London Calling
This past week I kicked off 2017 with a trip to London! We landed at Heathrow around noon on New Year’s Eve, and after a short nap and some fish and chips, we were ready to celebrate NYE on the Thames River. We ended our boat ride just in front of the London Eye to watch the most incredible fireworks show and ring in 2017. We spent the rest of our trip mastering the tube, walking a million miles, crossing all the main tourist spots off our list, and eating everything in sight. I will be posting more in-depth this week about some of my favorite spots we visited in London, especially restaurants. In the meantime, here are some of the places we enjoyed visiting on our trip.
The Trinity Pub: Our first stop in London was this cute little pub near where we were staying. I had a classic fish and chips, which was delicious, and Alex had a blu cheeseburger, which disappeared rather quickly.
Wasabi Sushi & Bento: We woke up starving on New Year’s Day and decided to give sushi a chance. This is a popular chain in London with a fresh market setup, offering a variety of Japanese dishes.
Shakespeare Globe Theatre: We did not have time to watch a show, but we enjoyed walking around the grounds on our way to the Tate Modern.
The Tate Modern Museum of Art: We ended up spending most of the day in the museum, enjoying all 8 floors of collections and the viewing level. Admission is free to the museum, but you can purchase tickets to their special exhibits. If you do not want to spend the whole day at the Tate, I recommend checking out the 10th-floor viewing level for the most incredible view of London, as well as floors 2, 3, and 4 on the boiler house side. On these floors, you can view multiple pieces from artists such as Picasso, Monet, Dali, Pollock, Warhol, and Rothko that you cannot view anywhere else.
Big Ben: We did not have time to tour Big Ben, but we had an incredible view across the Thames near the London Eye, and as we crossed the Westminster Bridge.
Westminster Abbey: The line to tour Westminster Abbey was down the street before noon, I recommend purchasing tickets in advance. Since we did not purchase tickets in advance, we were not able to go inside.
Buckingham Palace: The palace was not open for tours while we were there, but we did stop by to see the changing of the guards. You can check online to see which days they will be changing guards, but it always happens at 11:30 AM and you must walk to the palace in order to get close enough for a good view.
Churchill War Rooms: This was one of my favorite things we did in London. The war rooms are just across the street from St. Jame’s Park and around the corner from Westminster Abbey. The line moved quickly (we only waited about 30 minutes) and we were able to get discounted tickets without student IDs. We ended up spending about 2 hours in the war rooms, but in-between the viewable parts of the WWII bunker, is a museum all about Winston Churchill. It is a very fascinating museum and I recommend going through and reading everything.
Leicester Arms: We took a walk through Piccadilly Circus and stopped at this side street pub for some lunch. We sat in the upstairs dining room and both enjoyed another delicious fish and chips.
London Eye: We rode the London Eye in the evening and enjoyed seeing the view in lights. We purchased our tickets the morning of online and paid the extra $10 for fast track. Personally, the fast track was 100% worth it, we walked up at our designated time and skipped the hour-long line.
Churchill Arms: We were on a hunt to watch the Westham v. Manchester United game, and thought The Churchill Arms Pub would be a good place to watch. We later found out that it is not very popular to watch a soccer match at a pub (go figure) we ended up eating dinner at their famous Thai restaurant attached to the pub. I had Pad Thai and ordered it as spicy as it would come and still had to add chili so do not be afraid of anything being too spicy.
Harrods: We spent close to the whole day eating, shopping, and exploring the many floors of Harrods. We enjoyed high tea at The Georgian restaurant on the fourth floor. I will be sharing more about our tea in a separate post later on.
Piccadilly Circus
Pizza Pilgrims: Alex gave me a book about the best places to eat pizza around the world, and there is where we found Pizza Pilgrims. I will be sharing more about the delicious pizza in a later post.
The London Film Museum: We made an unexpected detour to see the Bond in Motion exhibit at The London Film Museum. My brother loves all James Bond movies, especially the cars in the movies, and told us about the exhibit. If you like James Bond or rare cars, this exhibit is right up your alley.
Abbey Road: It would not be a trip to England without seeing something Beatles related, so we road the tube north a bit to St. John’s Wood Station. While you cannot go inside Abbey Road Studios, there is a gift shop/small museum open to the public and a wall for fans to leave notes.
The Wellington: We stopped here for one last “English” meal. Alex had fish and chips and I had a mushroom and beef pie. While I was missing Tex-Mex in London, I enjoyed all the pub food.
St. Paul’s Cathedral: We did not purchase tickets in advance, so we were not able to go inside St. Paul’s. However, we enjoyed the architecture and sculpture on the exterior of the cathedral. Be sure to check hours before visiting the cathedral and know that you are not allowed to take pictures inside the cathedral.
Millennium Bridge: Between St. Paul’s Cathedral and the Tate Modern is the Millennium Bridge stretching across the River Thames. It is defiantly worth walking across, even in the cold rain, because the view down the river is incredible.
Sketch: Since Alex kept me accountable for my fantasy football team at work, I told him that I would treat him to dinner with my winnings. I picked out sketch because I had to see the gallery room for myself. The atmosphere was wonderful and we enjoyed everything we ordered. I will be sharing more about Sketch in a later post.
xoxo
Millennium Bridge.
The London Eye.
Big Ben.
Big Ben.
Buckingham Palace.
Westminster Abbey.
Westminster Abbey.
St. Paul’s Cathedral. 
Millennium Bridge.
Piccadilly Circus.
Piccadilly Circus.
Big Ben.
Need more London recommendations? Check out my posts here:
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