england – Exploren with Lauren

When we got off the train from Bath at London Paddington Station, we walked toward our new AirBnb near Edgeware Rd. It wasn’t quite ready yet when we arrived so we stopped at a little Italian place, Zonzo, for a quick bite. The owner or manager of the restaurant was extremely accommodating, letting us stow our bags and sit for over an hour. Unfortunately, while the food in Bath was all fantastic, our first lunch in London was not a great one for me. I ordered a bruschetta that looked incredible, but tasted very tangy and just… off (dare I say carbonated?). My friends seemed to enjoy their food though, so maybe just order a regular pasta dish if you find yourself there.

Once we got into our AirBnb and were all settled, we changed clothes and took our first ride on the tube to Charing Cross and then walked to Westminster Abbey for the Evensong service. This was a special (and free) way to experience the Abbey and I’m glad we made a point to do it.

After the service we walked around and saw all the iconic London sites: Big Ben, the London Eye (from across the river), Buckingham Palace, and Piccadilly Circus.

By the time we got to Piccadilly Circus, I was getting pretty hungry (you know, not eating much of my lunch and all), and we walked past the St. James Tavern. According to their signage, they were famous for their award-winning, traditional fish and chips. That was something I was hoping to try while we were there anyway, and it was Friday after all, so we decided to go in. It turned out we arrived pretty close to when the kitchen closed, and by the messy state of our table and the haphazard arrangement of others, it looked like the dinner rush had just ended. I ordered the fish and chips and was a bit disappointed by how bland it was. Maybe we just went to the wrong spot, but after that experience, I will probably stick to my Wisconsin fish frys.

The next morning we had another new public transport experience – riding on the top of a double decker city bus!

We rode it to the British Museum, where we spent several hours. Within the first five minutes, I saw the Rosetta Stone, which was very interesting and helped me understand where the language-learning company got its name. After seeing that and some giant Egyptian Pharaoh statues though, I quickly got burned out on the museum exploration.

Thankfully, by 2pm, my travel companions were also ready to move on and we headed to Portobello Market for some shopping. I had a croissant and a chai latte from Hermanos Colombian Coffee Roasters for an afternoon pick me up and then enjoyed looking at the vendors’ goods and colorful architecture of the storefronts.

For dinner that evening, we had reservations at Bob Bob Ricard and thankfully that was an incredibly delicious dining experience. We started with some cocktails; if I remember correctly, I had a Strawberry & Peach martini. It was a foamy drink and had an extremely soft and smooth mouthfeel. I was tempted to try ordering some champagne from the button at our table, but instead opted to enjoy some champagne in my entree, the Chicken and Champagne Pie. It was very delicious and I am confident it was and will be the fanciest pot pie of my life.

We didn’t slow down when we got to dessert; I had the Strawberries & Cream Soufflé and my friend ordered the Crème Brûlée which came out flaming. We also shared a glass of dessert wine: Vin de Constance from South Africa, which is reportedly Africa’s greatest wine and was requested by Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte on his death bed. It was as rich and as sweet as honey.

The next day, my friends wanted to see more museums, so I decided to have a solo travel day. I started the morning by heading to Buckingham Palace again to watch the changing of the guard. I was a bit late (it turns out on time is late for this event) so it was hard to get a spot where I could see until it was almost over. I was glad to go and see what I could though and was thankful we had seen it when it was much less crowded a couple of days before.

When the ceremony was over, I walked down Buckingham Palace Rd until I came upon this adorable restaurant called Timmy Green. I sat down and ordered a glass of OJ and some French toast from my phone. When the server brought the juice, I asked if I could quickly verify that the bread used for the French toast didn’t contain buckwheat. To my surprise and dread (and relief?), when he brought back the ingredient list, there it was! Thankfully, he graciously swapped my order for some pancakes. I ask almost everywhere I go, but it felt like a near miss so I was a little bit shook.

After I finished my meal, I walked inside to use the restroom before heading out and managed to trip going up the stairs, smashing my right big toe into one of the steps, and my left shin into another (not to mention falling and making a large crash in front of the whole restaurant from the stage that the open stairway provided). I picked myself up, assured the bartender I was alright, and sheepishly limped to the bathroom where I discovered my toenail was bleeding.

