SHARE
Last Christmas we gave the girls a gift that they have eagerly been anticipating. An Epic European Excursion. In July the time had finally arrived and we were so ready!
While we were prepared for so many things (we had 75 protein bars, rain coats, bandaids, etc.) we were woefully unprepared for the heat. There was an uncharacteristic heatwave in Europe the two weeks we were there. So London, normally so temperate and even gray, was baking in 90 degree temperatures and many places did not have air conditioning. (Our airbnb condo didn’t even have fans. Ugh!) We rated each of our daily activities and the heat definitely played into our ratings.
Nonetheless we made the best of it. On our first day we went on a double decker bus tour (Enebo Rating: .35 stars out of 5). We thought this would be the best way to see a lot of the sites and get the lay of the land. Unfortunately there was a ton of traffic and the audio commentary was not live so we heard about sites we weren’t seeing. Boo. We eventually hopped off the bus because walking was faster! The good news is that we ended up right near St. Paul’s Cathedral. So beautiful!
Our next stop that day was Foyles Books (Enebo Rating: 4.4 out of 5). This was Ellie’s destination of choice. She is such a book lover! We happily spent time in this lovely (air conditioned!) store and we all walked away with new reading material.
After Foyles we wandered over to Tiger (Enebo Rating: 3.8 out of 5). This was Kate’s choice. I have no idea how we found this store in our research but it was perfect for her. It’s a Danish store specializing in bright colored, inexpensive, knick knacks. Need a tiny book of Post It’s? They’ve got it. Need a small push top garbage can for your desk top? They’ve got that too. How about a squid hat with tentacles? You betcha!
We ended our day at the Science Museum (Enebo Rating: 3.4 out of 5). Jill has been begging to go to the Science Center here in Seattle for over a year and just couldn’t get any takers. Finally she had us as a captive audience! This museum had some really neat exhibits including some about textures/materials, energy and data. The only reason this was rated lower is because it didn’t have air conditioning and it was the end of the day so we were losing steam!
On Sunday we started our day at the Camden Market (Enebo Rating 3.6 out of 5). This is such a colorful bustling place. It’s actually six different markets that connect with stalls of artists selling their creations. It’s all surrounding the Camden Locks. We found some really neat things here!
After a quick lunch (fish and chips!) we made our way out to Leavesdon where the Harry Potter Studio Tour (Enebo Rating: 5 out of 5!) is housed. This is the ultimate mecca for Harry Potter fans! This is the building where all 8 of the Harry Potter movies were filmed over 10 years. They still have the set they used for the Great Hall (so small and so big at the same time), the Gryffindor common room and dorm rooms (the furniture is small!) and many others. The digital players had all sorts of video commentary from the cast and producers. It was awesome! The whole thing took more than 4 hours and ended with a spectacular scale model of Hogwarts that was used for exterior scenes. You could almost hear angels singing when we entered the room!
On Monday we started our day with a walk through Westminster Abbey and a peek at Big Ben. Lots of dead people underfoot there! Next we hopped on a boat tour on the Thames River (Enebo Rating: 4.5 out of 5). This had a live tour guide who was funny and engaging and it was nice and cool on the water.
We stepped off the boat at the Tower of London (Enebo Rating 3.2 out of 5) . Because of the heat and the wait times we decided to skip the big guided tour and wander on our own. We saw the Queen’s jewels exhibit (she sure does have some pretty baubles!) and some of the other towers. So much history there!
After a late lunch Ellie and Kate and I headed back to Chelsea to check out some of the shops and a little down time before dinner. Jill and Allen, always read for more, walked over to the Tower Bridge (Enebo Rating: 4 out of 5) which they really enjoyed.
We all met back up for dinner and then headed out to see Wicked (Enebo Rating: 3.15 out of 5). The play was quite good, but there was no air conditioning in the theater and we were in the last row. Yup, heat really does rise!
On Tuesday Ellie, Kate and I decided to have a slow morning after the late play the night before, but Allen and Jill carried on. They went on a guided bike tour (Enebo Rating: 4.5 out of 5). This would have been way too stressful (lots of biking through traffic) and hot for me but Jill and Allen really loved it!
In the afternoon we we all hopped onto the subway for a trek out to The Who Shop (Enebo Rating: 4.2 out of 5). I was not sure out how this place would be. We got off the subway in kind of a sketchy neighborhood and had to walk a ways to get to this little shop. It was the perfect geekdom experience. There is no way a slick store in downtown London could have been as cool as this crowded, unorganized, geeky storefront was. (And I don’t even like Doctor Who!) There was even a Tardis that was the entrance to a collection of one of a kind memorabilia in the back room.
On Wednesday morning we walked over to Buckingham Palace (Enebo Rating: 2.9 out of 5). Even though we could only peer through the gates I have to say that place was pretty impressive. Ha! It got a low rating because it was hot, there was no shade, and nothing was happening while we were there.)
We next wandered over to Green Park (Enebo Rating: 4.5 out of 5). This park is right next to the palace and was so nice and green. I guess it lived up to it’s name! There was plenty of shade and we even rented some chairs so we could lounge in the cool shade for awhile. Allen ran back to see the changing of the guard but we enjoyed our cool seats. (He agreed that it wasn’t worth standing in the sun to see.)
After lunch we spent some time wandering through some charming shopping alleys before Allen and Jill broke off to find the one Tardis in London. Ellie and Kate and I persevered with our shopping after developing some survival shopping rules. We decided that we could only shop on the shady side of the street and we could only enter stores that had air conditioning. We were surprised at how many stores this eliminated!
We all met up for dinner and then a spin around the London Eye (Enebo Rating 3.8 out of 5). I’m not sure if we liked the view or the air-conditioning more. It was a win win!
On Thursday we started our day with a canal tour (Enebo Rating 2.8 out of 5) Allen and I thought it was fascinating to see where the horses would pull heavy narrow boats filled with agricultural wares. It was so lush and quiet on the canal that it was hard to believe we were still in the middle of London. (The girls were not as impressed.)
In the afternoon we tried to take a Street Art (graffiti) tour but the guide did not show. Boo! Instead we walked across the Millennium Bridge (Enebo Rating: 3.5 out of 5) which was featured in Harry Potter 6 and the Leadenhall Market which was used for some Diagon Alley scenes (also Harry Potter).
We finished our day at Kinky Boots (Enebo Rating: 5 out of 5). We all loved this play! I’d seen it in New York and it was even better the second time. The music is so great. If you get a chance to see it for yourselves, do!
That concludes our week in London. Stay tuned for next week when we share our adventures in France!