You Can Do A Lot in One Day
4:23 PM
Cousin Madeline was in town and we walked all around. These are all the things we did in ONE day. And we didn't even start until noon (because beauty sleep, guys). London is a fantastical place.
Since we met up near Hyde Park Corner, it just made sense to start at
Apsley House, the home of the Duke of Wellington. There are lovely rooms, art, a museum room and rather large and unusual statue of Napoleon that he was quoted saying was 'an embarrassment'. You would have to see it to know why but let's just say the sculptor was massively generous in the statue's physique.
Just down the street, you come to the Prince Albert Memorial. A large golden tribute to Albert from his loving wife, Queen Victoria. It is the middle point of the southern edge of Hyde Park.
We walked through Hyde Park, past the Royal Albert Hall, Prince Albert Memorial, north and east to the Italian Gardens. This is pretty central on the north end of the park.
We found the Peter Pan Statue! J.M. Barrie lived near Kensington Gardens (just west of this statue) and received inspiration from his walks around the Gardens.
In his Peter Pan tale, The Little White Bird, Peter flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water. The statue is located on this exact spot.
We stopped for a spot of Afternoon Tea. The hotel was was once an African Bank. Very interesting decor and sadly NOT my new favourite place for tea. I have been recommended Orangery but this tea was very last minute.
In his Peter Pan tale, The Little White Bird, Peter flies out of his nursery and lands beside the Long Water. The statue is located on this exact spot.
Over on Holborn High Street, a street artist was sculpting a sleeping puppy! Out of sand! I love London and its random street art.
Whenever I take someone to Covent Garden, it is REQUIRED to take a quick walk through Neal's Yard. A colourful and fun place! Also, just smelling the pizza from Homeslice in Neal's Yard is worth the trip. There is always a queue out the door and down a ways on the weekends. Huge pizza though.
The magical sweets section at Fortnum & Mason
Everything inside is super dreamy. I could, and probably will, make a whole post about it.
Not usually on every tourist 'list of things to see' but I HIGHLY recommend it! Even just to pop in to look.
Hatchards. London's oldest bookstore.
'Booksellers since 1797'
We hit Covent Garden, Neal's Yard, Fortnum & Mason, Hatchards Bookstore, and then walked up Regent's Street to see the great mess of people at Oxford Circus. From there, the BBC building was just a couple of minutes
Canal around Regent's Park and right before you get to the Camden Lock Market
Walked the length of Regents Park and got all the way to Primrose Hill. We got to see the evening skyline. The very shiny building in the center is the Shard. The tower to the right a bit is BT tower (big landline phone and internet provider).
We took a bus to Little Venice because we had our eye on dinner at a nearby pub. They closed the kitchen earlier than we thought so no go but what a lovely place to watch a sunset!
Little Venice
The Warwick (pronounced waaar-ick) Castle pub. Where we wanted to go to dinner...didn't work out.
Like I said, the dinner we had planned fell through so we sauntered up to Warrington Hotel that Taylor and I pass ALL the time. Pretty cool inside and the food wasn't half bad :)
All in one day! We were pretty tired at the end of the day but we only tubed once and used 2 buses. There is so much to see, it's crazy. If you know what you're into, it's easy to plan the best route (Brits pronounce 'root', so do some Americans but still..) to hit the biggest, best and even some of the less visited gems.
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