Lovely London

For a 2,000 year old lady, London is stunning. With a long history, some dark, some even darker (cue the Black Plague), and some more beautiful like the creativity of Shakespeare for all you theater girlies. London is a place that people go back to, time and time again. I personally have only been twice, and it is a place I will see again.

Where did we stay: We stayed at the same hotel both times we stayed: Hotel Saint. It is next to the Aldgate tube stop for easy access to the city! Walking distance to many attractions, and we really enjoyed the rooftop bar: Jin Bo Law SkybarJin Bo Law SkybarJin Bo Law Skybar

Food and drink:

• Afternoon tea at Harrod's

• Fish and chips at a pub (meh, but worth trying, middle-top picture).

• Piebury Corner, the meat pie shop near Arsenal's stadium. We had this before the game, so yummy (bottom-right picture).

• The Red Lion Food - a tavern since 1434. We did the meat pie tasting with different English beers (bottom-left picture).

• UK beer at a pub, watching futbol. As new Arsenal fans, this was great (top-right picture).

• The best Indian food I have ever had was in London, and yes I am a basic and like mild spice
  

Must see and do:

• London Pass (get for 3 days, saves on tube and activities)

• Get Rick Steves' Book - his walking tours are what we enjoyed most

• Liverpool Street

• The Shard for a cocktail

• Churchill War Rooms (MUST for history/trivia fans)

• Tower Bridge (go up and you can look below from a glass floor, picture below)

• Tower of London - Anne Boleyn was executed here

• British Museum if you want to see all the bad England has done while colonizing

• St. Paul's Cathedral

• Borough Market

• Kew Gardens

• Kensington Palace (saw Diana's dresses here, they rotate exhibits)

• Hyde Park

• Windsor Castle (easy by train from the city)

• See a Premier League game (Let's Go Gunners!)

• Shopping at Harrods (nod to The Crown)

• Westminister Abbey

  • Some good burials: Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, Isaac Newton, Charles Dickens, Sir Winston Churchill

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My story for London:

First story: Recall back to our steal deal for Santorini. We had a layover in Madrid, a week in Santorini, and the final leg was an overnight layover in London. We landed around 8 PM, and I thought, "Perfect, we can do a late dinner." Well, border control and train later, we didn't get into the city until closer to 10:30 PM. We made it to a pub for a late-night dinner. We planned to pull an all-nighter and walk the city, being in your early 20s kind of idea. Well, after seeing the Tower of London, the oldest church in the city (All Hallows-by-the-Tower), Tower Bridge, London Bridge, and the Millennium Bridge (hello Harry Potter fans!), we were cold and tired. London was a tad chillier than warm Santorini, and our light jackets were not cutting it. We decided to bite the bullet and get a hotel. After entering what felt like a dozen hotels with no occupancy, there we found it. The best hotel (Hotel Saint). It was warm, came with phone chargers, and provided the best 3 hours of sleep I have ever gotten.

Lesson learned: Always book your hotel in advance! All-nighters aren't as fun as they seem.

Second story: I was watching The Crown Season 1. We knew we wanted to go back to London one day. I was like, let me check Expedia for bundle deals. I booked in the next hour, love a good deal! We spent a week there, which is a lot of time, but we did a day out at Windsor and an Arsenal game. The highlight was that we were there for New Year's. The city became mad that day, but we booked a boat for the night and would highly recommend it. The tube exit is only for those with tickets to the boats and that made the crowd manageable. For about 5 hours we drank, ate, made some new friends, and then watched the fireworks with the best view!

The low light was I had a stomach bug and had the runs a day, bathrooms at Kensington Palace are not ideal :)

Final thought: Shoutout to Rick Steves, I do love his travel books as a first time to a city. The holidays and travel are more fun than you think! Long live the Queen!