Last Saturday, the rest of Team Gerth flew into London, and I went and picked them up at Heathrow and rode back into London where we checked into our very nice and even more nicely located flat near Holborn Station (a 5 minute walk from the British museum!) Our first order of business was to get some food in our systems, so we checked out a pub called The Wellington located on the Strand, right next to Waterloo Bridge. The boys had a deluxe fish and chips that also came with shrimp, Mom had a ham and cheese pie (British version of quiche) and I had good ol’ bangers and mash!
After dinner, we had to go pick up all my stuff from Great Dover Street, and we opted to take the scenic route and walk all the way there. It was really nice to be able to show off all of South London to my family, the part that definitely isn’t as touristy (and has a different feel than on the north side of the Thames) but that I’ve come to know so well! We took the tube back and by the time we got back I think everyone was ready to hit the hay (especially the ones that had just come off the back of a 9 hour flight!)
The next morning, we all slept in a little bit and got a later start to the day, but I think we were all glad for the extra sleep (them from the flight and me from all the late night studying I had been doing the previous week!) We had a reservation for lunch on the south side of the river, and I decided it was a great opportunity to take the South Bank Riverwalk to get there. I really love this area because it is just this path that stretches pretty much all the way from London Bridge to Westminster Bridge, with lots of cute shops and restaurants lining it. Personally I’ve really enjoyed running along it! It was a little foggy this day, but I still got a pretty good picture of the river!!
Our lunch was at a place called Hixters, but I should mention that this was not just any lunch. This was a Sunday Roast, the classic English meal every Sunday featuring a nice piece of roasted meat paired with roasted vegetables and potatoes, gravy, and Yorkshire pudding. Lots of pubs around London do their own Sunday Roast, but they only serve a limited amount so you have to make sure you go before they run out! I did my research before and looked up a place that had really great reviews and took bookings so that I could be sure that we could get our roast!
After our yummy lunch, we made our way back to the South Bank walk, crossed the Millennium Bridge (which goes right into St. Paul’s Cathedral, and then walked towards the Tower of London. We decided that we wanted to go through the Tower of London and spent a few hours there touring the place! By the time we finished, the sun had gone down, so we walked across Tower Bridge and then walked along the river on the other side through a Christmas market they had set up!
On Monday morning, we had a pretty full day planned, but we decided that it was about time to do a traditional English breakfast. We set off in the direction of where we needed to go and stopped in at a little cafe along the way. (There actually wasn’t that much open yet because it was only just after 8am… I’ve discovered that London wakes up a lot later than the US; days seem to be from 9-4 instead of 8-5!) I actually got a “lighter” breakfast as I’ve had English breakfast at least 10 times while I’ve been here haha but everyone else got it; we had a full table!!
Stop number 2 was Trafalgar Square since it was on the way, and how could we not stop and reminisce over Tyler running and jumping up onto the bronze lions in the square? It was also a really beautiful day and again wasn’t too busy yet!
Our walk also included a brief picture session at Buckingham Palace! Sadly, the Queen was not there to greet us, and we later found out we should have gone the next day because she was holding her annual Christmas tea for all the Royal Family to attend!!
Our actual destination was the Churchill War Rooms, which are on the edge of St. James Park. I hadn’t been here yet but had heard really great things about it so I was excited to go (and also excited that the parentals were paying for my ticket!) Basically these were underground government/defense headquarters during the Second World War, and they are pretty much exactly the same way they were 70 years ago! Not only can you tour the extensive war rooms, but there is also a really nice and very informative museum dedicated to Churchill’s life. It was especially interesting to learn about his early life – like how he was born into wealth but always had a desire to work in politics and switched parties like 3 times to continue working and staying in power. He was really controversial and had he not been so influential during the Second World War, he definitely would not have died a hero.
I’ve included some pictures of the rooms; while some people that worked down here went back up to London quite a bit, others worked and slept exclusively down here. I can’t imagine being cooped up in converted storerooms like that for so long! It’s also amazing what all they were able to accomplish; all of the important decisions happened down here and it actually wasn’t able to withstand a bombing so it was lucky that the building above was never hit, and also lucky that the location of their headquarters remained top-secret.
After we finished, I had to take my family to Borough Market so that they could experience the best food market in London, the one right at my doorstep!!
Of course we also had to pick up some mulled wine!! I actually got the Spiced Apple Mulled Wine; it’s a white wine instead of the traditional red and had a nice crisp to it!
I’ve spent a lot of time at Borough Market over the past few months and I know I’m definitely going to miss it! I wish I had tried more of the food – there is something in here for everyone and so many different flavors and cuisines to try!!
We took bus back across the river (I was super pumped to introduce my family to this form of transportation because as you all know by now it’s my very favorite – especially since we landed the front seats!) and ended up at the Houses of Parliament. I had such a good experience sitting in on the House of Commons that I took the family there, and I think the had the same reaction! It’s super interesting to see how it all works, not to mention that we can say we’ve been inside the Houses of Parliament, and for free! There is so much history in that place. At this time, the House of Lords was also in session so we popped across the hall to visit them too. As I’d been told, the House of Commons was much more exciting. The House of Lords was definitely grander, but the demographic was considerably (considerably!) older and much less diverse than the House of Commons. However, there were 2 men in there wearing wigs!!
After we were done there, we walked back down towards Trafalgar Square and actually went through the National Portrait Gallery, which I hadn’t been to yet (it’s on the backside of the National Gallery). It was pretty easily done within an hour but really interesting to walk through and see portraits not only of royalty but also famous people that you’ve heard of before, but don’t exactly know what they look like, or even what they really did.
Our night concluded with a tour of the best Christmas lights in London. We walked through a little Christmas market near Leicester Square and made our way to Piccadilly Circus. Since we had made it that far, we walked up Regent Street, which turns into Oxford Street, and by then we were only a 15 minute walk from the flat! (And when we got back we were again ready for bed and to get well rested for the following busy day!)
Next up is the events of Tuesday; stay tuned!!
-Katie 
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Katie, a senior Biology major, is spending the Fall 2017 semester studying Health & Society at King's College in London through Arcadia University.
Read more from Katie at https://katientheuk.wordpress.com/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
Katie, a senior Biology major, is spending the Fall 2017 semester studying Health & Society at King's College in London through Arcadia University.
Read more from Katie at https://katientheuk.wordpress.com/
Don't miss your opportunity to study or intern abroad! Start your search at http://studyabroad.uark.edu/search/
