Europe Recap Part 1: London

As most of you know if you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, I was in Europe last week! Phil and I planned a trip to both London and Paris. It was our first time in Europe and I was super nervous/excited. It went really well! We did so much stuff that it's going to be way too long to put in one post so I decided to split it into two parts. The first is London! 

We had an overnight flight to London so slept the whole way which really made the flight go quickly. Then we basically hit the ground running. We took the train to our hotel and dropped our bags off and then were off for a full day of sight-seeing. 

Day One: 

Our first stop was a river cruise on the Thames. I really enjoyed doing this first because it kind of gave us a feel for the city and the location of all the major sights. It was freezing out on the river though! 

Tower Bridge

After the river cruise, we walked up to Trafalgar Square and hung out for a little while after we got some lunch.


Then of course, I dragged Phil to three different bookstores including Waterstone's, Hatchard's and Foyle's. Surprisingly I didn't get any books (which I blame on my QoS book hangover). But these bookstores were crazy. Like 5-8 levels each. Madness. While at Waterstone's we grabbed some coffee from Costa and sorry, London folks, I think Starbucks is better.

Finally we strolled up to Regent's Park and wandered through the gardens before heading back to our hotel and crashing.


Day Two: 
I had to go shopping while in London and I had read good things about this place called Old Spitafields Market so we went there in the morning. This was such a cool place. It was an indoor/outdoor market where people set up all these stands to sell their stuff. Think of it like a high-quality flea market. I bought some stuff for myself and my sisters and grabbed something for Phil's mom. 


After shopping, we took a bus to go see Stonehenge which was truly incredible. I only wish we could have gotten closer to the stones, but I understand why they don't let you. You mean I can't sit on them? Why not?? It was so peaceful out there. You're literally in the middle of the English countryside. I could have stayed there all afternoon, maybe taken a nap in the shadow of the stones. 


Day Three:
This day was probably our busiest day in London. We had an early start to our morning as we walked to the Tower of London to tour the place. We just spent the morning here, but we could have easily spent the entire day that's how much there is to see and do. The place is huge. I highly recommend, if you're going to go, to see the Crown Jewels first when you get there. They are definitely the main attraction and they get crazy busy later in the day. So we did that first and then went back to the start and did the Yeoman Warders tour which is a free guided tour included in your ticket price. This was actually really amazing. The Yeoman Warders aren't just tour guides. The criteria for becoming a Yeoman Warder is insane. You have to have served in the British military for 22 years and I believe our Yeoman Warder said you had to have achieved officer status while in the military. They know their history and really give you a good background on how things worked in the Tower during the era of public executions and beheadings. After the tour, we walked back through on our own to take pictures because you really can't take any while you're going through the tour. Unfortunately we had to hustle out of there to get to our next stop. 


Next, we walked over to St. Paul's Cathedral. I think this was my favorite cathedral we visited in Europe. It's a close call between St. Paul's and Sacre-Coeur in Paris. We toured the interior of the cathedral and then climbed 528 steps to get to the top of the dome. It was so worth it for the view.




Then we walked across Millenium Bridge to tour Shakespeare's Globe Theater. This isn't his original theater, but it's pretty close to what the original looked like. Ironically, a few years after they finished construction of this one, archaeologists located the site of the original which is literally about five minutes away so that's pretty awesome!


I loved how the theater is outside and in open air. I wish we could have made it to see an actual play, but alas, we didn't have time.

And finally, to end this super long day, we went up in the London Eye which gave us spectacular views of the city. I highly recommend going at sunset because it's stunning.


Day Four: 

On our last day in London, we woke up and went to tour Westminster Abbey. A very solemn and beautiful place. There are so many famous people buried here that I was unaware of. Isaac Newton for example. Famous English poets. Most notably for me, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth are buried together here. Sisters who hated each other in life, now rest together. It was really beautiful.


After we finished touring the abbey, we headed over to Buckingham Palace to watch the changing of the guard. Watching this ceremony was so awesome. You could feel the history and the charge in the air as the guard marched past.




After the ceremony was over we walked to the famous Hyde Park. We strolled through the park and then went to Kensington Gardens/Palace. We toured the palace and hung out in the gardens and finished out our time in London.




So here's some of my travel tips if you're going to London:

• Use the train system. The Underground is super easy to use and way cheaper than a cab. We didn't take a single cab the whole time we were there and I think we saved a lot of money because of it. 
• We stayed at the Travelodge Vauxhall. It was a great hotel and perfect for what we needed. My only complaint is that it was a little off the beaten path. If you want to be in the thick of things I would recommend staying north of the river. But the hotels south of the river are a lot cheaper so if you don't mind a little bit of a walk, I think it works out fine. 
• Tour the Tower of London. This was definitely my favorite place we visited in the city. There is so much history here. If you only do one thing when you're in London, I would do this. 

For anybody who is interested, I have a Google docs spreadsheet that kind of has my entire itinerary on it. Let me know if you want it and I'll send you a link! 

Have you been to London? What are some of your favorite things to do in the city?