We couldn't take our (sort of) annual girls trip to London during the pandemic, which made us all incredibly sad... but alas... the time had come again to party with the ladies in London!
Peace out, Boston!
It was a long flight, but thankfully, Bayless landed literally a few minutes after me. So we met up in baggage claim and took the train into the city to Piccadilly Circus near our hotel in Leicester Square. We were very lucky in that they had our room ready for us (yay traveling in October!). We SHOULD have capitalized on that and slept for a couple of hours, but we didn't. And Jen and Julie weren't arriving until much later in the evening, so Bay and I walked around a bit down toward Trafalgar Square, where I found "London's smallest police station!" You know I love me a good superlative!
We mostly had good weather during our time in London, with blue skies above Nelson's Column and Sir Henry Havelock in Trafalgar Square.
We walked around for a while and we were hungry, but nothing seemed to open for lunch until 11:30 at the earliest. I was happy to see the hanging floral baskets still out, even though it was late October! It reminds me of Germany.
We walked down to the Thames and then back up again to the Horse Guards. There was a bit of commotion going on within the gates so we went inside to check it out.
We were able to get through to the Horse Guards Parade where they were doing the Changing of the King's Life Guard! Since it was the weekend, it was just the inspection of the horses by the duty officer but it was still fun to see.
The biggest story of the week was the British Prime Minister Liz Truss stepping down after only six weeks on the job. Naturally, I went right to Downing Street to offer up my resume.
Restaurants finally started to open, so we had to go get some fish and chips and MUSHY PEAS at the Ship and Shovel!
After a little lunch, we headed back to the hotel. We passed the Ben Franklin house, where he lived in London for 16 years when he was a diplomat before coming home to sign the Declaration of Independence.
Bay and I went back to the hotel after lunch for a good nap before heading out again. I had a destination in mind to pick up some little gifts for Natalie and since it wasn't too far from my hotel, I convinced my poor friend to go with me. We walked under some pretty glass flowers on our way there!
And then we walked under these cool lights on Slingsby Place not far from Covent Garden.
Her daughter loves Corgi's - I mean, who doesn't? I just love this wall art!
Finally we reached our destination - Artbox. It's a tiny little store near Covent Garden that sells BT21 things (among other items - as they bill it, they sell "cute character items from Japan and Korea.") But these things are SO popular that anytime a place sells these items, there is ALWAYS a line out the door.
Thanks for indulging me and waiting in line at a silly store to get Natalie some gifts! Now let's go get some Italian food and have some wine/Hendrix and tonics!
We met up with Rachel's girlfriend Layla and her friend, who were super nice and I'm feeling really guilty that I don't remember her friend's name. But they were hungry, and even though we had just eaten (and Jen and Julie weren't there yet), we stopped at this place called Papa L's Kitchen. Layla's friend ordered these beautiful short ribs that were TO. DIE. FOR. Also, rumor has it that the bartender was hammered and making wicked strong drinks. Which I had two of. But only because Bay didn't love her "hibiscus gin" drink! It turns out hibiscus gin isn't the same as a pink gin. But I thought it was delicious even though it was about 90% gin. And I drank them REALLY fast, because I had to go get Jen and Julie from the Piccadilly tube station (BY FOOT) and take them to the hotel. Let's just say, it's a good thing I have an excellent internal map and a keen sense of direction! Wheeeee!
I found Julie and Jen and took them back to the hotel so they could drop off their stuff before heading back to meet up with Bay and Layla at The Three Crowns.
Jen went outside and promptly made friends! One guy was from Budapest, and when we all wound up outside at the end of the night, I chatted with him about our travels there!
London is really the BEST city!
They basically kicked us all out at midnight (gee, I'm not even sure why??) JUST TAKE YOUR BEER AND GET OUT OF HERE. Somehow (??) a Peroni glass wound up in my purse. I can't even blame anyone for that -- except whoever said, "I really want one of these glasses!" CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. This sort of test is in my blood. It's one that is handed down from generation (mom) to generation (me)!
Thankfully the hotel wasn't far away and we got to walk through Piccadilly Circus on our way there! I remember being here when I was 12 and thinking this place was SO cool.
Here is a terrible selfie I took of Jen, Bay, me and Julie at Piccadilly Circus. Good thing the lights were so bright. And good thing I have gotten a new phone since I took this!! My girlies are cute though, aren't they??
Everyone wanted to eat so we stopped by a little Lebanese take out place for some late night snacks (or... maybe a whole meal?)
Thanks for a great first day, London!
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