Wed 30th July
It was an early start for us as we woke at 5:30 am but that wasn’t too bad given we had gone to bed at 7:30 pm the night before. It was overcast but, thankfully, not raining so we decided to head out for an early morning walk up to Hyde Park.
We ended up having a very full day of walking and climbing with over 15 km and 23,000 steps notched up. Our first stop was at Saint Paul’s Cathedral and that accounted for 528 of the steps and these were vertical! An audio guide was provided with the ticket entry price and we chose to do the full tour option but there is a 30 minute highlight version if you’re short on time. Our visit lasted for 2.5 hours and we greatly enjoyed the experience.
We then set off for a walk across Millennium Bridge and on to the Borough Markets where we had planned to have lunch. However, the enormous crowds meant we gave that idea a miss and instead headed to a nearby restaurant, The Salt Yard, that was excellent. It had lovely tapas food, a cold beer for Mark and, more importantly, 2 comfortable chairs for us to rest our weary legs. London was heaving with tourists at the moment, especially Americans, but we had only seen one red MAGA hat.
Our afternoon was filled with a visit to Tower Bridge where we encountered another 206 vertical steps. It was very interesting to learn about the history of the building of the bridge as well as the relatively recent inclusion of sections of toughened glass flooring making for some spectacular viewing.
We were both exhausted after this and, by 5 pm, wished we could head home but we had a booking for Sky Garden for 6:30 pm so had to stay the distance. We were both very underwhelmed by Sky Garden and would not recommend this venue as a visit. We had been expecting a rather chilled and trendy roof top bar vibe but instead found it to be more akin to a food-hall; loud and with a sense of chaos, so I’d try and find another roof top bar if you’re ever in the city. The view was ok but the food was very ordinary.
We were home by 8.30 pm and had just enough time to attempt some washing. However the machine flooded the apartment and that is a whole other story! We were both even more exhausted after the extensive mopping up so planned to revise our remaining two days in order that we can survive the 7 weeks of this trip! With hindsight, planning such a full day with so much walking on our first full day was probably not a good idea.
Thursday 31st July
It was another early start for us this morning with a 5 am wake up but Mark’s plans for a morning bike ride were foiled by the rain. This also interrupted our plans for a morning walk out at Greenwich. I’m actually wondered whether the rain was sent to help us slow down and recover a bit though? Mark and I could barely move this morning; every muscle in our bodies ached. Those 528 stairs had really knocked us about.
The apartment letting agency were sending someone to try and fix the plumbing issues in the kitchen so we decided to head out to Piccadilly Circus and the On Cloud flagship store. Another poor decision I had made so far on this trip was to leave my current white On Cloud shoes at home, in favor of a more stylish leather pair. Let me warn you though, ‘stylish’ does not cut it with 15 km days of walking over cobblestones. So we set off to spend the gloomy morning in search of some replacement shoes.
It was a successful morning of shopping and we were back to the apartment by about 11:30 am. We were both still very tired and so ditched our plans to head to Greenwich for the afternoon and instead headed to South Kensington for lunch. We decided to take it easy for the rest of the day because we had theatre tickets for the evening and we were worried we’d both fall asleep, like we did last time! We bumped into the young plumber, Tom (early 20s?), on our return from lunch and he assured us that the blocked pipe problem was solved and it was safe to use the washing machine which was good news indeed. Not so for the dishwasher as it was still seemed to be reacting poorly to the blocked drain. Credit where credit is due. The plumbing problem was annoying for us but not the fault of the letting agency and they had acted with great speed to try and get the issue sorted.
It was 5 pm by the time we stepped out again and we headed to Piccadilly Circus for a drink and dinner before our 7:30 pm theatre. Piccadilly Circus was absolutely jam packed with people but we managed to find a spot in one of the local pubs, The Lyric, for Mark to have a beer. This was a quintessentially English pub, complete with patrons and their dogs and was steeped with history as it had existed here since the mid 1700s. It was at this point I wished we had another couple of days in London. There is so much to see and do and we had really wasted much of today with getting over our jet jet-lag and doing some chores. Hopefully, we can head back here again someday soon.
