Cheerio from London! 🇬🇧♥️👑 On our way home from Nigeria in spring 2024, we made an extended stop in jolly olde England to meet up with fam to watch footy, to roam the countryside immersed in all its charms, and to spend a couple days in the great city of London.
Tales from the Tower
The first item on the agenda was to go to the very heart of it: The Tower of London.
We went as early as possible to avoid the crowds, as the line to see the Crown Jewels gets batshit crazy quickly. Especially when the tour groups arrive. We high-tailed it directly to the jewels building and were able to go straight in, and as soon as we exited the line was loooooong.
We casually meandered through the Crown Jewels, marvelling at all the insane pieces of cloth, gold and jewels, but we couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow or give a chuckle at the little signs that say something like “this piece was ‘generously gifted’…” by countries the British Empire colonized. Ok. Sure, sure. 😏
After getting through the busy Crown Jewels part, we leisurely strolled through the Tower’s grounds. We met one of their loud ravens and watched the guards keep watch. We looked on in awe at all the blooms happening at the end of March in the cold, grey drizzle. It never ceases to amaze me how well plants thrive there. Even the tropical ones!
We explored the towers and looked at the most impressive prison wall etchings ever. How did we evolve from creating full on Latin script and intricate drawings on prison walls to single notches in sets of five? No dedication!
We then strolled through the armouries and visited the glass pillow where King Henry the VIII liked to kill women. I think he liked to kill anything and everything. Petulant bastard.
Once we left the armouries in the White Tower, which was built by William the Conqueror in 1078, the skies darkened and started to pour down on us. Typical London.
We decided to forego a visit to Tower Bridge and just take a couple pics in front of it. We then hit the Underground and took the tube back to the lovely Gyle Hotel and its welcoming entrance to warm up.
Westminster bits and bobs
Our second day in London found us walking the historical area of Westminster. We started at Buckingham Palace, then moved over to the golden Canada Gate, before strolling through St. James Park “oohing” and “ahhing” at all the birds and blooms. It’s such a beautiful park.
After the park, we made our way to Trafalgar Square to look up, way way up, at the statue of Wellington sitting atop a ridiculously tall column. The height of that column is silly, really. Then it was on to see 10 Downing Street, Big Ben and the buildings of Parliament.
We ended our afternoon crossing the Westminster Bridge to go high up in the sky to see the city from up high. You always gotta do The London Eye. The views!
Ending on a high note, literally
On our last night in London, we found ourselves going behind the secret bookcase door to enter the Síbín Speakeasy in the lovely Great Scotland Yard Hotel. We savoured the robust, bold notes of scotch and red wine while we listening to the smooth, silky notes of Bethannie Hare. Her voice was perfection. The drinks were perfection. The finale to this trip was perfection.
What a couple of days! And what a wondrous time exploring London, Manchester, and beyond.
