We spent a long weekend in London recently, and had a blast. I had Monday off of work for President’s day, and took off the Friday before, giving us three nights there.
We got things started with Fish & Chips in a nice little pub – pretty good stuff. On Friday night we took in the musical Billy Elliot, which has been all the rage there for a few years. We liked it fine, but neither of us are putting it up there with our favorites; it was big on dance and not on singing, which wasn’t really to our liking. But overall, a fun experience.
We made our way around the city on Saturday and Sunday primarily by one of those tourist buses that you can get off of and on at major attractions, and which provides commentary about stuff as you drive along. We’re not ashamed, as touristy as it may be. It’s a convenient way to see the main draws and you learn some interesting things, too.
The highlight for each of us was probably the Tower of London – a fortress area that housed royalty, other VIP’s, and prisoners for most of the last century. Saw where some famous people like Anne Boleyn and Catherine Howard were beheaded, as well as the Crown Jewels. Katie especially liked it because she’s a fan of the Philippa Gregory historical fiction books that deal with all that.
Other highlights included:
- Portobello Street in the Notting Hill area; good shopping on a cool street (we bought a neat picture there)
- Big Ben and Parliament; big and pretty. Both are really quite fabulous.
- American Food; McDonald’s breakfast (they have McDonald’s in Croatia, but for some reason they don’t serve breakfast) and Krispy Kreme
- Spitalfields Market and Brick Lane; cool markets and lots of great ethnic food sold on the streets
- Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery; a very regal-feeling area with great views of the city, and we liked the 18th – 20th century paintings in the art gallery
- People speaking English; nice to be able to eaves-drop again…. And we of course enjoyed those cool British accents
We also liked Speaker’s Corner (an area in Hyde Park where anyone can get on their soap-box about any topic they want as long as they’re prepared to be heckled by the raucous crowd), Buckingham Palace, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey. Additionally, was very nice to have some good ethnic food. I loved the Indian restaurant we ate at on Valentine’s day. That’s my only complaint about Zagreb – can’t find any good ethnic food.
It was a jolly good holiday.
Cheers!
Brian