Our session of Fawlty Towers didn’t start until 7.30 pm so I had booked a nearby restaurant for dinner. Bocca Di Lupo was just around the corner from the Apollo theatre but the dinner visit here would have been worthy in its own right. It was a lovely setting, also jam packed, and the food was absolutely delicious. They had cleverly designed the menu with a sharing focus so each of this dishes was offered in two sizes and this meant we got to sample a greater variety of the offerings. We shared four small dishes and they were delicious! I’d recommend a visit to this Italian restaurant if you’re ever in the area.
Fawlty Towers was very entertaining and a trip down nostalgia lane. The characters offered such excellent portrayals of the original cast that you had to look twice to check.The two guys playing Basil Fawlty and Manuel were excellent and you really thought it was John Cleese cavorting around on the stage with his characteristic goose stepping. Mark was a bit disappointed they didn’t do the ratatouille or the Siberian hamster skits but, there was only so much time. It was an entertaining evening and much better than Mouse Trap so we didn’t fall asleep. It was a late night for us though as we didn’t get home until after 10 pm at which point we collapsed into bed.
Friday 1st August
Today was our last full day in London and it was another early 5 am start. There was no rain thankfully so Mark set off for a bike ride, his first for the trip. I did a bit of yoga and skipped the morning walk as we had a lot of walking planned for later in the day. Unfortunately the washing machine problem had not been fixed so we spent another morning mopping up the apartment. It looked like we’d be catching up with Tom the plumber again later today 🙁
Our first activity for the day was a visit to Buckingham Palace which opens for tours during the summer months. It was a 25 minute walk to Buckingham Palace and we stopped off at this great cafe along the way, Cafe Co, which was so nice that we decided we would head back there for lunch. The Palace visit was very interesting and we toured inside the State Rooms and also through the private garden. Photography was not allowed on this tour, hence the few photos. It was a most impressive morning though and so interesting to see rooms you’d previously only seen as the backdrop of many a royal photo. We have visited many Palaces and Chateaus but Buckingham Palace was by far the cleanest of them all. The amount of dusting they would have to deal with must be overwhelming and I was mightily impressed that they had kept on top of this task for so long!
It was 2 pm by the time we got back to the apartment and this was just enough time to have a bit of a rest whilst we waited for the plumber to arrive. Tom turned up at about 3 pm, with his tool kit of a vacuum cleaner, and proceeded to try and further clear out the blocked drain. Mark and I held little hope for him though as we suspected he was more in need of an electric eel. Tom was very friendly and chatty though and very interested in our family and travels and life in Australia and…..enormously handsome. I was in two minds, and I had to bite my young, as to whether I should suggest to him that if this plumbing gig doesn’t work out for him he should try modeling, or maybe even some reality-plumbing TikTok show or something. He had loads of personality and was absolutely gorgeous. One thing was sure though…we weren’t going to run our luck doing another load of washing!
Leaving behind Tom and his vacuum cleaner, Mark headed out to a pub to meet an old work colleague and I headed to the V&A to meet my friend, Deborah. Deborah kindly took me in to the museum on her guest pass to view the Cartier Exhibition. This was a most wonderful exhibition and a deep dive into a complete other world of wealth and privilege. The exhibits included an enormous array of magnificent tiaras, brooches, necklaces, bracelets, watches and mystery clocks. It was mind boggling just how much wealth some have to spend on the most spectacular jewelry and other adornments; some of it absolutely beautiful and some bizarre.
Deborah and I then caught up with Mark and Deborah’s son, William, for dinner at Ognisko Polskie restaurant. William is currently on an internship and has one more year of study to complete at Imperial College. It was a great evening of chatter and laughter and the food was delicious but, unfortunately, we were so busy talking that I forgot to take any photos. The restaurant setting was lovely and well located, just a few doors up from the V&A, so this is another restaurant I’d recommend if you’re ever in this part of London. It was then on to the tube station for the four of us where we parted ways to head home.
That was our last night in London and tomorrow we head to Poole, on the Dorset Coast. We had greatly enjoyed our short stay in London and could have easily spent another few days in the city as there is just so much to see and do. We had issues with the plumbing in our accommodation but that wouldn’t put me off returning here as the apartment was lovely and the area was so well served with restaurants, cafes and shops.
