Our flight plan was from SLC--> Seattle with a 3 hour layover, then to Iceland--> London, with a 55 minute layover. BTW, did not know this when you book, but if you fly through Iceland you can increase your stop over time to a week with no extra charge. Also the Iceland airport bathrooms were easily some of the cleanest, coolest bathrooms on our whole trip of public bathrooms. OOO I found a picture of them online. So those things that are hanging out to the side of the faucet---the hand dryer!! Every bathroom "stall" is completely private with its own toilet and sink, and its all automated which makes you feel really clean--plus enough room to put the baggage to the side and not cram in a wee lil stall.
Besides that we had no idea that the sun does NOT set on your flight from Seattle to Iceland as its so close to the Arctic Circle--so we were wicked tired when we landed in London. We tried to sleep, but it was a bit hard when the cute kids in front of us kept opening their windows and exclaiming... "It's still there!" They were amused by the sun not going down.
LONDON
So we get to London, use the directions our airbnb host gave us to get to the right end of the city where we were staying at. We find some food...and seriously was not happy with it. Thought it would be cool to order an avocado chocolate and apple spinach "smoothie" with two sandwiches. (I "" smoothie, as it is really juice...and we will learn through our trip that all European "smoothies" are juice with ice) They did not get either of our sandwiches right, and when I went to fix mine they apparently didn't have anymore of it and so I ate cake that was the same price. Also, they did not give us our smoothies till we went back up ten minutes later asking them for it...in which they replied Oh those were yours?? We gave those away, guess we will make some new ones. Yeah...service in, whi Europe...doesn't exist.
Our London flat was just a few buildings away, and Ty was wonderful to get the key for us that was a half a mile away. The flat was nice, simple--but had no air conditioning and just a wee little fan. Since we were only there at night, it worked for us. We stayed in the Shoreditch area of London, very hipster vibe to it. After we cleaned up our faces we decided to mosey about the town. We ran into this awesome market. Tons of food from everywhere, tons of trinkets etc. We didn't have a lot of cash on us at the time and decided to go back the next day. Bad decision---it was only going on Sunday nights, so we missed buying anything. Anyways, we took the underground--which in London is SUPER easy to navigate through, and they have a great card system---to explore downtown London. We went to see the Tower Bridge, and as we were walking to it IT WAS OPENING and CLOSING for a cruise ship. That is a sign of good luck :) We also went into some cool church---plenty of those in Europe. Decided to walk to the Globe Theatre and see if we could get any tickets to any show, but alas we did not plan ahead (as you will notice a few times in this trip) and they were sold out till the day we left. We also tried to go to the Tower of London, but it was closed--no worries we made it there again in two days.
We then walked around the area some more till our stomachs said FEED ME SEYMOUR (guess that movie) and stopped at a place called "Gourmet Kitchen Burger" It was fantastic! It reminded me of Red Robin, we had their truffle cheese fries--always get things with the word truffle in it, their chocolate milkshake was to die for and cheeseburgers, I added pineapple on mine. Delish. We then went home exhausted and ready for the next day.
DAY TWO: We left semi early in the morning to make it to the British Museum, which has been one of those "you must go here in your lifetime" places for me. Before we got there, we tried to find breakfast. Once again we found a place serving "smoothies" the girl grabbed it from the fridge below her and shook it and put it on the counter---needless to say, we walked away. We did find another place that did smoothies and pastries, but at least they made their "smoothie" fresh, so it was decent enough,
We entered the British Museum from the back side, since we actually got lost trying to find it. Worked out ok for us. Spent six hours in there going from room to room and floor to floor. I loved it. I think Ty likes looking at the artifacts to, he doesn't complain and is willing to do crazy fun poses in front of the objects/statues/paintings with me. We also ate lunch there which cost an arm and a leg. We had Salmon that was encased in deep fried breading, and a chicken pot pie. Even though they don't serve breakfast they serve hearty lunches. While we were eating lunch an alarm went off and it said "A fire alarm has been activated in a different part of the museum, please stay where you are" The employees rolled their eyes like it happens every day.
Things we LOVED about the British Museum: It is actually possible to finish in one day, the artifacts have different languages describing them. The crowds were not too crazy, except by the Rosetta Stone. People were wicked nice there, and would offer to take your picture. There are Hands on tables at almost every section, and we were lucky enough to play with a lot of the tables--just have to have an employee there, who gives you more history of the objects. OOO and big plus ITS FREE.
Things we didn't like: The lack of really cool things in the gift shop--hehe, the audio guide was also very opinionated. It would say things like "this could have been a basket or a crown on her head if we imagine it" It was silly, but British for sure.
