Our third full day in London was spent south of the River Thames. First off, we discovered a brand new restaurant right around the corner from our hotel for breakfast. It had JUST OPENED a week before. The food was delicious and the service was top notch! Sadly, I forgot to take pictures, but Seth had some kind of avocado toast sandwich with chorizo and I had a more traditional bacon and eggs. We fell in love with the place!
We walked past the Tower of London and over the iconic Tower Bridge on our way to visit the HMS Belfast, a decommissioned warship that had been involved in D-day as well as other assignments. As we walked, I took some great pictures giving another perspective of the Tower, as well as the Tower Bridge!
The HMS Belfast was SO interesting! I love to be on the water, but I can’t imagine living in such close quarters with so many other people! It makes me truly appreciate those who have done so for the sake of our freedom!
After the warship, we walked to the reproduction of Shakespeare’s Globe Theater. Again, the history nerd in me rejoiced! One interesting bit of trivia–this building is the ONLY one in London that is allowed to have a thatch roof. Apparently, after the big fire in the city, these were outlawed.
Our next stop was a great little restaurant/pub called Founders’ Arms. We were both torn between the duck and the tuna, so we ordered one of each and shared! We had a lovely wine that I really liked–it had hints of grapefruit which I loved! It was a Chilean Sauvingon Blanc from Marande! I will have to find it at home!
From there we went to one of the highlights of our London stay–the London Eye! We spent a little extra to skip the line and it was an amazing investment! I would DEFINITELY recommend this as the queue is usually quite long! The trip around the eye provides some of the most incredible views of the city!
Upon exiting the Eye, the wharf for the City Cruise was right next door, so we decided to take it back to the hotel. It makes stops at Westminster, the Eye, Tower Hill (where our hotel was) and all the way to Greenwich. If we had been in London longer, I would have loved to visit Greenwich, as well as Hampton Palace, Stonehenge, Windsor and Bath. Of course, Windsor was not in the stars for us since we were in London over the few days prior to the Royal Wedding of Harry and Meghan. Our tour guide on the City Cruise, Ted, was so funny and engaging, as well as informative! The marker in the first picture delineates the border between the City of London on the right, and Westminster on the left. The white ship is actually a private club for retired naval officers. Apparently, Prince Phillip has been a regular there, although he currently has been battling his hip issues. And, of course, I can never resist a good wildlife photo when I have the chance!!
That night we went to a traditional Bavarian restaurant very close to our hotel. Seth is particularly fond of German beer. We both got a liter of German beer and I got a free T-shirt for drinking 2 pints of Lowenbrau beer! I got a trio of wursts served with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes, and Seth got beef goulash served with braised cabbage and spetzel. It was quite a hearty meal!
That concludes our Thursday in London. Check back soon for our last full day when we visited Kensington Palace and Gardens!