Europe 2022: London Part 1

Travel Tips: London

*Kensington Palace does tours on a limited schedule. Next time, we will schedule a tour because from the outside, you can really only see the back and side of the palace. The front is behind a ton of hedges.

*Speaker's Corner was not worth the added two miles it added to our walk that afternoon! Now had we planned to venture out of Hyde Park on the Northeast corner, it would have been fine. We, however, were headed back in the direction of the hotel and dinner.

*Plan some down time in a park in London. By talking some hotel towels, a book and maybe even splurge with a picnic basket from Fortnum and Mason (or buy some snacks and champs at a convenience store), you will have such a lovely break in the middle of the busy city.

*Use London Walks. They do different tours on different days, so since we wanted the Royal London tour, we planned this day around that detail.

*Windsor is by train, not by tube! We did get confused on this detail, but fortunately, we left in plenty of time to make up for a very long bus ride to get to the train.

*Allow for some down time in the afternoon when possible. If you travel during the summer, just being able to shower and change for dinner makes the biggest difference in how you feel.

*I wish I had allowed time to tour the Globe Theatre. Though it’s not original, is is a historically accurate recreation. Also, when you purchase Globe tickets, you will be asked if you want to purchase refreshments for the performance. My advice is don’t. We did and the line for pre-orders was slower than just ordering on site. If you want to really feel like a commoner, you can pay 5 pounds for a ticket on the floor. You stand the entire time.

After our initial European trip delay in 2020, none of us could believe it when we actually boarded a plane on June 13 to London, the first stop on our 19-day trip to Europe. To say our excitement was thick is an understatement. We had packed strategically. I had planned each daily detail. After months of fantasizing about the food, sights, and people, we were off and so ready to go!

Ready to fly!

We arrived at Heathrow at 10:30 in the morning, and two hours later, we set out on an afternoon on foot seeing the sights near the hotel. We stayed at the K+K Hotel George in Kensington. That put us within 1.5 miles of Hyde Park, which includes Kensington Palace, Princess Diana’s Memorial, the Albert Memorial, and Speaker’s Corner. This is just one of the many parks in London, and I was mesmerized by the beauty and community atmosphere that I saw here and each one therea

After leaving the furthest corner of Hyde Park, we walked through the back side of the park towards dinner.

TOTAL MILES: 9.2 miles. While we were tired from travel, the walking kept us awake and allowed us the chance to acclimate to London.

On day 2, Elaine was most excited to take our first tour since it was the London Walks Royal London tour. Fortunately, our hotel was 1.5 blocks from the Earl’s Court Tube station which was connected to each line in the metro. We left from here almost each day and easily traveled to any part of London we wanted.

This tour was the cheapest tour of our trip, but it was not cheaply done. We saw Buckingham Palace and all of the St. James Park area. Another day, another beautiful park! We saw the parade that accompanies the changing of the guard and the Sentry Box guard change as well.

After lunch, we had tickets for the Churchill War Rooms. Campbell was most excited for this! This museum shows all of the bunkers where Churchill and other members of the government lived and worked during WWII. There was an entire life history of Churchill exhibit also, with his clothes, the famous original Downing Street door, and other paraphernalia. The museum took about three hours.

Famous Churchill quote that we loved:

"I am easy to please; I just like the best."

I think that sums me up, at least.

Once we left, we saw Big Ben and Westminster Abbey from the street before getting on the tube to freshen up for dinner.

On day 3 in London, we headed to Windsor! I wanted to incorporate a “smallerish” town while in England, and what better place than Windsor, which is only a train ride away. On this day, we scheduled a private tour of the towns Windsor and Eton and then finished the afternoon at the castle. I could have spent an entire day in Eton on its High Street window shopping and eating! I booked a lunch spot in Windsor, so we ate before heading back on the train. Eton is magical.

The Queen was there with us!

St. George's Chapel

Windsor Castle.

And on the night of day 3, guess what this English teacher did? We went to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre to see King Lear! While not everyone appreciated the performance, I enjoyed every minute of it!

That’s it for our first half of London!