London- Days 1 & 2

London Days 1 & 2



Happy April Fools Day! 

I think my body is playing an April Fools prank on me with the time change, or it's just jet lag! 

Whewwwwww, traveling is exhausting ya'll. We got back from Europe on Saturday night and I'm still pooped. I had every intention to blog the London days while I was still there, but we went late into the night and were exhausted when we got back to our Air BnB so let's jump into it now!

Tuesday 3/26 was a travel day for us. 

We woke up early and got one more breakfast in Amsterdam. I will say that the city of Amsterdam sure does sleep in. The breakfast shop didn't open until 9am, but luckily it was right outside our hotel so we just waited around a few minutes. 

It was a cute little shop with fun art on the walls and the most delicious looking cakes coming from the bakery. 

 

I got an AMAZING scrambled eggs dish with bacon and cheese inside. I wish I would have been able to finish the whole thing because it was amazing. Of course I also had to have a cappuccino because duh! 

 

Outside of the window of the restaurant was a cute photography shop with the cutest owner! I couldn't get over the fact that he was sweeping the street outside his shop. It made it very real that we were in Europe and reminded me of a Disney movie! 

After breakfast we went back to the hotel to relax and grab our belongings before making it to the train station for our 11am train! 

Walking through the streets of Amsterdam is no joke with luggage. 

We took a 4 hour train ride to London with one stop in Brussels instead of flying because 1) it was a lot cheaper and 2) we were able to see a lot of the countryside. However, the downfall to taking a train are delays! We missed our first connection in Brussels and had to be rebooked two hours later, which was a real bummer. 

 

On the train I was able to get some work done though and catch up on some podcasts, which was a blessing in disguise. 

 

It was really neat to be able to see the French countryside during the trip and also know that we were under the channel on our way to London! 

Once in London, we made our way through the train station and had our first experience with the Tube (subway). And it was a CRAZY first experience! Londoners are fast paced, don't want to waste time, and push past you if you're going a tad bit slow. I also don't recommend taking your big luggage bag on the Tube. Natalie and I made sure to not do that on the way home and took an Uber instead!

Once we figured out and survived the Tube for the first time, we made our way to our Air BnB to drop off our things and then to dinner! 

While waiting for our table we took a short walk to see our first London attraction, Tower Bridge. I've always thought that this was London Bridge, but it's name is actually Tower Bridge and London Bridge is just a regular old bridge in London. Who knew?!

  

But I was so excited to see my first London attraction and it made it very real that we were really there. I also got a little too excited to see a phone booth! 

We then made our way to a cute little pizza restaurant and had our first meal in London, which was delicious. It was wood fired pizza, extra thin, just the way I like it!

 

This is also when we learned about how expensive soda and any drink with sugar is in London. Whewww I became very thankful for the USA's unlimited refills policy on this trip. 

After dinner we went back to our Air BnB and rested up for our first full day in London! 

Wednesday 3/27 we woke up early, excited for our adventures that day. 

First stop was getting Starbucks and taking the cutest picture outside a phone booth. Later that day our tour guide told us to never go inside a phone booth on the street because they aren't used to make phone calls anymore and are used for pretty much everything else. That made us very happy that we took pictures with these ones in a new shopping mall. 

 

After coffee, we made out way back to the Tube to head to our first meeting location for the Harry Potter Walking Tour, which was none other than the Palace Theater where Harry Potter and the Cursed Child play was being held. 

While we waited for our tour to start we walked around a little bit. I was loving all the London buildings and restaurants. Being in the city was literally my dream come true. I was excited, pumped and a ball of energy the whole morning. 

 

When our tour started we were first sorted into houses. I got Hufflepuff, but I don't believe it. I'm a Gryffindor in real life! It wasn't a real sorting ceremony (we just picked cards out of a hat) so it doesn't count right?! 

Then we started the walking part of our tour. We did the Harry Potter Film Locations Tour + Thames Boat Cruise and had Natalie as our guide. She was phenomenal. We went through the streets and she pointed out all the locations that were used in the movies, while also stopping to ask trivia questions and awarded points to different houses along the way. She even had sections of the movie pulled up on her tablet for us to watch to see where we were in comparison. She pointed out other famous locations that were in other films in London as well.  

  

  

 

We even passed by the famous Sherlock Holmes pub. 

She took us to a movie location and had us act out that part of the movie, which was really neat. Doesn't Natalie look great with orange hair, as Ron! They were great sports! And that little girl knew everything and anything about Harry Potter! It was so cute to see her so excited!

 

About halfway through we got on a boat and went on a small cruise on the Thames River. While on the river we were able to get great shots of Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. 

  

We jumped off the boat and ran into a famous theater, Shakespeare's Globe. 

 

We hopped on the Tube and took it to our last location, King's Cross Station where we saw the real Platform 9 3/4, which is actually between platforms 4 & 5 in real life because 9 & 10 don't have barriers. 

However, because Harry Potter was very popular they made a makeshift Platform for people to take pictures at because they had so many people going to the real platform and distributing travelers. So we finished our tour by taking pictures at Platform 9 3/4. 

  

After buying a few souvenirs at the Harry Potter shop, we hopped back on the Tube to the place we started at and grabbed lunch at an authentic London pub. Of course we had to try some fish and chips and a beer at the pub! I'm not a big seafood fan at all, but it was amazing! Plus the dessert, was phenomenal! 

 

 

After lunch we went over to a Harry Potter store that was right behind the theater that we saw earlier in the day. It was created by the prop makers of the films and had original props, and posters from the films and plays. 

  

After buying a few more souvenirs there we made out way back to the Tube and headed over to the London Eye. Seeing it up close and personal was incredible. I've seen one similar in Vegas of course, but the London Eye was huge. 

 

Before the trip we brought the London Explorer pass, which for one price you are able to go to 3, 5, or 7 attractions using the pass. The London Eye was one of the attractions on the pass so all we had to do was go to the ticket booth and have them scan our pass, easy as that! I would recommend it if you are going to a big city! It saves you time and money in the long run! Plus it was the comfort of knowing our tickets were already purchased. 

Once on the London Eye, there were amazing views! It takes about 30 minutes to make it all the way around and in that time you see all of London from high in the sky. 

  

  

   

I made it a point to find where Buckingham Palace was while up there! 

 

After getting off the London Eye we headed back to the Air BnB to freshen up before our walking tour that night. 

We went on the Jack the Ripper walking tour, which took you to different places in London where the killings took place as well as a very knowledgeable guide throughout the walk who gave detailed information and different theories about who Jack the Ripper was along the way. 

To be completely honest I had no idea who Jack the Ripper was before booking the tour, but it was still enjoyable for someone with no clue! 

After that we grabbed a late dinner and headed back to the Air BnB for the night! By that time our feet were hurting after two walking tours that day! 

I'll be back tomorrow with a review on London day 3, which was by far my dream come true day!

Like always, if you have any questions about things we did while on this trip, comment below.