This was my first trip to Europe! Jim and I had talked about one day "going to Germany" because he had been stationed there for two years when he was in the Army and he loved it. And of course, I'm ready to pack my bags for most anywhere in the world! Just point me in the right direction! haha!
I know you're thinking, "I thought this post was about London?" I'm circling back to that, don't worry ...
After our weeklong voyage across the Atlantic on the QM2, we had a few free days available before our scheduled Gate 1 Travel tour of Germany would begin. Brooke and Karen were not going with us to Germany, but had planned to stay in London a few days and then a few more in Paris. So Jim and I decided to go to London with them! Our schedule would be three nights in London, a train to Paris, one night in Paris, and then two trains (one to Zurich, Switzerland, and the second from there to Bregenz, Austria, which would be the start of our Gate 1 Germany tour). But that part will be a different post for sure. Lots to see before then!
First stop ... London, England!
Day One in London
While still on board the QM2, everyone was given an appointment day and time to take passports to a customs official who was on the ship. It took about one minute to show our passports and tell her where we'd be traveling in Europe. Easy breezy. That was it. When the ship docked, we went straight to a bus (we had tickets through the ship) and got on one to go to Victoria Station in London, which was about two hours away.
We had rooms at the Marriott Grosvenor Square (photo above) which was in a great neighborhood. The building right next door (behind where that black taxi is pulling in), was a great pub and restaurant, which we went to several times. You'll see it again in a bit.
The room was nice, with a view of the street, which I enjoyed. And it had all the regular modern conveniences, including mini fridge. After we all four got checked in and settled a bit, we decided to go out to explore the neighborhood and hunt up something to eat. We were so used to just stopping by the buffet on the ship, so it took a little effort to see what was nearby and decide on a restaurant.
What better way to start a visit in London than with a plate of fish and chips! Although when I was looking over the menu at the FishWorks restaurant, I mentioned that I'd rather have French fries than chips. Of course I had completely forgotten that chips ARE fries in England! ha! Actual potato chips in the UK are called crisps (in case you were wondering). That little serving of green stuff is "mushy peas". Apparently it is a typical side item with fish and chips. No thank you. But the fish and fries were excellent! Yum. We all four loved that meal!
After a walking tour of the immediate area, mainly to eat and stretch our legs, we went back to the hotel and ended up at the pub next door, "The Barley Mow Mayfair" for an evening drink before bed. It was a small but lively place and we managed to snag a table inside.
Fun Fact: A "barley mow" is a traditional term for a large stack or pile of harvested barley, the primary grain used to brew beer. Pubs were given this name to celebrate the key ingredient behind their ales. (Wikipedia)
Day Two in London
Since we just left off at The Barley Mow the night before, I'll go ahead and mention our two main meals from our second day in London. For breakfast, we ate at Popina, a nearby restaurant recommended by the hotel. I had these eggs over hash browns and it was excellent! So good. Then for dinner later that afternoon, we returned to The Barley Mow and tried their restaurant upstairs. This is a pot pie with mashed potatoes and gravy and it was delightfully unique looking and also very tasty!
When you only have a couple good days in a brand new city, it's hard to decide what to actually DO. I mainly wanted to just "see" the city and take photos (a general overview), and I also wanted to see the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace if we could. Third on my list was Abbey Road because I'm a lifelong Beatles fan.
Our hotel concierge suggested we catch the Changing of the Guard on Sunday because they have their parade on that day, with the band. He also had ticket info and maps for the "Big Bus", one of the hop-on, hop-off tour buses. A two-day pass was reasonable, and included a water tour also, so we all four secured tickets and off we went ... with just one problem...
That particular day, Saturday, May 16, two very large planned protests were held in the city and half of the hop-on, hop-off bus stops were closed down because the roads were blocked. According to the BBC ...
Tens of thousands of protesters joined two rival marches in London on Saturday - the Unite the Kingdom rally organized by far-right figure Tommy Robinson, and a pro-Palestinian demonstration.
More than 4,000 police officers were deployed to the capital to manage a so-called "sterile zone" between the two marches. Officers also used drones, police horses and dogs, and had armored vehicles on standby.
