Did anyone else feel like it was Monday all day today? I always get thrown off when the work week starts on a Tuesday. Definitely a good problem though. We had a great three day weekend that actually felt like three days and wasn’t rushed which was nice. Kevin and I ended up visiting London for the weekend and had a great time! We flew out Friday night on what was supposed to be a 9:15 flight that ended up getting delayed until about midnight due to a maintenance issue. It actually wasn’t bad because I ended up sleeping the majority of the flight which was great. We landed in London on Saturday around 2 PM local time and took the train to our hotel where we quickly showered and got ready before heading out. Our first evening there we just walked around Oxford Circus and did some window shopping/exploring. We saw the BBC headquarters and the famous Langham Hotel.
We also walked through Green Park which is one of London’s eight royal parks.
We had dinner at Aubaine and each ordered fish. Kevin had the traditional fish and chips which was awesome and I had the roasted cod with vegetables which was also very good.
We were pretty cold and a little tired so after dinner we stopped to get some hot tea and headed back to our hotel room and watched some British game shows lol.
On Sunday we ended up not waking up until 9 AM which is later than we anticipated sleeping. We didn’t really have an agenda and just spent the day exploring different areas of the city. Our first stop was Covent Garden. This area is full of shopping and dining and has different entertainers from musicians to magicians on every corner.
We stopped in Battersea Pie for some traditional pies for brunch. I had the butternut squash and goat cheese which was so delicious! Kevin had the steak and ale pie which he also loved.
After brunch we walked around Trafalgar Square which is the site of the National Portrait Gallery.
We then made our way over to Hyde Park and walked around for a while.
While in the park we visited the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain.
Right across the river from Hyde Park are the Kensington Gardens which is my favorite place we visited this trip. It was absolutely beautiful!
On the grounds of the gardens is the Prince Albert Memorial.
The Kensington Palace (where William and Kate live) is also here. I loved getting to see this!
After spending a good amount of time in Kensington, we walked over to Notting Hill which is another one of my favorite areas. The neighborhood is full of colorful row homes and I think I took 100 pictures alone of all of the beautiful homes and bright colored doors.
Some of my favorites were these bright pink doors. ๐
We also walked through the Portobello Market which is a huge shopping area in Notting Hill.
While in the market we stopped in Gail’s for a little tea and espresso break.
We eventually made our way down to the Thames River and walked along the river walk which had great views of the Tower Bridge.
We were starving so ended up just grabbing dinner at Pizza Express along the river walk. We saw these all over London and they actually had really good pizza. Super thin dough which is my favorite.
After we ate, we tried to find a bar to watch the Purdue football game but didn’t have any luck so we just headed back to the hotel for the night. We had an early morning flight and had to leave for the airport around 4:30 AM. We landed back in Chicago on Monday morning around 10:30 AM and spent the rest of the day watching the recording of the Purdue game and relaxing at home.
We both love London and had a great two days visiting! I already can’t wait to go back.
You can read about our first trip to London here.
Katie says
You walked right by where we got engaged, by the Serpentine Lake! We passed by the Albert Memorial on the way!!
Paige says
How fun! When we were walking through the park we were actually wondering which spot you got engaged ๐
Angelina says
Living on the West Coast, a weekend trip to London seems so surreal as it is a 12 hr flight from here! How much fun!!
Paige says
Yeah that would be a long flight for just a weekend! 7.5 hours isn’t too bad.