Debbie and George touched down in London on March 21st and brought the beautiful Georgia weather with them! The weather was absolutely spectacular during their 2 week stay, and of course, the day that they left, London returned to it’s cool, rainy self…I guess we were all sad to see them go, even London :( We had a fabulous time, and fit quite a bit in. Here is a recap of our whirlwind of a 2 weeks!
Day 1:
After meeting them at Heathrow, we made the 30-min tube ride to our home in Earl’s Court, dropped the luggage off, then headed straight over to one of our favorites, The Troubadour, for a late lunch. A side-note about The Troubadour (which is literally not even a 1-min walk from our front door): This was the first place where Bob Dylan performed in London. Paul Simon, Charlie Watts, Sammy Davis Jr. & Jimi Hendrix have all played here as well. Led Zeppelin used to come and jam here after their Earl’s Court gigs. Tom Robinson and Elvis Costello used to play here too. Quite the lineup...as you might guess, this place has great character!
After our late lunch/early dinner, we met Grant half-way through his commute home, outside of the Westminster tube station. This is one of our favorite things to do at night…as soon as you emerge from the station, you’re staring face to face with the glowing Big Ben. It’s a gorgeous site to see at night. So, from here, we made the stroll down Whitehall & popped into Lord Moon of the Mall for a few pints…off to a great start!
Day 2:
With so many great museums here, George had the great idea to start the trip off with the museums, in case he & Debbie wanted to spend more time in any of them towards the end of the trip as well, which in fact they did, so it was a good plan. Our first stop was The British Museum, where they had the objects on display from “A History of the World in 100 Objects”. We mainly focused on finding 10 of them or so, as it would take HOURS to explore all 100. There is just so much to see in this museum, that it’s just not possible in 1 day, or even 1 week for that matter!
We ended day 2 next door at our local BYOB eatery, Deena B’s! We had the restaurant to ourselves that night, and had some great chats with soft-spoken Henry (owner). Always a great meal and good service at Deena B’s!
Day 3:
Grant was able to take a half-day on Friday, so we rushed over to Canary Wharf to meet up with him, and make our way over to Greenwich for the afternoon. Our first stop was at Island Gardens to take in the view of Greenwich from across the river. Then, we made the walk under The Thames & emerged on the other side to head straight to the market for some lunch. We then spent the rest of our sunny afternoon walking around the park & hiking up to The Royal Observatory to soak in the amazing views of London.
Once back in the city, we attended Friday Lates – on Friday, the National Gallery is open until 9 pm. In the lobby, they have live music & a wine bar set-up…then, you can explore the museum for free with a guide. It was great…we saw & learned all about 5 or 6 of the paintings in the museum, from a very entertaining tour guide.
After the Gallery, we made the short walk over to The Chando’s Opera Room for a local Samuel Smith pint & ended our evening at Trafalgar Pub on King’s Road for Debbie & George’s first Fish & Chips meal!
Day 4:
On Saturday, we took them to our favorite weekend spot, the Blanche Eatery (serves HUGE portions of quiche & salad…aka – great for the morning hangovers!), followed by a relaxing stroll through St. James’s Park. We ended our walk at the Churchill War Rooms & Museum...who doesn't love Churchill?!
Afterwards, we did some window shopping on Regent Street, in Piccadilly Circus & happened upon Carnaby Street (thanks to Debbie – only one who spotted it!)…we discovered a great jazz bar on one of the side streets where a live jazz band happened to be performing. G & I will definitely be going back there, such a cute, fun area!
Day 5:
Since both George & Debbie had already been to London before, had 2 weeks to spend with us, and are planning to come back a few more times during our stay here, we didn’t have to stick to the main tourist attractions during their trip, which was great! So, G & I thought we would take them down to Clapham for brunch & to show them around the area we almost ended up living in.
We made our way back into central London and decided to walk along the South Bank of The Thames, starting at the London Eye. In front of the Tate Modern Museum, there is the Millennium foot bridge that leads you to the front steps of St. Paul’s…an amazing view! We all decided to pop in during their Sunday evening service, where Debbie and I joined in with the congregation. It was a beautiful service, and we even got to take communion.
Day 6:
Just a few tube stops southwest of our flat is Kew Gardens, one of the world’s leading botanic gardens. There is just so much to see that we opted to ride the tram around the grounds, in order to see the hi-lights. We hopped off the tram at The Orangery to enjoy lunch out on the patio. After Kew Gardens, we walked around the town of Kew for a while – it’s so quaint & cozy.
As you all know, Debbie and I love to cook together, and always feel the need to make extravagant, multiple-course meals! So, I introduced her to my local fishmonger, where we proceeded to pick up 5 sea bass (yes, this time we had them fillet the fish :) ), and 2 bags of mussels.
After the market, we met George at Deena B’s for lunch (first time having lunch there, and again, so good & fresh!), and then walked across the street to enjoy a stroll through The Old Brompton Cemetery.