The protests and closed streets weren't too bad for us though, because we really didn't have a concrete plan as to where we wanted to "hop off" the bus anyway! haha! We just rode around for a while (I happily snapped photos) and eventually the bus went down to the River Thames and we decided to hop off and try the included river tour. The river tour was actually the highlight of the Big Bus ticket! The bus itself really didn't say much of anything about the sites you were passing. It was all recorded audio and "fun facts". But the boat portion had an actual tour guide and he was much more informative.
The London Eye, which we didn't ride. Coincidentally, we found ourselves on a ferris wheel in Germany.
Common, yes, but I love all animals!
Did you know that this iconic bridge below is the "Tower Bridge" and not the "London Bridge"? The Tower Bridge was completed in 1894 and designed to complement the nearby Tower of London.
According to Google, the Tower of London is a nearly 1,000-year-old historic fortress on the River Thames (photo above). Built by William the Conqueror in 1066 to establish royal power, it has served as a royal palace, high-security prison, and even a zoo. Today, it securely houses the Crown Jewels.
We didn't have time to tour it this trip because, well, we only had about two and a half days in the city and I was just trying to see all I could see.
This bridge below is actually the "London Bridge" today. (If you look on the left of that pillar, you'll see the name engraved.) It's nowhere near as elaborate. But a version of this bridge has stood in this area for nearly 2,000 years. It is traced back to AD 43 when first constructed by the Romans. As the song goes, it kept "falling down" due to attacks and disrepair through the medieval years. The 1831 stone bridge version began sinking into the mud and was dismantled in 1968 .... an American businessman bought it and they shipped and reassembled it in Lake Havasu City, Arizona, where it still stands. Haha, crazy!
We enjoyed the river tour very much and the weather was absolutely perfect during our brief visit to London. Actually, the weather was great just about the entire 3-week trip! The only exception was our first tour day on the Germany portion of the trip ... it was rainy and chilly that first day. But later for that. Right now, there's more London to explore!!
I'm going to TRY and not throw a lot of encyclopedia facts at ya'll, because this is already a long post and we're not halfway through the photos from London yet, haha!! So I'll try and tighten up these paragraphs. But don't you love these two photos (above and below)?
It's the same buildings ... Big Ben and the Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament. There's another photo of it at the very top of this blog post.
I try HARD to narrow down my photos to only one shot of an important landmark (and maybe some coordinating detail shots), but sometimes it is SO difficult. I loved all three shots! I even love the crane in this bottom photo. I think it helps set the time period. I almost photoshopped out the boats at the very bottom of the photo, but decided to leave them.... for now.
You're probably wondering, "Dang Allison, how many photos did you take on this whole trip?"
A: About 2,500 ... (obviously many are duplicates)
"Were they all taken with a camera phone??"
A: No. While I did use my iPhone (16 Pro Max), I also relied on the Sony a6700. I carried my longer 70-350 mm lens and only used it twice for two particular things. Otherwise, I used a Sony 24-70 mm f 2.8 GM II lens, which I rented for the trip from LensProToGo online.
"I didn't know you could RENT camera lenses!"
A: Yep, you can also rent the cameras themselves too! I'd rented seven times from LensProToGo over the past years so I had earned just over $200 in credits for my 8th rental and I decided this was the time to cash in. Of course I also bought the full insurance just in case (worse case scenario) it was stolen during the trip. It wasn't. Whew. Safe and sound!
Now back to the trip. Here's one last photo from our touring around Saturday ...
London is definitely a mix of preserved historic buildings AND sleek modern architecture. This building is called The Shard. It's a 72-story skyscraper modeled after a shard of glass. It was completed in 2021 and visitors can enjoy 360 degree views of the city on the 68th and 69th floors, or try the open air viewing deck on floor 72! I'll put it on the list for next time!
Speaking of historic buildings alongside modern ones, I kinda felt sorry for this guy below. He just looked like he was being squeezed by these contemporary giants!!
Before we close out Day Two in London, there's one more thing to tell you! Jim and I bought tickets to see a theater play Saturday night! We had great seats at St. Martin's Theatre to see Agatha Christie's "The Mousetrap". It's the longest-running play in the world! First performed in 1952, this is the 74th year and we attended show number 30,545! It was great!! There's some funny comedic lines, unique characters, and a mystery of who-done-it. Oh and the theater is gorgeous too!! We both enjoyed it!