We then decided to go to the Harry Potter 9 and 3/4 quarters area which is NOT in King's Cross Station where they filmed it. Its in the underground station that is across the street from King's Cross Train Station, so we took pictures at both places. There was a funny bird cage in between them with a swing in it to, we had a bit of fun there. By that time, we decided we needed to get food---and the places we sat at at King's Cross were only serving alcohol. That was something we did not like about London, the kitchen would be closed..but the bar was open. Or the kitchen would be closed for 45 minutes if you wanted to wait. Luckily the place right next to our loft opened their kitchen to make us truffle mac and cheese. Again, truffle cheese...AMAZING.
Day Three: We decided to go see the Changing of the Guards at Buckingham Palace. There was 3 or 4 people in front of us, when this shorter Indian woman decided to lean her entire body on mine as if to push me forward. Honestly, I haven't had someone that close to me in a public place since I was a teenager at a concert trying to get to the front row in a mass of sweaty bodies. I swiped my hand across my back and bum two times, and she still kept laying on my practically. On the third time, I turned around and said "Don't touch me!" She looked me annoyed, and moved to the guy next to us, who was more freaked out than I was. She moved on...but we saw her later that day at the Tower of London, lol. Anyways, changing of the guards----was kind of lame--we left a bit of the way through it and took pictures around, then decided to go to the Tower of London.
Even though the Tower of London is expensive, we really enjoyed it. We jumped on a tour guide at the start of the gate as it was free to join, and our tour guide was hilarious. We went through the museums with the crown jewels--cant take pictures there (or a lot of places in Europe) and the armory which was really cool. We thought that it was kind of ridiculous how much gold they have made into silly items. Overall we really enjoyed our time there, and would recommend it to anyone--it is over priced, but still worth a go. We had fish and chips for lunch outside of it, and the portions were soo big we ended up handing our leftovers to these funny teenage boys from the midwest that I was sneaking fries to. He was like mom I'm soo hungry, those fish and chips look so good. They were a funny family and we talked to them for a bit.
After the Tower of London we went to go see Big Ben, the Parliament building and Westminster Abbey. Right when you walk out of the underground Big Ben is RIGHT in front of you, and is super impressive. It was such a beautiful building, I couldn't stop looking at it. Then we went to Westminster, and the tours were all out....BUT their services were going on, in which you can go to for free...just no pictures, so OF COURSE we went to service. We're religious, and we can appreciate other religions. It was interesting since I'd say 98% of the congregation were tourists, but their choir and priests were not. The choir was kind of amazing for only 6 or 8 people. We then crossed the bridge and tried to go to the London Dungeon or aquarium--but closed, and the line for the London Eye was wicked long. So we walked through the park till our noses smelt something delicious. We ate at Archdukes. AMAZING!!!! We had 4 non alcoholic cocktails, I had chicken and fries--it was ok, tasted like a fancy chicken finger and Ty totally won at this dinner, it was like rice, with spinach sauce, and marinara in a deep fried roll...I don't even know--it was gooood. I had a brownie for dessert that tasted more like a truffle, and Ty had ice cream. We then went home, feeling that we ended London on a great note.
After the Tower of London we went to go see Big Ben, the Parliament building and Westminster Abbey. Right when you walk out of the underground Big Ben is RIGHT in front of you, and is super impressive. It was such a beautiful building, I couldn't stop looking at it. Then we went to Westminster, and the tours were all out....BUT their services were going on, in which you can go to for free...just no pictures, so OF COURSE we went to service. We're religious, and we can appreciate other religions. It was interesting since I'd say 98% of the congregation were tourists, but their choir and priests were not. The choir was kind of amazing for only 6 or 8 people. We then crossed the bridge and tried to go to the London Dungeon or aquarium--but closed, and the line for the London Eye was wicked long. So we walked through the park till our noses smelt something delicious. We ate at Archdukes. AMAZING!!!! We had 4 non alcoholic cocktails, I had chicken and fries--it was ok, tasted like a fancy chicken finger and Ty totally won at this dinner, it was like rice, with spinach sauce, and marinara in a deep fried roll...I don't even know--it was gooood. I had a brownie for dessert that tasted more like a truffle, and Ty had ice cream. We then went home, feeling that we ended London on a great note.
Overall thoughts on London---Its kind of dirty, wish that the food places would open earlier, and the kitchens would stay open late. Loved how easy transit was. EVERYONE is practically running in London till you hit a tourist spot, everyone seems to be in a such a hurry. We would go back there again. Did not like that the pound is practically double a dollar...makes it very expensive when you think your actually getting a deal, then you look at your bank account...lol.
