An American in London, Part 4

I can't believe this is my last London post… until I go back, of course! Right now, I've plans to go back again at least once this year. That's how much I loved it there (plus, I have lots of company coming that wants to visit as well). If you want to catch up on this adventure, check out Part 1, Part 1.5, Part 2, and Part 3…

For the rest of you folks, here's to the last day of our adventure! A visit to Stonehenge was in the offing… and a trip to Bath. And an evening in Stratford Upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare! I was a little excited, can you tell?

There are lots of tour companies that provide day trips outside the city of London.  But if you want to travel a wee bit cheaper, check out Groupon deals before your visit. Our whole day was half price, thanks to a well-timed Groupon purchase, and yours could be too. 

  

I have to be perfectly honest here… I didn't find Stonehenge as exciting as I thought it would. I'm happy I went once, just to have seen it, but I don't feel the urge to ever go back again. There were a ton of people there, naturally. And you can't get close to the stones, of course. Our tour was rushed as we were seeing so many things in one day. I think we had about an hour or so get to the stones, walk round, and get back to the bus. 

Don't let me discourage you from going though! I did enjoy it, just not the way I expected. I think if I was to return, I'd prefer a private tour where you can actually walk into the stones. That would be awesome. 

From Stonehenge, our tour continued on to Bath, home of the famous Sally Lunn Buns. My pal Bobbi and I (the Magic Sunglasses lady) were determined to try a bun in the hour we had to wander Bath. And I am soooooo glad we did, they were fantastic!

 "Legend has long been certain that a young Huguenot refugee – Solange Luyon – came to Bath in 1680 after escaping persecution in France. She found work in the kitchen of the bakery in the street known in those days as Lilliput Alley, and originally sold the baker’s wares from a basket in the lanes around Bath Abbey. But Solange – who, due to her colleagues unfamiliarity with French pronunciation, became known as Sally Lunn – had arrived in England with a unique skill to share. She began baking a rich, generous brioche bun similar to the French festival breads that she would have been so familiar with before she fled France. The bun – designed to be enjoyed with either sweet or savoury accompaniments – quickly became a very popular delicacy in Georgian England, and it seems that customers were soon visiting the Lilliput Alley bakery specifically requesting the Sally Lunn bun.

Today, Sally’s original creation has earned legendary status around the world." - excerpt from Sally Lunn's website.

Because it was lunchtime, Bobbi and I tried the savory preparations. They were fabulous! In fact, the buns are so good, Bobbi took a whole box home with her (I wish I had too!).

We had a few minutes to wander town after lunch, before the bus arrived to take us to Stratford Upon Avon, birthplace of William Shakespeare. Bath is a beautiful area, I can see why this is a popular vacation destination. On my next trip to England, I hope to spend more time here.

 Our last stop was the home of William Shakespeare! After many semesters studying his work in college, it was pretty cool to visit Stratford Upon Avon. First we had a champagne and scones reception, and then we were free to wander the house and grounds. And, of course, shop in the gift store.

Champagne and Scone reception

Birthplace of William Shakespeare 

Because our visit was on a Sunday, most of the town was closing down as we arrived. So be careful booking your own tour here, ok? Check the hours of local businesses.

After a full weekend of touring merry old London (and the outskirts), I have to say it's one of my favorite places so far. And I can't wait to go back, hopefully one day soon!

Until next time my friends, happy travels! 

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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An American in London, Part 3

Soooo, where did we leave off? Ah yes, we'd completed the walking tour. Boo-Dah-Washy and I were wandering the streets of London, not quite aimlessly but close (if you want to catch up on this trip, Check out Part 1, Part 1.5, and Part 2).

We tried for a bit to meet up with a friend of mine, but you know what I've learned? My pre-paid cell phone doesn't truly get service once I leave Germany.

UGH.

This is not conducive for good communication. Since we couldn't consistently keep to wifi hotspots, signals were crossed and the meet up never happened. I did learn something else interesting though. THIS is not the "London Bridge":

The bridge I stood on to take that picture (above) is actually the London Bridge. The bridge in the picture is called "Tower Bridge".

