Thanksgiving in London

It has become a bit of a tradition for me to travel overseas during American Thanksgiving.  This year was no different.  Hopping off a plane early Thursday morning, my traveling companion and I were at the Park Lane hotel in Mayfair before noon.  It was a bit confusing getting to our hotel since part of it is under construction, but we managed to arrive fairly quickly and it a cheaper manner than if we caught a black cab or took a train. 

Hogwarts decorated for Christmas!

We didn’t have time to sit around and let the jet lag sink in because when I was buying tickets a few weeks prior to the trip, a lot of dates/times were sold out for certain activities.  One of those activities was touring the Warner Brothers Studio where all of the Harry Potter movie sets and props were stored.  Fortunately, I managed to get tickets for the 2:30 time slot on the day we arrived.  Unfortunately, that meant we had about an hour to grab a sandwich from the local Pret and get some money exchanged at the nearby bank before trying our luck on the subway system.

I did my research and knew which trains we needed to take, but it still managed to take longer than I planned for (about 1.5 hours total from London).  The over ground train we caught from Euston to Watford Junction stopped at every stop along the way and we ended up being about 15 minutes late (they still let us in any way!).  The studio tour was huge and had a lot of very cool stuff.  They had an entire section dedicated to green screen technology and showed how the Quidditch scenes were filmed.  I had two favorite parts of the tour: the first was walking into the Hogwarts dining hall at the very beginning because it was decorated for a Christmas feast!  The flaming pudding was awesome.  The second, and probably my most favorite, part was the giant model of Hogwarts at the end of the tour.  It was so intricate and used to film the outdoor scenes during the movies.  I felt like if I could have shrunk to doll sized, I could have curled up in one of the beds in the Gryffindor dorms.

Traditional Afternoon Tea at the Conrad Hotel

We eventually made our way back to hotel that evening to shower and freshen up before walking to Kensington and going to Harrods’s.  The walk was nice, but pretty long from where we were staying in Mayfair.  Harrods’s was completed overwhelming and not the type of place to go visit after 6 hours of traveling and a full day of sight-seeing.  Eventually we gave up after getting lost several times somewhere between perfume and the gourmet meats and just popped into a pub nearby for dinner before calling it a night.

The next morning we slept in a bit to fight the time difference and then made our way to the Covent Garden area via Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square with a quit pit stop in Leicester square to grab some “The Illusionists” show tickets for the next night.  At 11 am, we met up with a local walking tour guide affiliated with the Sandemanns New Europe walking tours.  I did a tour with the same company a few years ago in Dublin and really enjoyed it. The tour is free and lasts about 2.5 hours.  It is a great way to get your bearings on a new city and learn a bit of history.  Lucky for us, we did the tour on a day where they had the changing of the guard ceremony and we were able to get some great pictures!  The tour ended near Westminster Abbey and from there we did some shopping before making our way to the Conrad hotel for a traditional afternoon tea.

Changing of the Guard Ceremony

One of the things I was most looking to was having a traditional afternoon tea.  I tried to get into the Ritz, but when I emailed the reservation desk they politely told me they book up a year in advance (woops!).  Fortunately, the Conrad St. James Park was lovely and they had a very visually impressive spread.  The tea was delicious and the sweet tray really was incredible.  After tea, we walked over to the London Eye for our Cocktail experience.  From what I read online, I thought we would be drinking the cocktail while inside the Ferris Wheel.  It had just started to rain when we arrived, so there was no line.  I asked around before being directed to the ticket desk inside where I would trade my voucher for a ticket and drink coupon.  That is where I found out we would be having our drinks in the bar upstairs.  The bar was empty and looked like just an empty space where they through a counter and called a “bar”.  I ended up having a good cocktail with Champagne (I also bought a very cute baby bottle of champagne with a British flag label to take home).  After we finished our drinks in the isolated room, we went back outside to line up for the Ferris Wheel.  I really enjoyed the ride, and since it wasn’t busy, there were only a handful of people in our car.  I’m glad I did this at night because the lights were fun, but I wouldn’t do the cocktail experience again.  It was a waste of money in my opinion.

A charming restaurant

We had a late start to our Saturday (due to somebody staying up late for Black Friday shopping online) and ended up not touring the inside of Westminster Abbey per the itinerary.  After stopping at Pret for some coffee and a pastry, we made our way to the Tower of London.  The ticket line was not bad, and even though we bought discounted tickets through Sandemanns, we still had to exchange our vouchers for real tickets.  For the next few hours we explored the dungeon, aviary, various rooms, and stopped to listen to a guide speak about the purpose of the structure and its proximity to the river.  This was a very cool experience and a good way to spend the early afternoon.  When we were ready to leave, we walked up toward the Tower Bridge for a few pictures.

As we walked back to the hotel, we stopped in various shops to look for souvenirs to bring back home.  Around 3pm, we searched for a place to have a quick tea.  By some form of luck or fate, we wandered into The Delaunay, a Viennese restaurant that offered a traditional afternoon tea for about 24 pounds.  The Austrian cakes, Poppy Seed Gugelhupf, and savory bites were all so delicious.  I would come back here in a heartbeat.  This restaurant actually makes me want to go visit Austria now.

We also stopped in the Twinings tea store so I could sample some hot tea (and buy some tea, of course).   After dropping off our goods, we walked back toward Piccadilly Circus to see the Illusionists show.   The show was interesting, but not really worth a lot of money to see.  Each of the magicians did 1-2 tricks.  The best part was the commentary and watching some of the recorded tricks that occurred in the lobby to unsuspecting visitors on the way in.

Photo with the guard at the Tower of London

Sunday morning we woke up early for a 7 am pickup at the hotel with the tour company taking us out to Windsor Castle, Stonehenge & Bath, Evan Evans Tours.  I booked the tour through Viator, but it is always good to know the name of the actual company taking you out for the day.  After missing our pickup time and catching a cab out to the Victoria coach station, we were able to meet back up with the group and get onboard.  Our guide gave us an overview of what we were going to see that day as well as drive times.  She also informed us that some of the guests actually signed up for a Japanese tour.  At first I didn’t think twice about that, but several hours in, I really didn’t want to listen to Japanese anymore.  I wish they would have told me about that in advance. 

Traditional meat pies and chips

Our guide passed out little mp3 looking devices that were all tuned to the same frequency so she could talk to us without screaming.  They actually worked really well and let us spread out a little whenever we were off the bus.  The entire group was pretty big, I’d say around 40-50 people.  If you want a more intimate experience, pick a different company.  The plus side to this tour was that we got all of the information in advance and then explored each site on our own at our own pace.  For some stops, like Bath, that was especially nice because I split my time between the Roman Bath exhibit and the Christmas market out front.

After a full previous day, Monday morning was dedicated to packing.  We jumped into a cab around noon and made our way back to the airport.  I’m very glad I was able to go to London, but it was a lot bigger than I expected.  I’m not sure that I would go out of my way to go again, but I certainly wouldn’t discourage anyone else from going.  The experience was wonderful and I’d spend another day or two there en route to another location (like Scotland!).

Stonehenge