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| The Shard - a famous London building in our Airbnb neighborhood. |
Before I begin, a disclaimer: we were in the UK for 9 days and 8 nights. We did three big things each day with little stops peppered in here and there. Because of this, I'm going to do a post for each day otherwise I'd end up with 30 posts. As a result, each post will feature a BUNCH of photos. Enjoy!
We landed in London on October 2nd. Our plane was delayed by nearly an hour, shortly before Keith was set to arrive, so Audrey and I made it through Customs and then waited for him. We were both bummed to find out that they don't stamp passports anymore. My childhood dreams of filling up my passport with stamps from all over the world were dashed. After reuniting, we took a series of rides on the Underground (aka "The Tube) until we reached the Elephant & Castle neighborhood, where our Airbnb was.
We left our luggage in our room, then walked a few blocks to Sainsbury's to grab groceries (and instant coffee). London is expensive, so I had no plans to eat out for every meal. We put our food away and then headed off to the dinner reservation I had made a few months before. Our reservation was at Pick & Cheese Seven Dials Market which was one of Audrey's picks for the trip.
Located in a trendy food hall in the Seven Dials neighborhood, it's one of many restaurants located within.
You pay a set price for which you get to sit and each as much off the conveyor belt as you want for 75 minutes. Basically, it's just a big rotating charcuterie.
We were each given a menu/guide that explained what was on each plate. There were three colors of plates and numbered picks on top of each dome so we would know what we were eating. Audrey got a mixed drink and I bought a bottle of champagne for Keith and me.
It was late in the evening at this point and we were still figuring out the public transportation system. We had also traveled for a solid 12 hours and had crossed time zones, so we headed back to the Airbnb to crash. We stopped along the way to grab a few single beers/ciders so we enjoyed a few of those before calling it a night.
In 1954, city workers found an ancient Roman temple under the streets, dedicated to the Roman god
Mithras. They preserved it and turned it into a museum. Now, you all know how big of a Roman history buff I am, so this was a must-see for me.
Before you're allowed to go down to the lower level where the Temple is, you can wander the street level which has an art gallery. On the wall next to the entrance to the lower level are objects that were found in the Mithraeum.
The Temple is roughly 1,784 years old! Many signs give information about the Romans and their god Mithras. We read through these while we waited to be let into the Temple.
We walked into a dark, temperature-controlled room. After explaining that they would turn low lighting on, run a fine fog through, and play authentic religious chanting in the background, they turned all that on and just left us to gaze upon the wonder of this ancient site for a short while.
The foggy mist wrapped around carefully placed blocks of wood and strings of wire suspended from the ceiling. Set against the darkness of the walls and minimal lighting, the scene gave the perfect illusion of actually being in the temple - you can see the Temple "walls" and "columns". You can see the altar in the back in this photo I took.
And here I am behind the altar.
While much of the temple is gone, the sturdier parts remain - like this ancient brick altar wall.
Here's a great closeup of the altar with its original cement and stonework.
After our time at the Mithraeum, we got on the Tube and headed to Baker Street. If you don't know, Baker Street, 221B to be exact, is the home of the fictional character, Sherlock Holmes - one of my favorite literary characters of all time.
Even the Tube station at Baker Street plays up to this fact.
Now, 221B Baker Street (aka
The Sherlock Holmes Museum) is not a "real" place but something capitalized on. I wanted to avoid paying the admission fee for a rather underwhelming museum, but I was perfectly content to take pictures of the outside.
On the property is a detached gift shop where we perused and picked up a couple trinkets.
Had to snag a photo of the street sign.
Audrey was hungry and wanted to stop in
The Volunteer, a pub a few doors down. Keith and I weren't hungry but I'm always down for a cold pint. Audrey got fish and chips (very British) while Keith and I split a sticky toffee pudding (also very British) - a food on my England bucket list. It was just as delicious as I always imagined it would be.
Later that day, Audrey and I had long-reserved tickets for an
evening cruise on the River Thames. We had to book it to the landing by London Tower to make it on time. Which we did with about one minute to spare!
We sat inside initially until I realized there was open seating up top, so off we went. The cruise came with one free glass of bubbly and a few rounds of canapes. There was a bar where additional drinks could be purchased - and purchased they were.
Our journey began here, at the Tower Bridge. Sitting up top, out in the open, was a much better idea. It afforded us fresh air and clear views of the city.
Audrey is sipping on her glass of bubbly.
Once again folks, The Shard.
A lovely shot of Elizabeth Tower. No, it's not actually called Big Ben. I was corrected on this point as I was told that Big Ben is the name of the mechanism inside the clock. At any rate, it looked stunning from my vantage point.
The Houses of Parliament.
One of many cool shots I got of the city skyline.
As it got darker, it got more beautiful.
The Chelsea Bridge all lit up.
The London Eye, lit up, as seen from inside the enclosed main deck of the boat.
We ended back where we began, The Tower Bridge. This time though, it was a bright beacon in the night. We spent one hour going west along the Thames and an hour back. This was another of Audrey's picks and, I must say, it was worth every pence.
What a great first two days of a trip of a lifetime.
Hopefully, I'll get a post up for this trip once a week but don't count on that...you know me. Until then, I hope you enjoyed Days 1 and 2!
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