London Love

*Apparently, I completed this post, but never published it... Oops.

We woke up early for our 7:20am flight to London. I am NOT a morning person, and usually hit snooze a number of times before dragging myself out of bed, but if a flight to London is involved, I am downright bright eyed and bushy tailed at 5:30am.

Our taxi was waiting for us when we got to the lobby of our hotel, and

after a rather quiet ride 15 minute ride, we were at the Cork airport. Our flight had been delayed a bit, so we had plenty of time to grab some coffee. We were flying Aer Lingus to London, which was a first for both of us. We paid extra to have advance seat selection & checked bag. I think a lot of airlines are moving toward a "day of" seat assignment, but I prefer to be able to pick my seat, so the extra $ was worth it.

After an uneventful 1.5 hour flight, we were at Heathrow Airport. Since we had our big suitcases with us, we elected to get an Uber from the airport as opposed to taking the Tube. I love the Tube, but it was really cool to see the drive into London from aboveground.

Entrance to The Georgian House Hotel 

The driver dropped us off at our hotel, the Georgian House Hotel in the Pimlico/Victoria area, but our room was not yet ready. We left our luggage and headed out to find some early lunch.

The Marquis 

After a 5 minute walk, we found ourselves at the Marquis or Westminster pub, which we had dined at a number of times before. We realized that this had been our 1st lunch spot on our previous trips to London, so clearly this needed to become tradition.

We enjoyed our lunch and some cider (me) and beer (Rico), and talked about what to do until we could check in to the hotel. It was about 11:30am, and check in was at 3. One of the cool things about staying in the Victoria/Pimlico area is the proximity to Buckinham Palace.

We normally travel to London in October, which means that Buckingham Palace is closed to tourists. Since it was still September, we decided to take advantage! The palace was busy, but the line to get in moved quickly. Unfortunately, you weren't allowed to take pictures, even in line, so I don't have much to show. I can tell you that the Palace was amazing. We got to meander through the throne room, ball room, formal dining rooms, and the reception hall. It was unreal thinking that I was standing where some of the worlds most powerful people had once stood.

After we were finished with the tour, we stopped for tea on the back terrace, like you do.

After the palace, we decided to get some shopping out of the way, and headed close to Piccadilly Circus to find a shop to purchase Chelsea & Arsenal gear for our nephews. 

 

We wrapped day 1 with more shopping at Covent Garden & then dinner at Dishoom... If you want amazing Indian food, and don't mind waiting in line for an hour, Dishoom is the place for you.

Day 2 was slow going in the morning, since we had a full afternoon/evening. After breakfast at the hotel, he headed over to Harrods so we could look at all of the amazing things we could never afford. We picked up some souvenirs, splurged on a Burberry scarf, and then headed back to the hotel to get ready for afternoon tea at Claridge's.

Oh, Claridge's. This was our 2nd time having tea there, and it was just as exciting as the 1st.

Rico perusing the tea menu.

We were sat next to the floral display in the middle of the room, which was absolutely beautiful. I didn't take too many pictures, since I didn't want to be obnoxious to the other patrons. Rico had the standard tea service, and I had the Gluten Free tea service, which was fantastic. There were even Gluten Free scones! And they weren't dense and crumbly! I was really impressed. I could also eat tea sandwiches all day and never get sick of them.

Little Claridge's selfie action.

After tea, we headed to Trafalgar Square, where we were going to see Apologia at the Trafalgar Theatre. The performance was great, and I was so excited to see Stockard Channing & Laura Carmichael perform live. 

Day 3 was a trip to Hever Castle, but that may be a separate blog post. 

Day 4 was a stop to the V&A for tea and so Rick could spend quality time with DaVinci's notebook. 

My new hat!

We also headed to Fulham, where my favorite hat company, Penmayne of London, was having a farewell event. Claire, the founder of Penmayne, had been offered her dream job, working with Cancer Research UK, and her goodbye party just happened to be scheduled for when we were in town. We stopped in, sipped on some sparking, and I tried on every hat I could find. She was selling her current stock at ridiculous prices, so of course, I had to take one home. I am so sad to see Penmayne go, but I am thrilled for Claire, and her new endeavor! 

It was cool going to Fulham & seeing a different, more residential, part of London. 

We stopped into a restaurant/pub for dinner, and I was excited to see that they had Gluten Free fish & chips on the menu. Of course, I ordered them, and they were delicious! 

How cute is this place?

Outside of the Pub 

We then had to head back to the hotel for the night, as we had to prepare to leave the next day... ugh... I hate leaving London.

Have you ever visited a city and just felt at home, the second you hit the pavement? That place for me, is London.