Years ago Ted and I visited London, but only had one full day to explore the beautiful city. Well last month Ted and I got an unexpected chance to revisit beautiful London due to a work trip of mine! We cleared our calendars and made it work. Now that we’re back, I’ve pulled together our mini London itinerary and am sharing the details below. So here we go!
The Logistics
Where we stayed
We arrived a few days before I had to get to work, so booked a smaller hotel called the Kensington House Hotel. We loved it. The location was perfect. I could literally see Kensington Palace from our window. It was affordable, had a decent included breakfast, and was cozy. I would come back here again!
Best way to get around
Taxis can get expensive really quick and London is a city that is spread out. Use one of those “tourist maps” and try to plan out the sites you want to see in geographical order so you can walk your way there. If you do need to get across town, the Underground is utterly fantastic and easy to navigate.
The Sights
Kensington Palace
Our day started with a morning tour of Kensington Palace. We only toured the gardens last time we were there because we were grad students on a budget, but this time went inside. We explored the state rooms and Princess Diana clothing exhibit. Or course I kept my eyes out for Meghan or Kate, but alas they must have been too busy doing “princess” things.
Explore the Kensington, Chelsea, and Belgravia Neighborhoods
These are such a trendy and expensive neighborhoods! Naturally I wanted to look around and enjoy the gorgeous real estate and cute shops. Despite being February we enjoyed a sunny day with blue skies so took the opportunity to stroll around and window shop.
Fish & Chips Lunch
Stop for a quick bite at any of the quaintly named London pubs like the Prince of Wales or The Rose & Crown. Enjoy some fish & chips or another classically English dish like shepard’s pie.
Explore the bookshops
I’m not sure why but there were a ton of independent bookshops around London. As a book lover I miss seeing these around and love wandering the shelves of old book shops.
Buckingham Palace
Something to note when travelling to London (and the countryside) in the winter is a lot of the palaces and “great’ houses are closed to the public until the spring. Buckingham palace (and Highclere Castle aka Downtown Abbey **sobs**) is one example. Still we took a classic pic outside the gates and will just have to come back another time to visit the interior!
Globe Theater
I am such a lover of Shakespeare and have dreamed of visiting the famous Globe Theater since first reading Romeo & Juliet. Seeing what the stage looked like, it actually reminded me of something out of a Vikings set and was so cool to see!
Dinner at Dishoom
They say London is actually the world capital for Indian food. Ted picked Dishoom and man did he do a good job because the food was incredible. We ate at the Kensington location and the dal makhani was my utter favorite. What I also loved about this restaurant were its fun selection of non-alcoholic drinks. Usually I’m stuck with water or ginger ale but they had such an amazing selection of fun drinks. I tried the “sober martini” and it was delicious!
Evening at the British Museum
To my unexpected delight I learned that the great British Museum is free! Yes, free! I have had an obsession with ancient Egypt since I was a child and their collection has been something I wanted to explore for years. It was crazy to see the artifacts that I read about in books in real life. My favorite was seeing the famous Rosetta stone.
What’s Next
Stay tuned for an England: Part Two post. I’ll cover two amazing London — Bath and Dover. We also went to Edinburgh and I loved that city so much, so it’s getting its own post eventually.
