London, actually! (Days 1 & 2) (Thursday7/11 & Friday 7/12)

Jul 1, 2024

2 min read

Updated: Aug 2, 2024

On Thursday 7/11, Mike & Katie took off on their latest adventure to Portugal. But first, a quick stop over in London for two days to acclimate to the time change and check out the city.

After flying in to Heathrow, we Ubered to our hotel in the Waterloo district of London. It's a bit south of the Thames River and across from some of the major attractions. We found that the location was perfect for quick walks to the sites, and just enough off the beaten path to avoid the throngs of darn tourists! The neighborhood is quaint and reminds us a bit of the Rue Claire district near the Eifel Tower in Paris.

After settling in on Thursday, we decided to take a five-minute walk over the Westminister Bridge to check out Big Ben (which is actually the name of the bell inside of the clock tower) and Parliament. And just to be Mike, he constantly shouted out the famous line from National Lampoon's European Vacation: "Look kids, Big Ben, Parliament!!" I'm not sure Katie was as amused as Mike was. After our stroll, we returned to the Waterloo neighborhood and found a nice gluten-free pizza place for some dinner and a pint.

The following day (after sleeping in) we decided to take a hop-on/hop off bus tour to take in as many sites as we could due to our short stay. We were able to see many famous monuments and areas during the tour including London Bridge, Hyde Park, the Tower Bridge & Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathderal, Westminister Abby, Big Ben and Parliament (again!!), the Buckingham Palace Gardens, Piccadilly Circus, Trafalgar Square, and No. 10 Downing St. (home to the Prime Minister). We really got our money's worth on that tour! After returning home and a quick rest, we walked to Shakespeare's rebuilt Globe Theater and proceeded to take the Queen's Walk alongside of the Thames all the way back to our hotel. Thai food for dinner and an early bedtime tonight as we have an early flight for Portugal tomorrow.