3 days to soak up the city! November 26-29, 2022
On the back of a work trip to Coventry, England, we took 3 extra nights before flying back home to bring London to London!!! The hubs and I had been many times but we were so excited to let our daughter experience one of our favorite cities and we had Grammy Sue along to share it with us. We lived in Leamington Spa & Kenilworth (45mins North) on and off over a 3-year period before we had our daughter, and we just loved England so much, that we decided to name our child after the city.
We always seemed to stay near Tower Bridge, so we chose to stay on the opposite side in Kensington. The Bailey Hotel was gorgeous, even more so than usual as it was the end of November so all the holiday decorations were out in full force. It was a beautiful old hotel, with so many elegant details from the walls to the chandeliers and a piano right as you walk in. Our room was spacious and beautifully decorated with a great bathroom and oversized rainfall shower. Perfect distance to walk around with lots of restaurants and the natural history museum nearby, directly across is a metro station and a stop for the hop on/hop off tour bus.
We hit up the Natural History Museum in the late afternoon, with just a couple hours before closing we worried it would not be enough time, but it was perfect. Just enough time to hit the dinosaur exhibit which London LOVED, including checking out #Dippy and walking around a few more exhibits. We then hit up @Kinsington Creperie for a delicious dinner in south Kensington! P.S. The Aperol spritz was perfection!
The next day we decided to do the Hop On Hop Off bus tour. It was a rainy day so we knew this would be an easy way to see the city while staying dry. London loved seeing all the sites on the top deck!! We had reservations for the London Eye, so rode the bus all the way there before getting off for the first time. The London Eye was so fun, and it was mesmerizing to see London look out over the city and smile. We did the multi-pass to save money by combining London Eye, Big Bus Hop On/OFF Tours, and Shrek's Adventure.
We had a yummy lunch at the fish and chips shop that is located at the end of the building. It is easy and you can grab and go or sit at a table. Lots of choices and they even had mulled wine!! We walked the bridge to get a shot in front of Big Ben, then hopped back on the bus after this to continue seeing the sights. Hoping off at Trafalgar to see the Lions and buy some souvenirs.
At 3:15 pm we arrived at the Aviary Rooftop Bar & Restaurant for our two-hour #igloo dinner reservation. This was the coolest dinner experience we have done to date, hands down. As we went in November, the sun began to set around 4 and by 4:45 it had gone down completely. Watching the sunset in our own private heated rooftop igloo was unforgettable. The food was fantastic, I had a charcuterie board and a cheese board, and the hubby and Grammy Sue had the burger and fries. London ate a bit off all our plates, lol. The cocktails were phenomenal!!! I had put we were celebrating our anniversary as it was 6 years married the next day, and to our surprise, they brought out a cute dessert to celebrate us. Then we cabbed it back to the closest hop-on bus stop and rode it the rest of the way home. Here is where we had one of the biggest upsets of any trip to date. My phone slipped out of my pocket in the cab. I didn't realize until the cab pulled away. As the phone was dying, by the time I called, it was dead. I was so sad, certain I had lost my phone and the days photos for good. Then by some miracle, the cab driver called my husbands phone... it was dead so he had to finish his shift to charge it. Once it turned on he called the phone number that I had texted. Then he even offered to drop it to our hotel, what an amazing man!!
For our last day, we hit up even more sights!!!. We used the subway to get everywhere, which is so easy! London thought it was the coolest thing as well, so win-win! First stop, Buckingham Palace, then a walk through St. James Park. There is a super cute play structure so of course we stopped for 15 mins for a quick play break.
Then we took another look at Big Ben on the way back to where the London Eye is located for Shrek's Adventure as it is located in the building just behind it. It was a super cute, adventure where you walk through various scenes and encounter actors along the way playing out an adventure to get us safely back home after our tour bus goes "astray." You are not allowed to take any photos or videos and they definitely watch for this, which I thought was ridiculous. Perhaps they are trying to hide someone videoing it and therefore showing it is not the highest production value. It was cute but I think for the price they should have stepped it up a notch. London really loved it though, so that is all that matters. We got some cute family photos at the end too so I would say it is worth it to do once.
Next stop, took the Tower of London tour, which was actually a first for me. It was so much cooler than I expected. We waited for the next Yemmen Warder tour, which I figured London would get bored of listening to, but he was so fantastic. She was front and center running to stay next to him at each "spot" on the tour. He told all the history of the tower which included some darker prisoner stories, including of course the beheading of Anne Boylyn, but London was not scared at all. She loves ghost stories, lol, so right up her alley. We took a last look around and had a yummy lunch in the cafeteria before leaving.
Next on the list, walking across Tower Bridge, we have always told London it was her bridge so she loved seeing it in person. We jumped back on the Tube and got out at Knightsbridge to see Harrods, then window shopped at all the designer stores on Brampton. I hit up Ted Baker and got a darling bag to commemorate the trip! We decided to go back to Kensington to eat dinner near our hotel. Just across the street was a cute pub that was playing the World Cup, so a fun lively atmosphere. We had a gigantic nacho plate and London loved it because, in England, they use Doritos at most places for their nachos, definitely something different and a perfect way to end the trip.
The morning we flew out there was just enough time to talk a walk up to Kensington Gardens to the Princess Dianna Memorial Fountain before jetting off home to Ottawa.
London's firsts:
Trip to Europe checked off a new continent
UK checked off a new country
Double-decker bus & subway (actually first was New York but too young to remember)
London sights: London Eye, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Shrek's Adventure, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace