“In London everyone is different, and that means everyone can fit in.” - Paddington Bear
London England is a bustling busy city of just less than 9 million people. Therefore you will witness all types and be able to experience practically anything you can imagine.
Our trip to London was a whirlwind of a visit. This city certainly deserved more time. Check out Part 1 of our London visit to see all we accomplished in a 24 hour period.
For the remainder of our visit we visited the Queen and Big Ben; Drank tea like royals; Saw Parliament, museums and markets.
To start off day 2 of our stay we booked ourselves a tour of Buckingham Palace. I had never seen a castle, let alone been invited into one. So I thought it best that I wore the 1 dress that I packed for this trip. I don't think anyone noticed I dressed up for the occasion. A must see, that literally everyone sees, is the changing of the guard. Good luck getting up to the gates. It is like a rock concert mosh pit without the kickass music and beer. None the less you should watch it if you are there. A tip would be to watch from the Victoria Memorial up on the steps.
Once inside the Palace it is rather beautiful. The tour guide takes you through many rooms, that honestly will start to look a lot alike. Highlights are the ballroom/hall, throne room and the hallway leading to the ballroom, I really enjoyed the artwork. We left Buckingham Palace from the back, crossing the grounds and strolled like I imagine the royal family doing on balmy Sunday afternoons, drinking tea and carrying their umbrellas with their lace gloved hands. *Sigh*. For us it was cold and drizzly (which is much more realistic). However, still beautiful.
From there we took the Tube, once again making sure to "mind the gap", to St. Paul's Cathedral. We are not religious people, but when in Europe...you visit churches. St. Paul's was beautiful and our guide was very informative. He made sure us Canadians saw the Memorial to Sir Isaac Brock. You can climb the Dome at the heart of the church. We did not. This is unlike us, we usually say yes to everything. But truthfully I was not feeling too hot so we opted to leave, a decision I regret.
We also strolled by Westminster Abbey, but did not go in. The admission price is $$$$$. So we would recommend attending a service, which you can do for free but you do have to actually attend the service (they have security for people who fake it).
After leaving the church we walked straight down the road and found ourselves at Twinnings. As far as I am concerned this is also a must see location. The royal family still gets their tea from this shop. It is super cute, quaint you may go so far to say, but inviting. Quite literally. When we were there you could test teas and there are more teas than you can count, all available for purchase.
Another must do when in Europe is visit museums.
There is basically a formula for a Euro trip; churches, museums, city/town square. There I just planned everyone's European Adventure, you are welcome.
Anyways we went to the Victoria and Albert Museum and saw only the highlights. You can get a map to the top (I think) 10 pieces to see in the museum when you enter. This place is huge and we saw a lot of amazing things just seeing the highlights. Of course if you have more time and/or are highly interested it would be worth spending the time and effort to see more that this museum has to offer. What I will suggest though, please save museum energy for the British Museum, which is likely the best museum I have ever been to, and by likely I mean it definitely is the best museum I have ever been to.
I mean who doesn't want to see Ancient Egyptian artifacts, mummies, carvings and statues? Roman statues? The Rosetta Stone? The controversial Elgin Marbles*? Afternoon Tea (The British Museum was a top rated location for a quintessential English tea). Yes you can see all of this and so much more! Definitely worth it!
*Some basic history...The Elgin Marbles, aka the Parthenon Marbles are from Greece. They are being housed in the British Museum on display for all visitors. What makes them controversial (same reason as numerous museum artifacts) are that Greece wants them back. Historically the argument has been that Greece does not have a place to properly store these historical gems, so they were best kept where they were in Britain. However, in recent years Greece has set out to build a space so the marbles could come home...at the time of this writing the marbles were still in Britain. It remains to be seen how this will play out.
Some other highlights of the visit was seeing Downing St. and Parliament. Downing St. if you don't know is where the Prime Minister of England lives. You cannot see much, it is heavily guarded but worth a wander on your travels. (To read about our adventures to see the Canadian Prime Ministers house click here). We arrived too late in the day to tour the Parliament buildings so we settled for some pictures outside. When you are in the area, might I suggest a look at Big Ben. He is pretty impressive. As is the Sky Wheel also visible from the water in the area.
To cap off our visit to London we took the Tube to Notting Hill Market. London has many different markets to choose from and each one has its own style, vibe and feel. Notting Hill was a beautiful area of London to explore, gorgeous buildings, trees and flowers. The market was VERY busy. It was part flea market, part food/wares market, part food vendors and music and part yard sale. A genuine mix. Admittedly getting food at these markets is advised, however, try to get some recommendations, or don't overthink it. I often get to anxious to make a decision once I am hungry. There are so many options and who wants to have a bad meal while on vacay?!
All in all this visit to London was a whirlwind. There is so much more to this city that we have yet to explore.
Cheerio!
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