Determined not to let this ruin my day, I took some breaths, somehow got the bleeding to stop (mostly), and walked out with my head high (or at least tried), and continued on to the most highly-anticipated activity of the trip: visiting the mysterious standing stones at Stonehenge.

I enjoyed the 90ish minutes on the bus to relax. When we arrived at the parking lot/visitor center, we were given the option to walk the rest of the way to the stones or take a shuttle. It was supposedly about a 30 minute walk, which on a normal day I would have done, but given the toenail situation, I took the shuttle bus.

When I reached the stones, I noticed a young lady around my age who was standing alone, so I approached her and asked her to take the photo below. It turned out she was visiting London from California on business, and had the day free so had decided to make the trip to Stonehenge solo as well. It was perfect – we walked around the site together, taking photos of each other and chatting about our lives and travels.

It was awesome to see the standing stones (especially with my love for Outlander), and of course I had to pick up a Stonehenge sweatshirt and a couple of other souvenirs to commemorate the experience. I was also proud of myself for prioritizing the thing I was most excited to see and enjoying a solo day in England.

The next day was our last full day abroad. We spent the morning exploring Hyde Park and saw Kensington Palace and the Italian Gardens.

Then we took a train from London to Windsor, where our first stop was lunch at Black Sheep Coffee. Then we walked to Windsor Castle to take a tour. There was so much celebration of the Queen’s Jubilee and it felt as though she would live forever – this just three days before she unfortunately died.

We weren’t allowed to take photos inside the castle, but we took plenty outside and then bought some Windsor Castle treats and souvenirs from the gift shop to bring back with us to the States. With our treasures in hand, we walked back into town to Brown’s Brasserie & Bar for afternoon tea. Unlike our more spontaneous afternoon tea in Bath, we had a reservation at Brown’s and were ready for the full experience.

We devoured nearly two towers of cakes, sandwiches, and pastries, as well as several cups of Earl Grey with cream and sugar (it’s so much better that way – I’m never going back)! When we arrived back in Marylebone that evening, we did some shopping at Daunt Books (sadly no, I did not purchase “Wild Kilted Yoga”), and then visited Waitrose one last time to pick up some tea and biscuits to bring home.

It was a whirlwind week and an unforgettable first trip to the UK and Europe. Looking forward to making the trip again soon with the hubs, and hopefully see Scotland too. 🙂

In August, I took my first trip overseas to England! We took an overnight flight (my first red eye) and arrived in London (Heathrow) late morning. I hardly slept on the plane, so I almost dozed off as we took the Great Western Railway to Bath.

In an effort to save money, we decided to walk from the train station in Bath to our AirBnB, which, after lugging our suitcases across the cobblestone city, we realized was located at the top a very large hill. It provided impressive views overlooking the city, but also a fun challenge to reach our flat.

Said flat was on the third floor of the building, and it was actually not “flat,” but instead a two-story apartment. But after several flights of stairs, we finally made it to what would our home for the next several days.

After settling into our AirBnb, we desperately wanted to sleep, but fought off the jet-lag for a couple more hours and walked to a nearby restaurant, Bill’s, for dinner. I ordered the burger they had on special that night, which was topped with mac and cheese! It was delicious and tasted refreshingly familiar on my first night abroad. I was also very impressed, when I mentioned my allergy to buckwheat, how diligent they were about ensuring my meal was safe and allergen-free. I would soon realize that this was a common trend across the whole city and even country.

After dinner, we went back to our AirBnB and crashed in our beds. In the morning, we walked to the Thermae Bath Spa to continue our relaxation and rejuvenation after our long journey. The main spa has two geothermic pools, which use the same naturally heated water as the Roman Baths across the street. One of the pools is on the rooftop, with views overlooking the city. The spa has a strict no-devices policy, so I wasn’t able to take photos during our time, but I snapped a couple outside and on my way out. It was an amazing experience and I highly recommend that everyone spends a few hours in a local spa after any long flight.