A quick trip to the supermarket, and then we were back, preparing our gourmet meal for the evening. We made a classic French steamed mussels recipe (excellent sauce for dipping) for appetizers, and for the main course we had piquant baked sea bass with grilled asparagus…so yummmmmmy! Our men were extremely impressed with their chefs :)
Day 8:
Trying to soak up as much as the sun as we could, we decided to take the tube one stop up to High Street Kensington to pick up a picnic from Whole Foods. From there, it’s a short walk to Kensington Gardens, where we picnicked overlooking the Round Pond, with Kensington Palace right behind us. After lunch, we walked through the park to find the adorable Peter Pan Statue & the gorgeous Italian Fountains (I never knew there was so much to see in Hyde Park!).
We had been running around like crazy all day (in search of some tickets for The Lion King), so we decided to relax in Covent Garden for the rest of the afternoon. There are always street performers in Covent Garden, and they’re actually very talented (you have to get permission to perform here)…we found a great table near the opera singer performance, which was followed by a string quartet! It was a delightful afternoon…we sat there until G was off work, then made our way to The Lion King! We all truly enjoyed the show...and thanks to Debbie, George, and I, we had fantastic seats!
Day 9:
Well, we just couldn’t get enough of the great weather, so we decided to start the day off with a trip over to Harrod’s to grab a picnic for Hyde Park. Of course, there is just so much food to choose from once inside Harrod’s, that it’s a bit overwhelming! Such an amazing place! We all managed to make a decision, so we walked about 5 minutes to find a good spot in the park, right off of the Serpentine. We enjoyed a delicious meal, then deiced to walk over to the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain, which is such a beautiful memorial to Diana.
Afterwards, we found the enormous Albert Memorial, found in front of Royal Albert Hall. We reached the backside of the Hall, where a crowd of people were all eagerly awaiting the arrival of someone famous…Debbie went to inspect, and found out they were waiting for Paul McCartney, who happened to be performing there that evening. Well, we were sucked right in…running from entrance to entrance, as rumors were flying about his whereabouts! Haha Nonetheless, we missed our chance (he snuck in somehow…the true fans who had been waiting for hours were NOT happy), but we did see his keyboardist & drummer!
Right around the corner is the Victoria & Albert Museum, so we decided to choose one room to focus on…again, another museum I’m looking forward to going back to! After our busy day, we found a seat at one of our favorite pubs in South Kensington, The Duke of Clarence!
Day 10:
Old Town London, referred to as the Temple District, is a fantastic area to explore…hidden behind the more modern facades of London, you find yourself along beautiful, narrow, cobblestone roads. We had a great time wandering through the many pathways of the old city, taking a break from modern-day, bustling London. Afterwards, we made the short walk over to The Museum of London…unfortunately it was closing by the time we got there, but they allowed us to pick one item to go see. We chose the Lord Mayors Coach, which was pretty spectacular! Too bad we didn’t have more time to roam around this museum…I’m really looking forward to getting back there at some point. We had reservations at The Big Easy that evening, which of course, did not disappoint!
Day 11:
On Saturday, we did a day trip out to Windsor Castle! It’s such a lovely area, and the four of us had a fantastic time touring the chapel & the state rooms – ahhhhmazing! The Queen even happened to be home that day…take a look at the pic below, I think G & I were lucky enough to spot her out and about :) hehe Even more exciting…we spotted another famous person as we were exiting the castle…drum roll please…Simon Cowell! Haha
Could it really be her??!!
Simon Cowell
After making the short train ride back to London, we decided to head back to the Temple area in order to eat at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, which happened to be located a few feet away from Samuel Johnson’s house. Grant & George are such literary nuts, that they just loved it! It’s been a tavern since 1538…Johnson & Dickens were frequent customers, to name a few.
Day 12:
On the last Sunday of their visit, we experienced a true Sunday Funday! We started out in Camden Town for Sunday roast at The Engineer (our fave!). Instead of walking through the extremely crowded Camden Town Market, we opted to walk the other way, and happened upon Primrose Hill. This is probably our new favorite place to go on a beautiful, sunny day, where you have an amazing view of the city from the top of the hill. I just love the fact that all the parks on sunny, weekend days, are filled with locals soaking up as much vitamin D as possible…everyone is just so happy, and Primrose Hill was exactly that type of scene!
Afterwards, we found a seat at the crowded Gordon’s Wine Bar & sipped on vino for hours! So relaxing!!
Day 13:
With their trip winding down, Debbie and I decided to cook one more night. So, we stopped by the fishmonger again, this time purchasing some Halibut in order to make Baked Halibut with orzo, spinach & cherry tomatoes. After the Market, we decided to fit one more museum in, The British Library (with only 1 room to really see here, it’s actually a manageable “museum”).
Dinner was delicious! We started off with home-made bruschetta & followed up with our Halibut dish. Debbie and I sure do make a good team :)
Day 14:
For their last day, we decided to split up so that Debbie and I could have a “girl’s day”! George went back to a few of the museums, while Debbie and I met G for lunch in Canary Wharf, then went up to Notting Hill to stroll along Portobello Road/Market.
For “the last supper” – we thought what better than to end their trip where it began – The Troubadour!
What a fantastic 2 weeks! It was hard to say goodbye, but now we can look forward to their next visit!
wonderful!
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