Here's our 4-day Itinerary in London. It’s really two full days in London with a travel day on each end.
Day 1 – We flew into Stansted Airport, which is just north of London and took a 50 minute ride on the Stansted Express train to the Liverpool Street Station. The Stansted Express train was very convenient and the price was right (about $30USD/person round trip). The train has probably seen better days, but the cars were clean and smelled fresh and the seats were comfortable. The Liverpool Station was about a 10 minute taxi ride from our hotel. We quickly checked in and after checking our watches it was midnight local time and 1am Denmark time.
Day 2 – We are Americans, so as per our stereotype, we’re up early and ready to go. As a side note, we are usually the first ones at an early morning sight and we are asked…or it’s stated…Americans? This was our first trip to London, so we packed in as much sightseeing as possible. We walked from the hotel to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is absolutely amazing. The interior frescos and beautiful and very ornate. Too bad we couldn't take pictures inside! Our next stop was the Tube to get our 1 day pass for the underground (about $7USD). One of the workers said to Chuck, “How do you like Chicago?” I guess our Midwestern accent hasn’t changed with our year in Denmark!
We rode the Tube to the Tower of London, toured the grounds, saw the Crown Jewels, and then headed back on the Tube to take the Original Sightseeing Tour (about $25USD). Here’s a separate post about the bus tour. We ate lunch at The Texas Embassy, which had some amazing salsa and chicken tortilla soup. Chuck’s comment when he took a bite of the salsa was, “Mmmm, tastes like we’re back in the US.” We hopped on the Tube to make our way to Warr’s Harley Davidson Shop to get our BIL a birthday present. Then, back to the Tube (District Line) and the Tower Hill station. It was already 4:00, so walked over the Tower Bridge and back to the hotel to drop off some of our loot. Our last ‘tourist’ sight for the day was the Tate Modern Museum. Later that evening we had dinner at the Great Wall Restaurant near the hotel, which was good, but nothing spectacular.
Day 3 – We were up early and walked over toward the Tower Bridge for the 9:30 tour. We were stopped just short of crossing the river by a film crew. They were clearing the Tower Bridge so a helicopter could film some shots for the Sherlock Holmes movie. Cool. We toured the Tower Bridge and the Engine Room (how could an engineer pass up the engine room?!?!?).
We had a little time before the St. Paddy’s Day Parade at noon, so we decided to see the changing of the guard at 11:30 at Buckingham Palace. This, was not an original idea, as we arrived at 10:30 and there was no way we were going to get any closer than the roundabout. But, now we know what to do for the June visit. The weather was beautiful; sunny with a slight breeze. I’m so accustomed to gray skies that I forgot the sunscreen for Chuck…you see where this is headed. Ooops. He has a nice ‘flushed’ pink look. The next stop, was the Parade, which started on the north side of Green Park. The parade was little dull, so we decided to head to Harrod’s, shop a bit, and have lunch at the pizzeria, which has amazing bruchetta. Harrod’s is complete and utter sensory overload with way too many people wandering around. After being surrounded by all of London in Harrod’s, it was time for a little seclusion. Ahhh, our London Eye champagne flight with just six people…..perfect. We ended the day with dinner overlooking the London Tower at Strada.
Day 4 – It was going to be a long day. Chuck managed to get sick…food poisoning from his dinner at Strada. 3am was way too early for the wakeup call, the 4:10am Stansted Express train was just crazy, and the 6:40am flight back to Denmark was just poor planning on my part. I won’t make that mistake again. Chuck's bout with food poisoning lasted a good 96 hours. Yuck!
Day 1 – We flew into Stansted Airport, which is just north of London and took a 50 minute ride on the Stansted Express train to the Liverpool Street Station. The Stansted Express train was very convenient and the price was right (about $30USD/person round trip). The train has probably seen better days, but the cars were clean and smelled fresh and the seats were comfortable. The Liverpool Station was about a 10 minute taxi ride from our hotel. We quickly checked in and after checking our watches it was midnight local time and 1am Denmark time.
Day 2 – We are Americans, so as per our stereotype, we’re up early and ready to go. As a side note, we are usually the first ones at an early morning sight and we are asked…or it’s stated…Americans? This was our first trip to London, so we packed in as much sightseeing as possible. We walked from the hotel to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is absolutely amazing. The interior frescos and beautiful and very ornate. Too bad we couldn't take pictures inside! Our next stop was the Tube to get our 1 day pass for the underground (about $7USD). One of the workers said to Chuck, “How do you like Chicago?” I guess our Midwestern accent hasn’t changed with our year in Denmark!
We rode the Tube to the Tower of London, toured the grounds, saw the Crown Jewels, and then headed back on the Tube to take the Original Sightseeing Tour (about $25USD). Here’s a separate post about the bus tour. We ate lunch at The Texas Embassy, which had some amazing salsa and chicken tortilla soup. Chuck’s comment when he took a bite of the salsa was, “Mmmm, tastes like we’re back in the US.” We hopped on the Tube to make our way to Warr’s Harley Davidson Shop to get our BIL a birthday present. Then, back to the Tube (District Line) and the Tower Hill station. It was already 4:00, so walked over the Tower Bridge and back to the hotel to drop off some of our loot. Our last ‘tourist’ sight for the day was the Tate Modern Museum. Later that evening we had dinner at the Great Wall Restaurant near the hotel, which was good, but nothing spectacular.
Day 3 – We were up early and walked over toward the Tower Bridge for the 9:30 tour. We were stopped just short of crossing the river by a film crew. They were clearing the Tower Bridge so a helicopter could film some shots for the Sherlock Holmes movie. Cool. We toured the Tower Bridge and the Engine Room (how could an engineer pass up the engine room?!?!?).
We had a little time before the St. Paddy’s Day Parade at noon, so we decided to see the changing of the guard at 11:30 at Buckingham Palace. This, was not an original idea, as we arrived at 10:30 and there was no way we were going to get any closer than the roundabout. But, now we know what to do for the June visit. The weather was beautiful; sunny with a slight breeze. I’m so accustomed to gray skies that I forgot the sunscreen for Chuck…you see where this is headed. Ooops. He has a nice ‘flushed’ pink look. The next stop, was the Parade, which started on the north side of Green Park. The parade was little dull, so we decided to head to Harrod’s, shop a bit, and have lunch at the pizzeria, which has amazing bruchetta. Harrod’s is complete and utter sensory overload with way too many people wandering around. After being surrounded by all of London in Harrod’s, it was time for a little seclusion. Ahhh, our London Eye champagne flight with just six people…..perfect. We ended the day with dinner overlooking the London Tower at Strada.
Day 4 – It was going to be a long day. Chuck managed to get sick…food poisoning from his dinner at Strada. 3am was way too early for the wakeup call, the 4:10am Stansted Express train was just crazy, and the 6:40am flight back to Denmark was just poor planning on my part. I won’t make that mistake again. Chuck's bout with food poisoning lasted a good 96 hours. Yuck!
as we read your blog entry today, we sat here, planning our trip in three weeks!! You gave so many great ideas that helps me to narrow down all the "must sees" and "must dos"!!
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