Alex graduated (2016) and we promised a big trip to London (July 2016.) So off we went! I had planned and planned this trip, what I didn’t plan was the weather. I looked at typical averages for London and we missed that…we went during the only week or two of full on summer for London. Needless to say, we were hoping to leave the Oklahoma heat and humidity at home…not so much!
This trip we went with a group of 8, our BFF’s the Woodards took grandson, Preston (another GREAT kid!) and Mike & Becky (Julie’s sister and fellow GF/celiac.) We started by flying to Chicago with a bit of a layover before boarding our British Airways flight to London Heathrow. Flight was typical, boring and uneventful. We landed in London, went through customs, it was here where we figured out how incredibly warm it was. We boarded the London tube/underground and headed to our hotel. This was also fairly uneventful. We did get a little lost finding our hotel and dragging our suitcases around South Kensington, but not bad.
We were staying at the Nadler South Kensington, very nice and modern, but with a pretty hefty price tag. This is the area of London where the French have taken over and the real estate prices are sky high. But it was a nice, safe area and Rick Steves highly recommended it so…
Our first day, we dropped our bags and walked to Hyde Park and Kensington Palace. Then we went to the Victoria & Albert museum, but by then we were so exhausted we didn’t enjoy it at all! However, the park was BEAUTIFUL!
The next day, we took the Hop on Hop off iconic red bus around London for the grand overview. We got off at Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard (SO many people!) and ate a quick lunch at a pub. We then got back on the bus and went to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Absolutely, fantastic! We climbed the stairs all the way to the top.
We went to dinner at this Italian place recommended by the hotel. Yeah, not good…overpriced, no gluten free to speak of, sold us bottled water we didn’t ask for…didn’t ask for a recommendation again.
The next day we took the underground to the Tower of London, then we took the cruise on the River Thames to Greenwich, and came back to the London Eye. LOVED the Tower of London! Of course, like St. Paul’s you are not allowed to take pictures of the Crown Jewels, so I have nothing to show you, but it was so interesting! Travel tip: Get the LONDONPASS and get there when it opens. Go straight to the jewels and you’ll walk right in, an hour later and the line zigzagged through the ropes in the blazing heat. The river cruise was hot, but it was enjoyable to see the city from the water and Greenwich was so pretty. We went in the Painted Hall and it was gorgeous! AND we were allowed to take photos, woohoo! We toured the Cutty Sark (an old tea ship) and had a nice cold drink, quite relaxing. When we got back to the London Eye, we waited in a long line for tickets, then another, even longer, line to get on. I guess that made up for not waiting at the Tower of London! After that, we attempted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe, not realizing how incredibly busy they would be, we ended up at a burger place by the hotel, which actually turned out to be quite good!
The next day we got up and went to Windsor Castle. We took the underground to the train. It was exciting, we used all the travel tips and guidebooks I had studied to find the right way to do this and used our LONDONPASS to get the train ride free. Once we got there, our LONDONPASS got us past the HUGE line to get into Windsor Castle and right in the door. Score for doing research! Windsor Castle is absolutely fabulous, it was so interesting to see and the changing of the guards was very close, we could have touched them, but, we did not. We wandered through the different buildings and rooms and then we found a nice little pub to have lunch, just the three of us. It was one of the better places we ate and had a great gluten free menu, which surprisingly wasn’t that easy to find. (I found the food and access to gluten free MUCH better in Ireland.) We found the town of Windsor to be quaint and pretty, it was a nice break from the city.
The girls had a tea (gluten free for Becky & me) booked that evening, so we splurged and took a cab. We all wore cute dresses and had a feast! We really enjoyed it, even though it wasn’t quite as formal as we were expecting, it was relaxing. We took the bus to the underground and did a small amount of shopping around Piccadilly Circus afterward. I bought a pair of souvenir shorts…since I hadn’t brought any and I was roasting. We were tired and needed to swing by the Sainsbury (grocery store) on the way back, we were keeping small amounts of breakfast foods and snacks in our rooms since we had a mini fridge and kitchenette.
The next day we had a day excursion booked for Stonehenge, Bath and Salisbury. I called to confirm our reservation for 8. No, they said, we only have 6. Uh-oh, Becky & Mike volunteered to stay behind, I felt AWFUL! Oh my gosh, seriously? I only had this booked for months…I hate that they missed it. But I guess Becky hadn’t been feeling 100% and they wanted to go to Westminster Abbey, which we ran out of time for on day 2. I still feel so bad for that, I’m sure I screwed it up and I should’ve stayed back, especially since it was one of the best days of the whole trip. We didn’t leave until after noon, so we started the day with a traditional English breakfast at a pub and then went to Harrods to browse, Dave ended up buying an overpriced pair of shorts, but, hey, I couldn’t blame him, we were frying!
