4.20.2024
My inexpensive tendencies found ourselves in the backseat of our flight to London, or as I like to refer to it – “last class”. As we got settled into our seats we were notified by the gate agent that they would be moving us because our seats didn’t recline, which was a false statement. I had already tried that feature out. They worked.
We soon discovered that they were moving us to accommodate the crew, but moving us to less desirable seats in my opinion. Regardless, the flight was uneventful and we touched down to find the sun shining in London.
We quickly made our way through customs where sadly we didn’t get stamps, London has fancy technology. We topped off our Oyster cards and off to the hotel we went. In typical Nick fashion, he led us in the wrong direction as we came out of the Tube. He had just entered Queens Gate Hotel and apparently there are two. Needless to say when the first told us they had no reservation for us, I slightly panicked – remembering the last time that we were in London together and I inadvertently booked the wrong type room for us and we had to sleep in a twin bed together under Paddington Station. We set off to find the correct one, upon arrival found that they would check us in early and that we also got an upgrade. We arrived to our room very curious to see what our original room looks like as we have quite the shoebox. Regardless, it was very nice to be able to shower and feel like new people before setting out on a day of adventures in London.
The Victoria & Albert Museum was a few blocks from our hotel, so we headed that way stopping by a street market grabbing a spinach and feta croissant and a coffee at small shop nearby. We spent about an hour or so wandering around the V&A. Afterwards we boarded the Tube to head to the Mayfair Mercato, an old church now that houses many food and drink vendors. While a really cool experience, it was VERY crowded. We were thankful to have found a spot to belly up to a tall table next to a Swedish couple who just arrived in town as well. Once they departed we snagged their spot and enjoyed finishing our beverages and pizza. Along with our German beers, I also tried out a rhubarb gin and tonic from the gin and tonic only bar.
Nick had seen a tulip garden on Instagram and the photos that were posted five days ago were beautiful so we then headed over to the Embankment to see what was left of those. We found it to be quite crowded and I’m glad that we went today as if we had attempted to go when we returned back to London next weekend the tulips would be completely gone. The amount of effort that the ladies within the tulip garden were putting into their selfies is something to be seen. We were even was able to witness a full on photo shoot with a porcelain doll!
Being very close to Big Ben we decided to head over that way and stumbled upon yet another tulip garden in Whitehall Gardens, which was much more delightful as there were way less selfie opportunities happening there.
As we neared Big Ben, we both needed a respite, so we ducked into an English pub and enjoyed our first English pint together!
We finished our pint and wandered around Westminster Abbey only to find only those who were attending service were permitted. The gentleman quickly pointed out to me that mass would be in the cathedral down the road. Tired and needing to change my shoes, we returned to our hotel where I took a 10 minute snooze, Nick did his Italian and then we set off for our dinner reservations. The highlight of dinner was seeing a 4 month old IG/whippet puppy and a road rage incident. The food was not anything to write home about, but with full stomachs, we headed back to the hotel as we were experiencing pure exhaustion with little sleep on the plane and a full day in London. I forgot how many steps there were to get out of all of the Tube stations. With very few plans tomorrow, we are looking forward to a slow start to our day.
