thames. Before long we both had worked up an appetite so we started looking for some dinner options. We stumbled upon Opera Tavern, a well reviewed restaurant with a single open table for two and no fancy clothes required. The food was tapas style, so we ordered drinks and took our time looking over the unique menu. I think we ended up ordering almost one of everything and each dish was original and absolutely delicious. When we got the bill at the end of our meal, we had a serious bout of sticker shock as we weren't accustomed to London prices yet. It didn't help that for the first time during our trip the exchange rate was working very much against us.
We started our first morning in London by heading over to the financial district to have breakfast at the famous Duck and Waffle restaurant. One our of Australian friends had recommended the restaurant and again, we truly lucked out getting in on such short notice without a reservation. The restaurant was on the top floor of the Heron Tower with a stunning view of the city and the only thing that could top the view was the meal itself. Allen got the famous duck & waffles which consisted of a crispy duck leg confit, fried duck eggs, and mustard maple syrup, and I got Colombian eggs which was basically avocado toast with grilled chorizo and scrambled eggs on top. We thoroughly enjoyed our meal and discussed how we already realized we'd have to come back to London someday. With full bellies, we continued to explore the city and headed towards the Tower of London. We ended up doing the full tour where we learned about many historical events that took place at the Tower of London, but we were most excited to see the family jewels and the armor exhibit. After the tour we walked across the Tower Bridge and took more obligatory tourist photos. Our next stop was Borough Market and boy did it not disappoint. The market was in full swing with tons of different hot food options and packaged goods for sale. We just followed our noses as we wandered around the market and sampled enough food to fill us up for lunch. We tried some vegetarian indian food, cold brew coffee, vegetable juices, mango cheesecake, cookies, and homemade granola. To finish it all off we stopped by the acclaimed Monmouth coffee. It was extremely crowded so we decided to take our coffees with us and continue exploring. We walked over to Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, but there was a show going on so we couldn't do a tour. We crossed back over the river and admired St Paul's Cathedral. We did an audio tour as we walked through the cathedral and climbed up to the Golden Gallery to get some more amazing views of the city. After St. Paul's we continued zig zagging across the river and admired the London Eye up close.
We wandered back past Big Ben and headed towards the Churchill War Rooms, but found out they had closed early due to a big event that was going on next to St. James Park. A policeman standing nearby explained that it was for an event called the Beating Retreat, or Trouping the Colour (which is an evening pageant of music and military precision drill, including horses, cannons, and fireworks.) He was very enthusiastic about it and said that his wife loved it (who wasn't even from the UK). We didn't have any plans for the evening so we decided to buy tickets (plus I secretly hoped we'd see some British royalty since it's always held on the Queen's birthday weekend). After killing a couple hours, we took our seats and watched what Allen described as a "marching band competition mixed with a European history class." We were seriously underwhelmed and as soon as the sun went down, we realized that we didn't dress appropriately. We were freezing for over two hours, but the guy next to us kept telling us to wait for the Battle of Waterloo reenactment as it was supposed to be "spectacular". So we ended up sticking around and watched the full reenactment that included full costumes, horses, trumpets, cannons, and full narration of the battle. Would we do it again? Definitely not. Is it a good story that we now laugh about? Absolutely :)
So you can get a glimpse of our exhilarating evening :)
The next morning we woke up and walked through the SOHO neighborhood in search of some coffee and breakfast. We ended up at Kaffeine which is supposed to be one of London's best coffee shops. We got some pastries and each tried the "Coffee Tasting Flight" which included a single-shot espresso, a cascara palate cleanser (made from dried coffee cherries - it kind of tastes like iced tea) and a single-shot cappuccino. Everything was fantastic and the people that worked there were very passionate about the coffee. After we were heavily caffeinated, we walked to Hyde Park where we rented bicycles and cruised around for a couple of hours. It was a gorgeous day and there was plenty to see on our ride. There were tons of people out and about enjoying the nice weather (think Greenlake on a sunny Seattle day). We saw swans walking on the sidewalk, several gardens and fountains, and we stopped at Kensington Gardens to enjoy a scone and peruse the gift shop. After dropping off our bikes, we walked over to Buckingham Palace and enjoyed a nice nap in the sun in a park nearby. We continued walking and ended up on a street that had all of Allen's dream car dealerships...so of course we had to go look at cars. We walked in to the BMW showroom and Allen got to sit in and envision his future in an i8. After I finally dragged Allen out of there, we continued on to the Dorchester Hotel to have afternoon tea. We were looking over the menu and Allen was trying to swallow the idea of spending more British pounds on tea and some fancy sandwiches than he ever thought was possible, but luckily for him, we were turned away right before our reservation because Allen was wearing "sport shoes" and those weren't allowed. I was really looking forward to an authentic afternoon tea experience in London, but Allen promised he'd try to reenact the experience when we got home...when it didn't matter what shoes we were wearing.
Since we needed a new plan for lunch, we decided to head over to Piccadilly Circus and stopped at a little cafe for a quick bite to eat and a chance to rest our feet. Afterwards, we walked around London's version of Time Square and then took the Tube back to the Churchill War Rooms. We both thoroughly enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about Winston Churchill. I am very interested in WWII history and enjoyed all the museums and exhibits we got to visit throughout our trip to learn about the involvement of each country and the impact they had on the war.
On our way back to our apartment we found a cute gelato spot and decided to have a little snack. It had been a few days since our last gelato trip so it was a nice treat that we enjoyed after an active day of sightseeing. We freshened up and then met up with our new Aussie friend at Chettinad. We had a delicious Indian meal while catching up and reminiscing about all the fun we had in Dubrovnik and on our Montenegro day tour. It was great seeing our new friend again and hearing all about her life in London.
The next morning we woke up early and headed over to Kaffeine to enjoy some more delicious coffee before heading to the airport. Over coffee we reminisced about all the highlights from our trip. It was hard to believe that it was finally over after 6.5 weeks of constantly being on the go. It went by so quickly, but we had so many great adventures, amazing food, and absolutely loved all the people we met along the way. It was truly an unforgettable experience and we keep reminding ourselves of how lucky we are to have pulled it off. There was so much planning that went into it, but we both agreed that if we could do it all over again, we would have done it the exact same way. These are memories and experiences that we'll treasure forever. Coming home, we couldn't wait to sleep in our own beds, hug our little pup, and not have to live out of a backpack for the first time in a month and a half. But you know what they say... "The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page."
