My mom and dad arrived bright and early Wednesday morning at Heathrow airport for their very first trip to London (and overseas!). We have packed so much into the last 3 days that I realized I was going to need to do several posts in order to avoid one enormous post.
After they arrived, we hopped on the train and made our way to West Hampstead. They dropped off their things and had a little rest before we got out into the sunshine. We rode the tube to Waterloo and had a long walk down the Southbank. We stopped off at Gabriel's Wharf for lunch at Pieminister. We walked around and went to Westminster station to head St James' Park. We walked over to Buckingham Palace and through Green Park. Mom and dad were such troopers with walking around, especially considering how jet lagged they were! We rode the tube to St John's Wood and went to one of my favorite pubs in London - Duke of York. We decided to cook dinner at home and relax on Wednesday night because we were all so tired from our travels.
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| welcome to london! |
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| selfies with momma |
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| duke of york |
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| pieminister at gabriels wharf |
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| buckingham palace |
Thursday was such a busy day. We left early and made our way to Westminster station. We went for a little stroll across the bridge and walked around the London Eye to the pier. Here we hopped on our river cruise boat and rode down to Tower Millennium Pier. It was such a gorgeous day! We walked from the pier, across London Bridge, and to Borough Market.
After lunch at Borough we got back on our river cruise and made our way to Greenwich. I've never been before and I didn't realize there was so much to see and do there! Mom wanted to see the Prime Meridian line and the Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval Academy. We walked all over Greenwich and saw the Cutty Sark, Royal Naval Academy, Greenwich Park, National Maritime Museum, and the Royal Observatory.
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| the chapel at old royal naval academy |
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| the painted hall |
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| national maritime museum |
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| the view from the royal observatory |
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| cutty sark |
By the end of our Greenwich exploration, I was ready to sit down and chill out. So we hopped back on the boat and made our way back to Tower Pier. There we went straight to Bodean's BBQ (my poor parents…I take them a BBQ place on their second night in London!) and ate some damn good food and had a couple drinks. Then we were ready to go to Aldgate for our 'Jack the Ripper' tour (cue endless laughing from all my friends). No but seriously, Jack the Ripper was CRAZY and it was so fun seeing all the places he murdered these prostitutes. Our tour guide was amazing - she told the best stories and gave us all the gruesome details. After the tour, we went to a pub near Liverpool Street for a drink before heading back home and straight to bed.
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| our tour guide siddy |
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the cutest couple in the world? i think so.
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We were pretty wrecked on Friday morning so we had a nice, slow start. I took mom and dad to my favorite brunch place in West Hampstead, the Wet Fish Cafe. This is my go-to for all my visitors! Mom and dad loved it and we felt refreshed after a good meal and some coffee.
After breakfast, we hopped on the tube to Knightsbridge station. I had to take mom and dad to see Harrods for a few reasons. Mom loves to shop and dad loves to people watch and this is one of the best places in the world for both! And going to Harrods is an excuse to visit Laduree (the most amazing macaroons). People from every walk of life come to Harrods to shop and see the outrageously expensive crap they have in there. But I have to admit, it's one of my favorite places in London.
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| mom and dad outside harrods |
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| the dodi and diana memorial |
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| macaroon time |
After we left Harrods we walked across Brompton Road to Hyde Park. Mom and dad are amazed at how many parks there are in London and how beautiful they all are! We walked around and saw the major sites in the park - Prince Albert Memorial, Royal Albert Hall, Serpentine lake, Diana's fountain, and Kensington Palace.
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| sights around hyde park |
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| prince albert memorial |
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| royal albert hall |
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| selfies with dad at prince albert memorial |
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| kensington palace |
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| the gardens at kensington palace |
We ended our afternoon with tea at the Knightsbridge Green Hotel right next to Hyde Park. Not gonna lie, it was pretty disappointing! How you can mess up scones, cakes, and sandwiches I really don't know…but they managed to make it pretty bad. Hopefully next week we can go to a place I've been before and try again!
All in all, our first three days have been amazing. It's so wonderful to have mom and dad here to see London and get a little taste of what my life is like here. We are off to Edinburgh tomorrow for two days!
xx
K
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