London has so much to do!!

(Hopefully) the final part to my ten days in London

Part 2:

So… this will be my final three days in London. We did a lot in London, and it was too hard to fit everything into one post. Well actually I did it. But it was too long for an email and most people read my post through email, so I had to save the day and reformat it.

Reminders: Jordan and I walked 48 miles in six day, we did fun stuff that is mentioned in my other post, London is cool and also a really big city.

Please enjoy! These days were some of my favorites!

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Monday: 11 miles

Another day of using the London Pass, another long day filled with walking and sightseeing. This day was HOT. And with Jordan chiefing my water, I struggled.

We started out the day at Westminster Abbey. We were running a bit late, so we ended up having to wait in a line, but the view was worth the wait. The insides are crazy with all of the statues, altars and stained glass windows. 

We then headed to the London Eye, but on the way we stopped at Big Ben. I was surprised how pretty it was, it shimmered in the sun because it has what looks like gold woven into it. I was also surprised that it is attached to a building. Jordan guessed that it was the houses of Parliament and we found later that he was right. 

It was very cool to see things from the height that the London Eye lets you. Even though I did get a bit of motion sickness, I made sure to look at as much as I could. 

We then biked over to Borough Market. Fun fact about Borough Market: its closed on Mondays. Luckily, there were still a few permanent restaurants that we could eat at. I got fish and chips from a place that won the National Fish and Chips awards and Jordan got a wrap. We took our food over to a greenspace nearby to eat with great views of the Tower Bridge.

After eating, we walked across the bridge to get to the Tower of London. It was super cool walking around and seeing all of the exhibits. One of the coolest things to me is that people still live inside! We talked to a guard and apparently they have a whole community in there, with a pub and other amenities. You could actually see the outside of their homes when walking around in some places. Another cool thing about the Tower of London is that they have trained crows. The crows were also massive. They used to have all sorts of animals, but they were donated to the zoo. Not because of cramped and poor living conditions, but because they were attacking guests.

To make our reservation for the Tower Bridge, we had to leave before we finished seeing everything, but we weren't too sad because we saw the vast majority of it. The coolest part about the Tower Bridge was the upper walkways between the two towers. They had a glass bottom. After walking the bridges, you got to see the old engine room. 

Once we were done, we had some time before we had to leave for the Shard so we got an ice cream and cooled off in the green. 

On the way to the Shard, I found a little South African shop that sold biltong, a South African jerky. If you are in NC and have no idea what I’m talking about, find my dad and ask for some, because it is so much better than North American jerky. Naturally, I bought some. Don't worry dad, it’s not nearly as good as yours!

We made it to the Shard after our quick diversion, and Jordan got his tripod confiscated at security, something he is still mad about. It had very nice views of all of London, and there was actually a presentation on all of London’s bridges that you could see from the top while we were up there. It was less of a presentation and more comedic stories of all of the different bridges. 

We ended the day eating at Sky Gardens in one of the skyscrapers called “the walkie talkie.” We got a little cocktail and felt very high class. The ceiling was all glass and there were plants everywhere, so it kind of looked like a little greenhouse, and there were three restaurants up there. We watched the sunset and had a little bit of dinner (and I do mean little).

After we were done feeling high class, we took the tube home and got some loaded fries from a fast food place.

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Tuesday: 4 miles

Today was a recovery day for the past two days where we were out for the entirety of the day. We didn't do too much except for cleaning up, since Janis was dropping off the dogs after their beach vacation. I went for a quick solo walk to the park, which was teeming with people and activity.

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Wednesday: 12 miles

We were actually supposed to leave the house today, but Janis, who owns the house, kindly offered for us to stay an extra night so we didn’t have to move all of our stuff to a hostel for one night. We spent the whole day out so that she could enjoy a quiet house post-travel. We didn’t start out with a plan for the day, but somehow we ended up walking the most out of any of our days in London. 

We started out by heading to the British Library, but when we got off our train to walk there, we found that we were very close to Kings Cross Station. To be true to my Harry Potter roots, we had to go visit. There was an hour and a half wait just to take a picture with the luggage cart going through the wall, so we left it at that, me having been satisfied by seeing it in person. 

Afterwards we actually went to the library to get some work done. I created some posts for my mom’s social media and once that was done I wrote a post for my substack that should have come out yesterday. 

Once all of the work was done, we were feeling quite hungry so we went to an Indian place nearby and got some curries. We were so full after our late lunch I wasn't sure how we were going to eat dinner, but we certainly burned some calories after this.

Jordan had two things he still wanted to see in London, and considering it was our last day we had to make it happen. We caught the train to Leicester Square and walked around so Jordan could see all of his beloved movie theaters. There was actually a premiere happening for Alien: Romulus happening while we were there, so we got to see the red carpet. 

Afterwards we decided to walk to Harrods which is a department store that Jordan’s grandad used to shop at when he was stationed here in the Airforce. It is a luxury store designed like a maze, it was insane. The outside is very pretty though

The next stop that we wanted to see was my parents' old flat from when they lived in London. Again we decided to do another 40 minute walk. It was very cool seeing where my parents used to live, and Jordan and I both cursed them for selling this place.

 Despite how sore our feet were, we still had to walk to the train station. We finally got home and when we told Janis we walked from Leicester Square to Clapham Junction she thought we were crazy. I also told my dad this and he laughed his head off.

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In reading this we walked one mile over a marathon together in three days. Jordan and I did lots of things and took too many pictures. And somehow, this post is still too long for an email. So hopefully some of you made your way over to substack to read this last little bit.

Thanks for tagging along with me and forcing me to remember and document this crazy week!

xx Abby