You learn something new every day!

Whatever it's name, the bridge is super pretty and photogenic. I convinced Boo-Dah-Washy to visit it with me in both daylight and darkness. Despite our long day and achy feet, she went back with me at the close of the night. She rocks!

After our confusion over the bridges, we made our way to Notting Hill, mostly because we've both seen the movie of the same name. You know, the one with Hugh Grant and Julia Roberts? We were hoping to make the Portobello Market before closing time. Despite a slight detour, we did find it. Sorry about the photo quality, but we were shopping, man!

Portobello Market

The vendors began to close as we arrived, but we wandered the street for a bit. The energy was great. I'll definitely check this market out earlier in the day on my next London visit.

After a brief stop for dinner and then a shopping spree at Harrods, we ventured toward Piccadilly Circus. That's where the party is at, peeps!

Harrods

Piccadilly Circus reminds me of Times Square, New York. It's all lights, and people, and movement.

The Circus also boasts London's M&M World. Rumor has it that this is the largest candy store in the world. Boo-Dah-Washy was in M&M heaven…

We shopped and shopped (until ready to drop, seriously), but eventually we made our way back to the hotel room. The next day was our Stonehenge and Bath tour, and I couldn't wait!

I'll be back soon with the final installment of our London adventure. Until then, happy travels!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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An American in London, Part 2

The next morning dawned bright and early, but we were ready to go (if you need to catch up on this London trip, read Part 1 and Part 1.5, kay?). We scheduled a free walking tour for the early afternoon, so the ladies and I decided to start our morning with breakfast and a trip through King's Cross Station. Ahhhhhhh, Harry Potter!!!!

Yes, I am slightly obsessed. Yes, I made them go with me. No, I did not take the studio tour on this particular trip, but I totally plan to go back for it. Yes, I am a nerd. I'm ok with that.

Left 2 photos: Kings Cross Station, with Harry Potter memorabilia
Center 2 photos: Platform 9 ¾ shop
Right 2 photos: The underground stop, King's Cross St.Pancras

Well, for those of you who want to visit Platform 9 ¾, lemme give you a tip. The underground stop called "King's Cross St. Pancras" is not the place you wanna be. In the pic above, you can see that station on the right, and then the station you actually want to be at is on the left. Both are called King's Cross, but one is the underground and the other is a regular train station.

Luckily, they are right next to each other! So we took the underground, then walked outside to the right one. And then we took our picture in front of the Platform 9 ¾ shop, whoohoo!

Yep, nerd status achieved.

ANYWAY.

From there, we decided to find where our walking tour would meet and have breakfast. Of course, we left plenty of time for shenanigans along the way…

Phone booth shenanigans 

We managed to find a great little restaurant near Covent Garden called Maxwell's. The food was great, and so was the coffee. That's all I really need in a restaurant! Plus the interior was super cute, bonus. I highly recommend.

If you someday decide to take the Sandeman's Free Walking Tour of London, this restaurant is within a block or so of the meet up point. Perfect spot to eat and not feel rushed. We really enjoyed the tour, it was a great way to see much of the city and work off the Eggs Benedict I ate for breakfast.

Our guide was hilarious, with lots of anecdotes and stories to share. He was also knowledgable enough to answer all the questions thrown his way. Please remember, the guides on free tours work for tips only, so don't be a stooge, TIP YOUR GUIDE!

Here are just some of the sights we saw, and learned about:

We also managed to sneak in one picture together, after offering to take a picture for someone else. This is key, people. If you want someone to snap your pic, take theirs first. Also, be careful handing your camera, cell phone, etc. over to anyone. You wouldn't want them to simply run away with it. Ask for pics at your own risk…

Hanging out in front of Big Ben, or as Boo-Dah-Washy
would say "That Thing"! 

Our group split up a little after the tour, as we all had friends in London we were trying to meet up with. Sadly, without internet and calling on my phone in a foreign country, I never quite caught up with mine! Instead, Boo-Dah-Washy and I wandered London for the remainder of the day.

