Hey guys,
So this list isn't really in a specific order. I didn't really have a favorite thing in London. I just absolutely fell in love with the entire city! It was such a beautiful place to visit and I definitely can not wait to go back.
Also, I totally ran out of time to edit together a photo like I did for my top 10 things to do in Paris post so that is something that I will have to get back to when we move into our house and my sister is able to get her desktop set up again.
1) London
Bridge
So even though I am
afraid of heights this was such an amazing experience! You get to walk over the
bridge (there are a couple of glass/see-through sections) from side to side.
You start at one end and end at the other. It was a little scary to walk over
the glass but I did it and we got some pretty good pictures! The scary part is
that you can’t really tell if you are standing over the water or the actual
bridge and if the glass to were break, I’m not sure which would be worse haha.
2) The
Eye
So again, yes I am
afraid of heights but I totally made myself go on this because not going on it
was not an option. To be honest, it wasn’t really that bad. I even looked down
a couple of times but not for very long, it did totally freak me out a little.
I think being lock inside a giant bubble is what really helped. Plus the thing
moves so slowly that you can barely feel it. The worst part for me was when we
made it to the top. You can see everything, including how high up you are and
you can’t see any of the pods next to you anymore. Also, going down was a lot
worse than going up. However, even if you are afraid of heights, I think you
should still make yourself go on this because it’s so beautiful being able to
see the city! We went in the evening/night, which was gorgeous because it was still
daylight when we got on, then the sun set and then it was nighttime and all of
the buildings were lit up.
3) Westminster
Abbey
Obviously, we had to
visit the famous Westminster Abbey where William and Kate got married, along
with several other royal families over the years. The building it absolutely
gorgeous but to be honest, it does get a little boring walking around looking
at a bunch of crypts located throughout the building. However, it is still a
must see on my list and I would totally go back if I had the chance.
4) Buckingham
Palace
This place absolutely
gorgeous and so different compared to visiting the White House in America. You
can barely even see the White House from where you have to stand whereas with
Buckingham Palace you can go right up to the gate that is in front of the
palace. And people hangout there and line up and down the entire gate. It can
be very challenging trying to get in there to actually the palace. My recommendation
is to go across the street to the monument, go up the steps, and you can take
much better pictures with the whole palace in the background. It can be very
challenging to get the whole palace in one of your pictures if you are standing
right up next to the gate.
I also imagined the
palace to be much larger. It was pretty big, way bigger than my house haha. But
apart of me felt like Biltmore Estates is way bigger than Buckingham Palace,
which is kind of strange because a Queen lives there and not just a really
wealthy family haha. Also, if you have never been to Biltmore Estates in
Asheville, North Carolina, it is a total must see in the US! It is absolutely
beautiful and the property it’s located on is insane. There’s actually a hotel
you can stay at on the property.
5) Big
Ben
So this isn’t really
something that we did while on our trip but we definitely saw it a couple of
times. However, we never actually really came that close to the building. You
can see it when standing outside of Westminster Abbey and then you can also see
while riding the London Eye. Also, in case you didn’t know Big Ben is actually
the clock inside and not the actual tower itself.
6) Tower
of London
This was such a fun
experience because once you enter; it’s basically like a mini village inside.
This is also where the Crown Jewels are kept! So you get to go into one of the
buildings and see items such as rings, crowns, scepters, and other royal family
items. They also have other mini museums inside other buildings such as items
that were used by the military or gifts that have been given to them by other
countries. If you are really interested in the history of England and the royal
families then this is a definite must see!
7) Kensington
Palace
I absolutely loved
this palace! It was probably my favorite out of all of the palaces and castles
that we saw. It told a love story inside about Victoria and Albert who were two
members of the royal family. This palace also featured clothing items that had
been worn by female royal members throughout decades and possibly even
centuries (I don’t really remember how old all of the items were). One of the
other great things about this palace is that it is located inside of the parks
in London. Can you imagine having a palace inside of the parks you visited
every single day?! I was amazed and I totally wish we had a palace in one our
local parks haha.
8) Victoria
and Albert Museum
This was my favorite
museum and the reason why is because it was the fashion museum! They had a whole
section set up just for clothes throughout the ages and it was absolutely
wonderful getting to see all of that! One of the items that they had on display
was a Juicy Couture tracksuit, which I thought was really funny because I have
owned a few Juicy tracksuits in my life and this museum had them on display
haha!
9) Notting Hill
I loved walking
around Notting Hill! The entire neighborhood was absolutely gorgeous! Almost
all of the buildings are insanely expensive and I think it would be fabulous to
stay in one of the houses in Notting Hill someday. I loved the colors that
people had painted the outside of their houses and how most of them had little
gates in the front with a little porch area or front garden section. Each
person had decorated a little differently. Some of the houses had balconies and
others did not.
10) St.
Paul’s Cathedral
So this is where
Princess Di got married to Charles. This church was pretty large and all three
of us agreed that we preferred this church to Westminster Abbey. The architecture
was just beautiful and I also prefer the way the exterior looked. Westminster
is very similar to Notre Dame. This church wasn’t even really on our list until
we got to London and we were like “okay, we have to see as much as we possibly
can!” We definitely don’t regret visiting this church except we did end up
having a hard time trying to get back to the other side of London.
Bonus: I highly
recommend riding around on one of the cities double-decker buses. And no I
don’t mean one of the tourist buses; I mean the red ones that are all over the
city. I love how this is the public transportation that they get to use! It’s
crazy and adorable and I would ride public transportation everywhere if my city
had red double-decker buses (and looked like London haha!). It’s definitely an experience to try and
climb the stairs to the top while the bus is driving and even harder trying to
climb them on your way down so you don’t miss your stop.
Thanks for stopping
by!
Feel free to leave a
comment or share this with your friends!
XO, Steph
