Our first full day in London started with a Tube ride to pick up our London Pass. As we walked to the area we stopped to pick up a quick breakfast at a little take out place between the Tube station and Trafalgar Square. The place we had to pick up our London Passes was about a block away from Trafalgar Square. The National Gallery was on our list and it borders the square, but we opted out of going there. We overdosed on art in Paris and were much more interested in history and palaces while in London!
After Trafalgar we walked about 10 minutes to Piccadilly Square with its iconic statue of Anteros atop the monument to Lord Shaftesbury, a famous philanthropist during the Victorian era. Most people believe this statue is of Eros, Anteros’ brother and the god of love. It is also referred to as the Angel of Christian Charity. The rest of Piccadilly reminded me of Times Square in NYC.
We found a great souvenir store off of Piccadilly Square where Seth scored a lot of things he was looking for! I saw a great Union Jack beanie that Kendyl would have loved, but I figured I would find something similar later (I never did, sadly). From there we walked to Covent Garden, an amazing area that has been a marketplace for centuries. It has evolved over the years and now has a multitude of shops, restaurants and craft vendors. We had lunch here at Punch and Judy’s Pub and had our traditional British fish and chips!
Near Covent Garden is the British Transport Museum. It was full of historical vehicles and information. I was surprised to find out that London built an underground railroad before New York did! I thought I had taken pictures there, but I cannot find any. I will check with Seth–sometimes during our travels my phone died and he became the photographer!
After the day of sightseeing, we took the Tube back to the hotel and had dinner at the hotel restaurant, Natural Kitchen, like we did the night before. I had the lamb again (love that mint pesto) and Seth had a rib-eye steak. We again enjoyed cocktails at 2 for 1! Life is good!