I'll be back soon to tell you all about the rest of it… Until then, happy travelling!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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An American in London, Part 1.5

After writing An American in London, Part 1, I realized I left out a few important things! Well, important to me anyway. And they're kind of interesting, I think.

I hope.

Here goes!


#1. Did you know that RyanAir sells you lotto tickets in flight? Me and the ladies purchased some, but no one was a winner.

#2. In honor of my pal Sine, I ate Jaffa Cakes on the plane. They were so good! (Long story short, Sine rhapsodized about how good these cakes were when we lived near each other at Fort Bliss. I was finally able to taste them on the flight, years later)

#3. London has an average of 20 + days of rain in January, and 83% cloud cover. When my pal Bobbi boarded the plane, we all tortured her for wearing sunglasses, of course. Who needs those in January, in London??


#4. Turns out, Bobbi's sunglasses are magical. We enjoyed beautiful, sunny weather for our entire trip. Much groveling ensued.

#5. London has great street names that I can't resist. For example, Frying Pan Alley? Gotta love it!

That's all for now, folks. I'll be back soon with London, Part 2. Hopefully I don't forget anything this time!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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An American in London, Part 1

A while back (aka, January), I went to London for a girls weekend. I totally would have gone with the Hubs, but he was working of course. And I've wanted to visit this awesome city for as long as I can remember. And, I plan to go back with the Hubs eventually so we can attend the Warner Bros. Studio Tour, Harry Potter...

Yeah, I'm justifying this a smidge. But what's done is done, and now I can tell you all about it!

Outside Kings Cross Station

We found our flights online at a great rate through RyanAir. You can definitely get some amazing deals through their website, but you've got to book early. They don't fly into the major airport at Heathrow, instead landing at London Stansted. This is about an hour (or two in traffic) outside the city. There are lots of options for travel into London, including trains, buses, and private cars. Because we were a larger group of 8, we rode in on the Stansted Express. Purchasing our roundtrip tickets online prior to the trip got us a great rate which wouldn't have been available at the airport.

The view flying into the airport reminded
me so much of Ireland

This is what I learned in London:

1. The British pound seriously holds its value over the dollar. And the euro. So expect everything to be practically twice as expensive.

2. The accent is as marvelous as it seems. The Hubs is lucky I love him so dang much, or I could easily promise my life away to someone new.

3. New York is still my favorite place ever, but London is such a close second it's hard to tell the difference.

4. The bathroom is a loo, the elevator is the lift, and I love using the word bloody as often as possible now.

5. Royalty is not simply wandering the streets, waiting for me to snap their picture. Total fail.

6. Mind the gap, people. Seriously.

I learned a load of other things too, but that's enough for now. Let's get back on track, shall we?

After checking into our hotel (for those who care, it was the Tune Hotel in Paddington. Relatively inexpensive, clean, and convenient to the underground), we made a beeline for our scheduled Jack the Ripper tour. Boo-Dah-Washy found the tour and booked us online. And I totally don't know what the link is for the tour, whoops. I'm sure you can find a dozen of them with Google. Probably.

View from one of the Jack-the-Ripper
murder scenes 

The tour wound through the back streets of London, with a guide who described each murder and the circumstances surrounding it. We also happened upon the memorial where William Wallace (haven't you seen Braveheart??) was put to death.

The tour was several hours long, and eventually landed us at the well-known Sherlock Holmes Pub. By this time, we were all starving. Though it doesn't look like much, I had the Steak and Mushroom Ale Pie and it was bloody fantastic! Do you like how I snuck that in there?

From there, we wandered slowly back toward our hotel, taking in the sights as we went. I especially loved seeing all the monuments lit up at night.

Big Ben

The London Eye

Darkness falls on the Thames

I was excited for the next morning, when we would start our first full day in London with breakfast and a walking tour. I'll be back soon with the details, and plenty of pictures!

Until then, happy travels!

Thanks for reading, everyone!

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