London - Days 1 and 2

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday where I talk about something I’m thinking about and invite you to link up and do the same. Today I’m reflecting on our recent vacation!

Last week we had a wonderful holiday in London! I’m going to record some of our activities here so we will be able to remember them and hopefully help anyone else looking for reviews or things to do in London.

We left St. Louis Friday afternoon, flew through Chicago, and landed in London on Saturday morning ready to start our vacation. Our son, Ian, was meeting us there and had landed just before we did.  It was exciting to be in London and also exciting that we were going to get to see the city with our son!

Our home for the week would be a flat we booked through Booking.com. Since our son was joining us, I thought it would be more comfortable to have some space larger than a hotel room. I found a 2 bedroom, 2 bath flat right across the street from Buckingham Palace. The location was perfect! With a full kitchen, we could have made meals in the unit. As it turned out, we ate breakfast in the flat each day but ate out for the other meals. Having a refrigerator, we were able to keep drinks and snacks on hand. There was also a washer/dryer unit if we needed it.

Upon meeting up with Ian, we picked a ramen place close to our unit for lunch and talked through our plans for the week. Our check-in time wasn’t until 4:00 pm, so we had a few hours to kill before we could get into our unit and drop off our luggage. 

It's true that phone booths are everywhere!  I couldn't resist getting my picture with one straight away.

After lunch, we spent the time roaming around Buckingham Palace and St. James’s Park grounds.  The architecture was beautiful!

For dinner, we walked to Golden Union for traditional fish and chips. The walk was about a mile and it took us past Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It felt good to be out and about stretching our legs after a long day of traveling. 

 We were treated to the most beautiful rainbow right behind Big Ben!

Golden Union offered several types of fish with their fish and chips. They even have plant-based options if that appeals to you. We landed on sharing the Haddock and Cod. It was so tasty! One of the reasons we chose this spot for fish and chips was they had milkshakes and that sounded pretty good to all of us. Turns out, only 1 out of the 3 of us loved their milkshakes. But 3 out of 3 of us loved the fish and chips!



After dinner, we had a leisurely stroll back to the flat while soaking up our surroundings.

Sunday morning we were up bright and early so we could get to the British Museum. Entry into the museum is free, but they encourage you to book tickets online.

The articles we were most interested in seeing were the Rosetta Stone, the Lewis Chessmen collection, and pieces of the Greek and Roman pantheon. Just roaming through the exhibits brings an awareness of how long the world has been in existence and how much history has gone before us. 

We left the British Museum in time to walk back to Buckingham Palace for our tour of the State Rooms. The Royal State Rooms are open to visitors each summer. This year you could book tickets from July 11 to September 29. This is a must-do if the rooms are available to tour while you are there! An audio guide was available free of charge and was very informative. I’m not going to lie, I was devasted when they said we would not be able to take pictures!

Every room was breathtaking! It was incredible to stand in the same spaces you see in royal photographs and reflect on the historic events that took place there.

Even though no photos are allowed inside, you can snap away once you exit the building.  The exit opens to the gardens in the back of Buckingham Palace.    

Reservations had been made weeks ahead of time for the Gordon Ramsey’s Savoy Grill restaurant. We wanted to indulge in Beef Wellington and Savoy Grill had great ratings. Dinner was mouthwateringly delicious!

As we meandered through the streets on our way home, we popped in Amorino for gelato. So scrumptious! And I loved the presentation! 

This trip was shaping up to be pretty amazing! I’ll be sharing additional activities from our trip soon.

Now it’s your turn. What are you thinking out loud about today? Link up and share!

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