London, 2024
I love visiting Europe but have never set foot in the UK because generally, I like sunshine. But earlier this month I finally got the opportunity to spend a week in London for work. Simon tagged along and we squeezed in as much sightseeing as we could. Luckily, the weather welcomed us with warm sunny days, and left me with a rosy impression of this beautiful historic city.
First impressions
We landed in London on a Sunday morning and started to explore the city via foot and public transportation. Some observations:
London feels like a mix of New York, Boston, and Hogwarts
People are impeccably dressed and wear heels on cobblestone
The wealthy neighborhoods (Knightsbridge, Chelsea) are a whole other world. Rolls Royce town cars, drivers, maids, housekeepers working for celebrities and Arab billionaires
The interior decor and building facades aren’t afraid to use darker moodier colors: forest green and black are popular colors, and make restaurants look fancy and upscale even though they’re not. Oh, and the flowers hanging outside every pub is *chef’s kiss
Things are pricey (food, entertainment, etc) — definitely one of the most expensive cities I’ve ever visited
All drivers are courteous, and don’t drive very fast. They somehow manage to share one-lane roads going opposite directions
Favorite spots
Places: Seven Dials / Covent Garden area, St. Pancras / Kings Cross Station area, Piccadilly Circus (yes I genuinely liked it), and any spot near the river
Eats: Seven Dials Market (we had the thai food twice!), Dishoom, and Fortitude Bakehouse for breakfast
Urban Planning & parks
We lived at Russell Square in the Bloomsbury neighborhood. Across from our hotel was a quaint little park that extended out to the bounds of the surrounding streets. These parks can be found all throughout London, nestled between winding roads planned to serve pedestrians long before cars came about. And it was all so darn walkable!
Throughout the week we explored actual parks like Hyde Park and St James’s Park, and walked around central London when we could. It was never hard to find a place to sit and rest and enjoy the outdoors with the rest of the community.
On the topic of community spaces, we arrived in London on the last day of the Olympics, and sat in the King’s Cross Team GB Fanzone to watch the U.S. Women’s basketball team win their 8th consecutive gold medal against France. USA! USA! Although we quickly realized we were cheering for the wrong team amongst a crowd of Europeans…
Museums
Museums are aplenty in London, ranging from traditional art to kooky experiences. National museums are also free to visit. We hit up:
British Museum: The most popular attraction in the UK, this museum is older than America. It’s permanent collection of eight million (!) works is impressive and also goes to show to history of British colonization. Pieces of Parthenon, the Rosetta Stone, the Easter Island moai statue — these artifacts have all been contested by their rightful owners. But I guess it was cool to see them? Pro tip for visitors: since admission is free, just show up early without any bags. You don’t have to wait in the long queue if you don’t have to go through security.
London Transport Museum: Public transport nerds, this is your place! This museum tells the story of urban transport with galleries of vintage London trams, trains, and buses. Starting with horse-drawn carriages in the 1800s, learn how the need for mass transport helped London develop the world’s first subway system that inspired other large cities over the decades. There’s also a cool exhibit dedicated to vintage posters design that advertised the Tube back in the day, as well as an enlightening new photo exhibit that documents the parallels between the London Underground being used as a bomb shelter in WWII, and Ukraine’s Metro stations doing the same thing today, 80 years later. Emotional stuff.
The Royal Observatory: Welcome to the center of the world (accordingly to these royal astronomers), the place where time and place begin. Greenwich Mean Time was established here, the precursor to today’s Coordinated Universal Time. This observatory tells the history of how universal time was determined, demonstrates how a ball drop tells to mariners, and marks the spot where the famous Prime Meridian Line divides up the Eastern and Western hemispheres.
Buckingham Palace Royal Portraits: We made our way to Buckingham Palace one morning but realized there isn’t much to see on the outside. Being the photographer nerd and Kate Middleton fan I am, I wanted see the portrait exhibit which actually served as a great refresher on the history of photography while showcasing the members of monarchy over the decades. It was fascinating to consider photography’s role in shaping the perception of the royal family, and observe how portraiture styles have changed from celebrity glamour to intimate family portraits in the present day.
Windsor Castle
Whether you like her or not, there is no debate the queen lived in probably the most exquisitely beautiful castle that exists today. Windsor Castle may appear to be just another medieval castle from the outside, but it embodies almost a millennium of architectural history, the interiors well maintained to reflect the monarchy’s rich history up to the modern day. Sadly there were no photos allowed inside, but we walked from room to room with our jaws dropped, soaking in every artifact, statue, piece of furniture, ceiling, and even rug. I’ve seen a lot of rich people places, but this was another level.
Within the castle grounds, we stopped by St. George’s Chapel to relive Harry and Meghan’s wedding and pay a visit to the queen at her final resting place. (Waddup, Liz!) The town of Windsor is also more than just the castle, as we walked around the small town and officially dined at a pub. It was nice!
Suburbs
During our week in London we ventured further out to some suburbs, which I truly enjoyed. Richmond is a residential area that famously served as the backdrop to one of our favorite shows in recent years, Ted Lasso. As much as tourism has influenced the area with merch stores having opened up across from where Ted lived, the neighborhood still felt very local, with people drinking outside the Prince's Head pub and families picnicking on The Green. I’ve noticed that Londoners stand outside pubs to drink, which makes a lot of sense considering they don’t get sunshine most of the year.
Our last morning in London, we took the tube all the way to Greenwich to visit the Royal Observatory. As we approached the Cutty Sark, we saw tons of people jogging through the area. It was peaceful and charming. I love the quaintness of these suburbs, even though they sit in the vicinity of one of the biggest cities in the world.
Our our last afternoon, Simon’s aunt booked us an afternoon tea experience at the Richmond location of The Ivy, a restaurant celebrities dine at. The food catered to quantity more than quality, but I learned that scones can actually be enjoyable when warm. However, the best part of the experience would have to be the art deco interior decor. Every booth, light fixture, and throw pillow was a maximalism dream.
And that pretty much summed our week in London. Some more observations about life in the UK:
London was surprisingly diverse in population. We heard all kinds of accents and languages spoken around us, and that was the norm.
We all know how the English uses the English language differently, but it’s so delightful to witness. Taking the lift, parking at the car park, riding the underground, driving on the motorway, going to the cinema, feeling peckish, eating bangers, asking for takeway, feeling gutted, calling a friend on my mobile, going on holiday. Cheers mate!
There was no A/C — I mean, aircon — in most places. It’s actually such an American thing.
We didn’t use any cash, or frankly, even see any cash being used at all. Everything is a credit card tap, including the tube. Makes life so much easier!
Being in Europe, the food was higher quality. They’re not afraid to make berry smoothies actually taste like fruit, and mango lassi actually taste like tart yogurt. Not everything had to be 100% sweet.
London seems to be a really fun place to live as a young person. There’s so much art, history, culture, and pubs to hang out at. Feeling very grateful (and spoiled) to be able to squeeze in this last minute trip during the best season.
Thanks, Kimpton Fitzroy, for making our stay so luxurious.
And work, for giving me the nice seats on the plane.
A globetrotter’s pilgrimage to Canterbury.