After our recent trip to London I’ve had a few requests to share some of my favorite things to do in London, so here they are.
I’m sure it will come as no surprise given my love of all things royal that a trip to Buckingham Palace is always a must do part of any visit to London. It was a beautiful warm day, so there were thousands of people around
but we found a spot with a great view of the arriving Guards, and found no shortage of amusement in the crowd, particularly the couple in front of us who quickly whipped around as soon as the Guards arrived so they could take selfies with the Guards in the background. I hope the pics were worth it, because they missed the whole thing!
I always love the parks in London, there are so many of them and they are so beautifully maintained. This time of year they were particularly pretty, with loads of flowers still in bloom.
Clearly the Diana Memorial Walk through Hyde Park is a must,
ending up at the Diana Memorial Fountain which I have to say is a bit of a let down.
Shopping in London is fantastic, with British department stores in a completely different league to their Australian cousins. I always love visiting Harvey Nichols and Selfridge’s with their amazing creative displays and polite, helpful sales assistants, but I have to say I was really disappointed with Harrods on this visit. Not only is the elaborate gilded interior starting to look a little tired in a ‘bad Vegas’ kind of way, but the service there was consistently dreadful.
For a fashion experience of a different kind, I’d booked the Pret-a-Portea at The Berkeley in Knightsbridge, where afternoon tea is inspired by the latest season fashion collections. I absolutely loved it, the setting is beautiful and the food looks and tastes amazing.
There is an explanation of the inspiration behind each of the dishes
and I loved this cake inspired by the Giambattista Valli dress that Rhianna wore at the Met Gala and the little Anya Hindmarch handbag replica. A word of warning, don’t make any dinner reservations for the same evening as you definitely won’t need any additional food!
Another food experience that was a little less elegant but a whole lot of fun was a trip to the Cereal Killer Cafe for breakfast on Sam’s birthday. It serves nothing but cereal, but there are over 400 varieties to select from with a huge array of toppings and over 30 different milk options.
Sam absolutely loved it, and the displays of old cereal boxes and toys kept us all highly entertained.
Sam also loved the chance to check whether his birthday had delivered his ticket for Hogwarts at Kings Cross Station – sadly for him but luckily for us, it looks like he’s not wizard material!
With the weather in London so beautiful, we decided a day out on the Thames would be a great option, so jumped on board the Thames Clipper and headed off to see the city from the water.
While the view was great, being cooped up behind glass on such a lovely day wasn’t, so when we spotted the jet boat options I did my best work on Google and before long we were zooming up the river on The Exterminator to a James Bond soundtrack with the wind in our hair (or mine anyway!) having a fantastic time.
No trip to London would be complete without an addition to my royal collection, and I’m pleased to say these quality items fit the bill perfectly! For a variety of reasons it looks like London is now going to be a regular destination for us, so there should be plenty of opportunities to track down both new experiences and new memorabilia in the not too distant future, and I’ll be sure to share those too.
