Eliot and I are back home in Maine after an incredible trip to London!!! 🇬🇧 We've been back for 10 days, and I've spent a lot of those resting and recuperating from our trip.
It was such a whirlwind eight days... but we had an amazing time and got to do most of the things we had hoped to! Of course, there's never enough time. We were also there during another massive heat wave, with temperatures regularly between 90° and 95°. I don't usually leave the house when it's that hot unless I have to... so walking around the city of London wasn't something my body was totally equipped for... especially with my endo. But I somehow managed- even if I hit the brick wall a few times during the trip.
Eliot and I are absolutely certain that we'd like to go back to London... sooner than later if possible. We only scratched the surface of things we wanted to do and see, so a return trip is definitely on our radar! I'm hoping to go into more detail about our trip at some point, but I'll leave you with a few quick morsels today!
We were able to see many famous landmarks. We explored the Tower of London and Kensington Palace, took a Thames River Cruise, rode on the London Eye, took (most of) a bus tour and rode over the Tower Bridge. We also drove by Buckingham Palace, St. Paul's Cathedral, and many other landmarks on our bus tour.
Unfortunately, a few of the famous landmarks were undergoing massive construction, so they were a bit lackluster. We did get to see Kensington Palace, but the famous gates were not there. And I saw Westminster Abbey, but we couldn't go anywhere near the front of it due to construction. (But there's always next time!)
The thing I was most looking forward to was seeing Big Ben (aka the Elizabeth Tower). That's the first thing I think of when someone says London- and it did not disappoint. It was spectacular and it took my breath away. And I'm so thankful that Eliot and I saw Big Ben on foot, from our river cruise and rode by it one last time on our bus tour.
We also got to see some shows during our trip. Our first night out, we went to see Six- which was absolutely incredible. (I had never seen it, but I loved it!) We also went to The Globe Theater to watch Much Ado About Nothing. Then on our last night, Eliot, Sara and I went to see Hercules (his parents and Elissa had already seen it).
One of the things I was most looking forward to was our Disney Princess tea at the London Hilton. This afternoon tea was the only one I knew that was officially partnered with Disney. We had a wonderful time with Eliot's family, although some of the food was really weird! (I'm looking at you cheese thing!) The desserts were all mostly amazing. And I really enjoyed dressing up in a pretty poofy dress for it.
The other thing I was really excited about were the Harry Potter things on our list. While we drove by King's Cross Station, we never did get inside to see Platform 9 3/4. We also didn't make it over to Soho to visit the House of MinaLima store. However, none of that mattered to me after we spent Sunday afternoon and evening exploring the Warner Brothers Studio Tour of the Making of Harry Potter. Oh my gosh... I can't say enough things about this wonderful experience. I was completely in heaven- seeing the props and costumes up close and wandering around the actual sets from the movies!!! Eliot and I both want to go back to this and spend an entire day there.
We also went to the Mundo Pixar Exhibit... which wasn't something we had planned on doing, but we ended up having the best time! I saw an advertisement for it on the subway and once Eliot and I found out that it was an immersive exhibit of Pixar sets, we knew we had to see it! Eliot's mom Nori went with us our last day in London, and we had so much fun taking photos! (Our little donkeys also got in on the photo fun!)
Eliot and I also got to do a bit of shopping in London. We hit up some of our favorites... Disney Store, Lego Store, M&M Store, Build-A Bear Store and an unplanned trip to Selfridges. We had a blast taking photos of all the London themed decor in the stores, we got a few London souvenirs and the donkeys all got London t-shirts and outfits.
The unplanned trip to Selfridges ended up being the MVP store of the trip though... because they had a Disney section that included a few souvenirs from Disneyland Paris that I have been stalking on eBay for months. (Let's just say it was the most expensive bathroom trip ever.) But I'm incredibly happy that the clock and mirror I had been planning to buy if we had made it over to Disneyland Paris are now sitting in my living room after being shipped here from the London Selfridges store in the UK.
All in all, we fit in a bunch of stuff and had an incredible trip. (This is only a very quick overview, but I'll try to share more when I can!) Eliot and I have got plenty of places we'd like to explore more next time- Covent Garden, The Borough, Buckingham Palace, King's Cross & Platform 9 3/4, House of MinaLima, Anchor Pub, the Warner Brothers Harry Potter Tour and more. I also never got fish & chips or bangers & mash because both felt like too much for my stomach between my endo and the summer heat. So I'll have to work on trying some English cuisine next time. Plus, Eliot and I would like to explore more of England and the UK beyond London... like Stonehenge, Bath, Oxford and other Harry Potter filming locations.
Thanks for the adventure London!!! We hope to see you again soon!!! 🇬🇧
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