Over fall break my youngest son and I were finally able to take our trip to London that was originally scheduled for last year-that is before Covid came through and stopped the world from spinning on its axis.
We arrived at 7 in the morning, and after freshening up and eating a hearty English breakfast, we hit the streets running! I was quite surprised at the size of the city. London is huge.
My son was excited to ride The London Eye. There was literally no wait which was nice, but unusual. I purchased tickets (a total of $114) and we walked right on.
Next we walked along the banks of the Thames to see Big Ben (still under restoration) and the Houses of Parliament.
The capital city of England is over 2000 years old. It has a rich architectural heritage from a variety of historical periods. Simply put, some of the structures are amazing.
Westminster Abbey, for example, has been around since the Battle of Hastings in 1066-a date imprinted in my brain from the Western Civilization class I took in high school.
After getting our second Covid test out of the way, we ate lunch at a boat restaurant on the river. I had the classic fish and chips with garden peas and my son had a burger. Go figure, lol.
We walked around for a couple more hours until it was time for dinner. The restaurant variety is endless, but we chose Italian for the first evening.
Our last stop was by M&S, a specialty grocery chain in the UK.
The following morning we woke up early to prepare for our day trip to Leavesden, England, home of the Warner Brothers Studio to tour the making of all eight Harry Potter movies.
The studio is a Harry Potter fan’s dream. While I’ve never seen the movies or read the books, I could still appreciate the tour.
Everything was so lifelike and the artistry it took to create the sets and characters was superb.
I couldn’t leave without trying the butter beer.
Back in time for dinner, we ate and then took in more of London.
Riding the city bus, the tube (London’s extensive subway system) and a cruise ship up and down the Thames was quite an experience for my son. He had never been on any of the aforementioned modes of transportation before. He especially loved the double decker buses.
Both avid readers, we stopped by a local bookstore, Waterstone, and purchased a few titles.
A day of rest was needed so we relaxed poolside, read, and watched British television shows while dining on room service and drinking bottomless cups of tea.
The hop on hop off bus was worth every pound. We saw St. Paul’s Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, The Tower of London, the London Bridge, Harrod’s and so much more.
The next day we visited a few parks and had a picnic lunch with sandwiches from M&S at Greene park. London is chock full of verdant parks and beautiful gardens.
Buckingham Palace is indeed fit for a Queen. While it is not overly ornate on the outside, it does have some impressive features such as the opulent golden gates.
Covenant Garden was our next destination. Here we shopped and had dinner.
We concluded our time across the pond with high tea.
The weather was perfect our entire stay which was an added bonus. I would love to visit London again soon!
Girl and the Globe 