After two hours of soaking in the pools and sitting in the steam rooms, we showered off and headed back out into the city in search of lunch. We walked past All Bar One and saw that they had a lunch special – a sandwich and glass of wine for only 9 pounds! We couldn’t pass it up. I enjoyed a ham and cheese toastie (such a cute name!) and a glass of rosé. And again, the staff was exceedingly accommodating with my allergy, spending several minutes checking ingredients lists to ensure that the bread was safe for me to eat. I was loving this place already.

After lunch, we walked back to the Roman Baths and took the official tour. There was so much history to learn about and of course, so many photo ops. It was interesting to learn about the varying purposes of different pools, some warm and some cold, and the healing properties of the water as it contains over 40 minerals. It’s also kind of crazy to think that the baths were used for public bathing. Men and women weren’t always permitted to bathe together, but they didn’t use bathing suits back then, and many of the bathers’ clothes was taken by thieves! Can you imagine?

We did a little shopping at the Roman Baths’ gift shop and a local market and then walked across the river to the Holbourne Museum and visited a few more shops. By this point, I was well over my step goal for the day and was feeling tired so we went back to our flat for a little downtime and a siesta.

A little before 8pm, we ventured back out for dinner at Turtle Bay, where I ordered a West Indian curry. I’d never had anything quite like it, but it was spicy and delicious.

After dinner, we spent the night in, playing a Jane Austen card game and practicing our (terrible) English accents.

The next morning, we went to brunch at The Ivy. I had a peach & elderflower iced tea, buttermilk pancakes with blueberries, lemon balm and a side of streaky bacon (I think they specify the “streaky” bacon to differentiate from ham/Canadian bacon?). The food was incredible and there were so many photo ops – even the bathroom was immaculate!

We did a little more shopping after brunch and then I went back to the AirBnB to unhurriedly do my hair and makeup for afternoon tea, while my friends went to the Fashion Museum and the Jane Austen Centre. (I can quickly get burned out on museums, so I didn’t mind having a bit of relaxing time to myself in the flat.)

When I was ready, we met up at the Circus (a ring of historic townhouses), and then walked to Sweet Little Things together for afternoon tea. We got the locations mixed up and the shop we went to wasn’t serving afternoon tea (the all-inclusive version with a tower of pastries and finger sandwiches), but we had a lovely experience all the same. My chai tea latte was gorgeous – I think it looked better than it tasted! From what I remember the chai tea there was less spiced and more milky than what I was used to in the US. No complaints though.

After we finished our tea, we walked to the other side of Bath that we hadn’t yet explored since arriving. We stumbled upon the Abbey Deli, which was the set of the Modiste in Bridgerton! We visited a handful of other shops as we walked to a bookstore, where I browsed books in the basement, while my friends looked at several old, historic prints.

Then we headed to the Bath Abbey for a quick self-guided tour before they closed for the evening prayer service. On the way, we were getting a bit hungry and made a quick stop for Cornish pasties. People say British food isn’t that good, but I enjoyed the pasty (and everything else I had tried so far)!

For our last dinner in Bath, we ate at Bosco Pizzeria and it was nice enough to sit outside on the patio. I ordered the simple, yet delicious Bosco pizza (essentially a Margherita). I remember I was thinking a lot about Scott during dinner as this day was our 4-year wedding anniversary and he was back home in Wisconsin.

It was also at this dinner that we were first charged for still water. We had heard that you had to pay for water in Europe, but up to this point, had only been charged for it when we ordered sparkling water. We realized the distinction you have to make is to specifically ask for tap water. If you say “still,” they will bring you a bottle of still water for the table. From then on, whoever made the mistake of forgetting to specify “tap” had to buy the water for the table. That night, I believe it was me.

The next morning, we got up a little early, I ate my leftover curry, and we did some last minute shopping at Rossiters and Persephone Books. Then we packed up our suitcases, checked out of our AirBnB, dragged our luggage back down the hill and across the city, caught a train to London Paddington, and began the next leg of our journey.

Tag: england

England Part 2: London

The City of Bath, England