We began our tour with an air conditioned van (not a sweaty train) and our tour guide was super and apologetic for the mix up on the van accommodations for our group, that only seated 6 not 8. Salisbury Cathedral was a little disappointing after being in St. Paul’s, which is huge and gorgeous, but we saw the Magna Carta which was in great condition and the oldest working clock in the world. AND we could take pictures! Let’s just say I’ll take their word for it that it was a clock, because I couldn’t tell time on that!
Next was Bath, England, what a picturesque town. Absolutely, breathtaking. They filmed part of Les Miserables here the river he dies in at the end is where we’re pictured. We made a quick walk through the Abbey on our way to eat. We were hungry so we started off with dinner at a pub, the BEST food we had the whole trip was here! It was the traditional set up, where you order and pay at the bar and they bring your food when it’s finished to your table. There was a nice breeze and it was just really good food. We left the pub and walked over to the baths from the Roman days. Nice little museum and walk through the baths. I would absolutely come back here, if I had the opportunity, and spend more time.
We didn’t realize when we booked this excursion, that we had booked an inner circle sunset tour of Stonehenge. I didn’t even realize what that was! Stonehenge tours only allow the public to enter along a pathway that is roped off about 50 feet from the stones. The “park” closes at 8:00, we got there at 8:15 with only a few other private tours. We got to hop over the ropes and go right up to the stones. We still weren’t allowed to touch them, but we could stand right up next to them. Also, it was sunset, and a full moon. This means there were a few weirdos hanging out in the farmers’ fields around the perimeter. I know it sounds crazy but you could really feel something different in the middle. Everyone seemed to talk in hushed tones and was fairly reverent. It was a really bizarre and awesome (overly used word, but real here) experience.
Our last day in London, we decided to go to the British Library and the British Museum. We were all fairly exhausted from a long week, so we were little more laid back and a lot less tolerant of crowds, heat, hassles, etc. We changed trains in the King’s Cross station, which is where the Harry Potter 9 3/4 platform is and a gift shop (of course!) so we HAD to see that. We walked over to the Library, which was thankfully air conditioned. We toured the museum portion and saw the Guttenberg Bible, another Magna Carta (not as a great a copy), original Beatles lyrics written on napkins and cards, and original music from Messiah, and manuscripts from Shakespeare, Chaucer, etc. It was so surreal looking at these items and knowing some of their historical significance. Huge collection and very worthwhile to visit. (No pictures allowed of these…bummer.)
We left there and got back on the train to go to the British Museum. We kind of got lost, but found ourselves close to the Dickens museum, so we decided to stop in. There was a great little cafe in the basement that served ICED TEA! First iced tea we had seen in London, most drinks were only slightly cool. We ordered enough she had to go buy more ice! And the lunch was pretty good. We continued on to the British Museum and discovered quickly that it was not only not air conditioned but stuff full of people. There were a few things that I really wanted to see the Easter Island statue and the Rosetta Stone. We had all separated at the door and happen to meet up in one of the areas. We all decided right there that we would hit the high spots and get out, too hot, too crowded and too much to look at. We headed for those two or three things and went outside into the breeze and across the street to this nice little park to relax.
The park was Russell Square and the week after we got back home, a nut case stabbed seven people in this same little hippy-vibe, chillaxed park that had a great little gelato shop and huge pretty trees to hang out under. Just proof, people are crazy.
After this, we attempted to venture out to find gluten free fish and chips. I had made a reservation and planned the route, only to realize the street was not where I thought it was…uh oh! Well, we ended up in a taxi and finally made there. Even though it was a hassle, the trip was worth it. The fish & chips were pretty good, especially since I can’t get GF Fish & Chips just anywhere.
We got back to the hotel and packed up all our stuff and got ready to set out first thing in the morning. It was a crowded ride to the airport and we stood for a lot of it with our luggage, but we got there and got home without incident.
Lessons learned on this trip: eight people is lot to travel with, make SURE your tour is booked for the right number of people, confirm addresses in two places, not just one, don’t go to London in July. All in all it was a great trip and I would like to go back again someday, but I’ve got a pretty long list of other places to go first.
The Travels and Tales of TLC 