London | Summer 2018
First Stop, London
On my recent trip to Europe with my boyfriend we traveled to four different countries during two weeks.
This was my first time traveling to Europe and it was so beautiful. I want to go back and discover more of the other countries that I did not get a chance to see.
We flew from San Francisco, California to Reykjavik, Iceland to London, England.
If you’re interested in our travel experience follow this link to read the blog and watch the video.
Airport
We arrived at Gatwick airport around 8:30pm then we took the Gatwick Express train to the Victoria station.
From the Victoria station we walked to our hotel which was a little under a 15-minute walk.
Finally after 18 hours of travel time we arrived at our hotel.
Hotel
We checked in at the Holiday Inn Express London - Victoria.
I booked this hotel with my Chase Sapphire rewards points for two nights.
We got complimentary breakfast included in our stay which was extremely convenient.
After checking in even though we were super exhausted we were also starving.
Trying to search google and yelp for anything open around 11pm was a struggle. Most restaurants had closed or were about to close down for the night.
We ended up finding a McDonald’s nearby which was cool because we did want to see if they had any different menu items than from the menu in the United States.
Unfortunately, this McDonald’s did not have anything too different from the menu in the US, but still was a fast, convenient, low cost meal.
Sites
The next day we met up with my boyfriend’s Aunty who lives in London and she ended up taking us around which was extremely sweet of her.
We started our day exploring the Westminster Abbey.
When we arrived we started recording videos of the inside but, we were immediately told we could not take photos or videos inside the Abbey.
However, we were able to take some videos and pictures in the outside garden areas.
Also they gave us a handheld device that played video and audio of the different areas, and toombs inside the abbey.
This was super helpful to listen to and learn more about the abbey since we did not schedule a tour.
After walking through the Westminster Abbey, my boyfriend’s Aunty led us on a walking tour to see a couple different sites, like the London Eye, Parliament, Big Ben, and Covent Garden.
Later in the day we went took the bus to the Tower of London.
We headed straight to the area where they keep the crown jewels because that was the one thing I wanted to see.
Again we were asked not to take photos so we don’t have any evidence of visiting but we did get to see everything in the collection and it was all stunning.
We also went inside the White Tower and looked at the different Amoury from armor, swords, muskets and cannons.
We wrapped up our exploring and met back up with Rei’s Aunty.
We were going to try and go to Borough Market after, but we were so tired we decided to head back to the hotel and relax before we had to head back out again for our dinner reservation.
After our little rest we headed to the Sky Garden for our dinner reservation. I booked our reservation closer to sunset so we could see the sun going down, which was so beautiful.
Food
For lunch Rei’s Aunty took us to Brasserie Zédel because it was indoor and they had air conditioning - haha 😂.
The weather was really nice that day in London, but his Aunty was explaining to us it was very hot for them (people in London).
She kept saying they were having a heat wave. Which is understandable because I’ve been told its usually pretty foggy and chilly in London. A lot of people have compared it to weather in San Francisco.
Anyways, we ate at Zédel because it was indoors and had air conditioning.
I can’t remember exactly what I ordered, but it was a seasoned roasted chicken and fries.
I’m not sure what the exact seasonings were, but it was very tasty. The chicken was not dry and had good flavor.
Rei ordered a beef dish that came with mashed potatoes and other vegetables with gravy.
That was very delicious from what I remember. The meat was tender and the gravy had a lot of good flavor.
The gravy did not taste super salty like most gravy’s I’ve had.
Rei’s Aunty got the fish and chips which was a very hearty sized portion.
Their food for lunch was actually very good sized portions and not that expensive either.
For dinner later in the evening Rei and I had a reservation at Darwin Brasserie in the Sky Garden. I made the reservation very late around 9pm because I was hoping we could catch the sunset.
We were able to see a little bit of it which was nice to see the Sky Garden transform from day to night.
We had to wait a little bit for our table even having a reservation, but it wasn’t too bad because Rei got to film in the Sky Garden and I got to order us a bottle of wine.
Once we got seated we immediately glued our eyes to the menu to decide what meal we would be ordering.
First thing I see one the menu was the sourdough bread with home whipped salt and pepper and I told Rei - I need it!
The bread and butter was amazing which already set the tone for this meal for me. If they can take something as simple as bread and butter and make it taste amazing.
I’m down for whatever else they bring my way. 👍
We ordered the Citrus Cured Rainbow Trout with fennel, apple and celery to start.
*note: their menu does change so they may not have the same options available when you visit.
The trout tasted very fresh and the fennel, apple and celery were great additional flavors.
I’m not a huge fan of fennel or celery, but it tasted great all together in this dish.
For dinner we ordered the Confit Shoulder of Lamb and the Roast Pork Belly.
Both of these dishes were AMAZING!!
The I loved the mint jus sauce that was paired with the lamb it was thicker than au jus but not too thick like a gravy.
The Roast Pork Belly was so delicious as well, the outside layer of the pork was crispy but the inside was so tender it melted in your mouth.
Then of course we could not leave without ordering some dessert.
I don’t remember the exact name of the dessert we ordered but it was a rice pudding with apricots.
This was so great the rice pudding was the perfect amount of sweet and filled our stomachs so that we couldn’t even eat the last bite.
After dinner Rei and I continued our exploring around London.
We then headed back to our hotel because we would have to get ready to leaving the next morning for Belfast, Northern Ireland.
If you would like to see a little bit more of the details of our trip below is our video of our time in London.
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Video editing credit to Kelsey Ogden, check out her Instagram @ohmykelsey