Last March I was lucky enough to take a vacation to London and Paris. You can read all about my adventures in Paris here. We spent 4 days in London, hopped the train to Paris for 3 days, and came back to London for another 3 days.
The majority of our London adventure was filled with lots of shopping and walking and eating; basically my top three vacation activities. I know London is notorious for being overcast and rainy and generally dull weather; I live in St. Louis, so basically the same weather. We somehow lucked out and the weather was sunny and 60 the entire trip. London decided to be a total babe for us on this trip.
The first part of our London trip, we stayed in Knightsbridge at The Park Tower Knightsbridge. It was an amazing hotel and perfectly situated next to Harvey Nichols and just a few blocks from Harrods. The second part of the trip, we stay at The Savoy and it may just be the best hotel in which I’ve ever stayed. It was fantastic and each room has a picture of a celebrity who has stayed in the hotel, which is basically everyone.
Harrods was one of the most amazing and overwhelming experiences of my life. The store itself is huge. If you’ve been to Macy’s in New York, double it and you have Harrods. I don’t even know if that’s accurate but thats what it felt like.
The absolute best part that I recommend you visit is Harrod’s Shoe Heaven. If you’ve been to Saks on Fifth Ave, you know the insanity that is the shoe floor there. This is like that only way more insane and I loved every moment of it. But I also got super overwhelmed so I went down to the food hall to get hit of chocolate to calm my nerves. Did I mention there is a huge food hall in Harrods? Go to it. Eat everything. Bring some back with you.
We spent one morning just strolling through Notting Hill and down the Portobello Road shops. Just to be clear they made a movie called Notting Hill because it does deserve its own movie. All the houses are painted in pastels. There are so many cute shops. I could easily live there, zero hesitations. We walked and walked and walked and had to stop for tea in the middle to get some energy.
There are Nutella crepe stands EVERYWHERE.
Seriously. People get to live here.
We also took an afternoon to explore the Tower of London. This was such an interesting tour, but definitely had an overall creepy feel to it. You would be casually walking around and the Beefeaters would be like oh and that’s the spot so and so got their head chopped off. Ah, I’ll just, uh, be over here then. Unless Jon Snow is around here to protect me. No? OK then.
They also let ordinary people in to see the Crown Jewels. I tried to be very Pink Panther to get my hands on them, but they frown on you pretending to steal anything. Very stuffy Brits.
We stopped by 221B Baker Street because I had to try to find my boyfriend, Sherlock Holmes. Oddly, he wasn’t in that day.
I also made a quick stop by the BBC Sherlock 221B because I had to solidify my place as a true fangirl.
We took a day trip out to Watford to see the studio where Harry Potter was filmed. I just casually got to see all of the sets and props no big deal you guys.
We spent most of the trip eating some ridiculously good food. The one thing I absolutely had to have was fish and chips. I was not at all disappointed. As a self-proclaimed french fry expert, I can say thick-cut chips are totally bomb. I did skip the mashed peas because my mother wasn’t there to tell me otherwise.
We were looking for a good restaurant in Covent Garden one night because we were headed to a bar there later that night. I found out Balthazar was just around the corner from the bar and immediately knew we had to eat there. Balthazar is one of my favorite restaurants in New York and I cannot get enough of their French Onion Soup. If you are in New York or London, definitely make time for Balthazar.
After Balthazar, we headed to The Cellar Door which is a tiny bar inside a refurbished Men’s Public Toilet. We know how to live. It was so much fun. They have all sorts of different performances and musicians. We happened to be there on a night with a guy playing his piano and basically taking audience requests. Because there were only about 10 people in the bar which is all there is really room for.
I also had to make a stop at my dearly beloved Shake Shack. We are in a long distance relationship so I have to stop by when I’m near.
On our last day, we spent plenty of time just walking around and basking in the spring weather and beauty that is London. Of course, I stopped by for tea with my best friend Kate. While we were walking towards Buckingham Palace, we saw some guards in front of a random house, ask the pedestrians to move from the sidewalk in front of the driveway. A car pulled out in front of us and just happened to be Prince Charles! I mean it wasn’t Harry or George, but I’ll take it.