Day Three in London
The first half of Sunday was devoted to the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace. Actually, we learned that it's the Sunday Parade and the guards are inspected, not changed. The band and Guard march the flag down to St. James's Palace, and then march back to Buckingham while a few thousand tourists all hold up their camera phones in admiration and documentation. haha!!
The Sunday Parade starts at 10 am and we wanted to be sure we had a front row spot along the fence, so we took a taxi from the Marriott at 9 after grabbing a quick bite to eat in the hotel restaurant.
It was quite a bit of waiting around for things to start, but I'm so glad we went early. The crowd really grew huge by the time everything started. Brooke decided to enjoy the morning on his own and skip out on the Buckingham pageantry. Karen later met up with him just after lunch at a museum, so they had a good afternoon together too.
And here we take a brief break to pay homage to all of the rest of this post, which I had ALMOST finished and now am having to re-write to the best of my ability, because the computer program crashed on me and deleted all of that hard work. Sigh. Hmmm. And it was in this very spot before that I had written a beautiful paragraph of text (which I can't recall precisely), but which had mentioned taking time to breathe and enjoy a bit of nature. Haha, so appropriate now, in hindsight. Okay, back to the London adventure ...
After the hustle and bustle of getting to Buckingham Palace to see the Sunday Parade, and the huge crowds, and standing out in the sun on concrete, Karen suggested we walk through St. James's Park as we left the Palace grounds. I didn't realize how wonderful that would actually be. It was SO nice to be surrounded by greenery, birds, water, and the shade of towering trees. It was lovely for sure.
So just take a deep breath, relax your shoulders, and enjoy some of these nature photos. It was a perfect day for a stroll through the park!
Time to take the family for a swim ... so sweet!
I loved this giant willow tree!
Although I have plenty of squirrels in my backyard in Georgia, everyone else was photographing them, so I thought why not. haha!
Dang, what FEET on this bird! Ha!
I'm thinking this guy below must be personally offended every time he walks by this painted sign on the ground. I mean, he looks just like the image doesn't he? haha! Sorry, buddy.
Ahhh, all that nature! So nice! And now it's time for lunch! We came out of the park near Trafalgar Square and Karen caught a taxi to go and meet Brooke at the museum. Jim and I wondered around a bit and found a restaurant/pub tucked down an alley way.
Haha, fish and chips again!!! It was great to sit for a while and share some food and a couple of drinks at Walkers of Whitehall. It was a cool little historic restaurant and we enjoyed everything. Although, if we're handing out awards, the fish and chips winner would have to go to yesterday's FishWorks restaurant. But it was a close contest.
After that break, we decided to hop back on the bus, which had a stop right nearby, and just enjoy the ride for a while. The top seating was almost empty most of the time (and all the roads were open today), so it was nice to just enjoy the breeze and snap photos along the way.
St. Paul's Cathedral
We were surprised to see a familiar face along the route ... President Abraham Lincoln! His was the first non-British memorial to be placed on the grounds of Parliament Square. Created by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, it's a full-size replica of his acclaimed original in Chicago's Lincoln Park. America gifted the 12 ft. tall memorial statue to London and it was unveiled in 1920.
This is a COVID memorial wall with thousands of hand-painted hearts, messages, and memorials to those who died.
After spending a couple of hours just touring around, we got off the bus at the Marble Arch stop because it was within walking distance of our hotel back at Grosvenor Square. Notice I don't have any photos of the Marble Arch. There was construction behind it and I just didn't see a photo angle that appealed to me. Maybe next time!
After taking a rest at the hotel, it was that time again ... time to eat!! Ha! When we were at the adjacent pub the night before (The Barley Mow), our waiter mentioned their special "Sunday Roast" which seems to be popular all over London. It's a shared family-style meal with a plate of protein picks, so we had to try it. It was a lot of food, but also so good!!
And what's a meal without dessert ... especially on vacation!? Even though we were certainly full from dinner, we ordered desserts as well. Mine was this round hard-shelled cream-filled hazelnut ball with caramel sauce. Oh it was so good! And I mean, what else can you do after a meal like this? Yes, sleep! Ha! It was time to pack up, get some sleep, and catch a train to Paris tomorrow!
