Quick weekend trip to London to do some exploring!
SOHO
Afternoon
Tea @ Fortnum & Mason
You simply cannot have a trip to London that
doesn’t include high tea. Naturally, this was our very first stop (after
dropping our bags off at the hostel, but more on that later). Fortnum &
Mason is THE place to have an afternoon tea. With the entire first floor of the
building being dedicated to their fabulous teas and desserts for take-away, we
knew immediately we’d picked a good place. The teas, sandwiches, biscuits, and
cakes were served in the fabulous Diamond Jubilee Tea Salon, and let me tell
you it makes you feel like you are the queen herself. This was probably my
favorite part of our entire trip, it was great. <3
Piccadilly
Circus
Welcome
to the epicenter of all things London fashion! So many big names of designers
and restaurants with flagships of stores like: Burberry, Victoria’s Secret, Ted
Baker, and more. After exploring a bit, make sure to head over to Kath Kidson
London flagship to pick up a London print souvenir bag. I used this bag as my
second carryon for bringing souvenirs home AND it’s adorable, so win-win!
Other Cool things in SOHO to check out:
Cahoots
Bar, Ice Bar, & Spuntino (late night food)
East London
Cereal
Killer Café
This
is the coolest little cereal café ever! They have literally any type of cereal
you could possibly want with any kind of milk or topping to do with it! I opted
for the Apple Cinnamon concoction on the menu and 10/10 would recommend ;)
Broadway
Market
This
was such a cool market (and way bigger than we were expecting) so we spent
quite a while roaming and wandering the various stalls. From flowers to vintage
clothing, to amazing food, this market had it all! My favorites were the
delicious mini cannoli’s and the greatest crab cake sandwich I’ve ever had (not
pictured due to the fact it was gone very quickly).
Burberry
Outlet
After
walking around Broadway market for a while, we decided to hit up the Burberry
Outlet store (I believe the only one of its kind) just to check it out. In case
you were wondering, still Burberry prices L Very cool to see
though, and if getting a Burberry souvenir is on your London bucket list this
would be the place to do it! There were also a couple other big-name outlet
stores up there too, like the Nike Factory.
Touristing
Big
Ben
…
was unfortunately under re-construction while we were here, don't ask us how
long we spent standing by the parliament buildings looking for it.
Buckingham
Palace
We
came early to make sure to catch the changing of the guards. People gathered
from all around… but were not able to see the majority of it as most things
happened within the gates. Had a solid cup of coffee and a cookie from a booth in
the park though, so overall I’m going to call it a win.
Tate
Modern Museum
This
modern art museum was really cool (which if you know me is saying a lot since I’m
not generally a very museum-y person) and came to us as a recommendation from
one of Isabelle’s friends. Since it was just about a block from our hotel and
open late we decided to check it out! Full of anything from Picasso to Warhol,
this museum had a little bit of everything so we spent a while wandering and
checking everything out!
Notting Hill
Portobello
Road Market
This was such a cool road / market area
for food, vintage finds, and souvenirs! The pastel colored buildings looked straight
out of a movie set (Notting Hill anyone?) and the crowd was super fun and
energetic!
The Chipping Forecast
This cute little restaurant was a bit of a walk away from where we were shopping on Portobello road, but the views on the walk and the food on arrival were definitely. We had some great fish and chips with sticky toffee pudding for dessert! As a little added bonus, this place is dog friendly, so we got to dine with a couple adorable chocolate and black labs at our feet (I miss my puppy!).
This cute little restaurant was a bit of a walk away from where we were shopping on Portobello road, but the views on the walk and the food on arrival were definitely. We had some great fish and chips with sticky toffee pudding for dessert! As a little added bonus, this place is dog friendly, so we got to dine with a couple adorable chocolate and black labs at our feet (I miss my puppy!).
Kensington
Palace
We
arrived just as the park was closing (figures), but still managed to get a
quick look at the palace and the beautiful park surrounding it. The palace was beautiful in the sunset.
Churchill
Arms
Noted at the “pubbiest pub in all of
pubbington” on one of the travel sites I looked at prior to this trip, we
simply had to check it out! The place is completely covered in British memorabilia
(most of which pertaining to Winston Churchill obviously) and lived up to the
pubby hype. Had a quick pint here to end our time in the Notting Hill area!
For Next Time
Covent
Garden and Seven Dials
See a show @ Shakespeare’s
Globe
Tower
of London and St Paul’s Cathedral
Harry
Potter anyone? (plans for a potterhead trip are in the making, don't worry;) )
What NOT To Do:
St
Christopher's Inn Village Hostel
Stay in a hostel they said. It’ll be fun
they said. Let’s just say we were checked into this particular hostel for less
than an hour’s time before booking the Holiday Inn Express down the street.
Changing of the Guards, Buckingham Palace
As mentioned earlier, this was a little anticlimactic.
Kind of cool, but if you’re tight on time you’d be fine skipping the actual
changing of the guards and just swinging by the Palace at a less busy time.
Long story short: I absolutely
adore London. This was such a fun trip, and I can’t wait to go back to this
amazing city soon! Tea parties and too many cool new shopping markets to count
have easily made this one of my favorite cities of all time.
Until next time,
-B
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