marlene_

This wonder forum and the input I received while planning our first trip to London was immensely helpful. Thank you all for the great advice. To ‘pay it forward’, below is my trip report in hopes that it will provide some useful information to others in the planning stages. We are two 60+ year olds that traveled at the end of June, 2014.

Day 1…. (Monday) Arrival, Travelcards
Our flight from Dulles Airport to Heathrow was uneventful. We arrived at the brand new Terminal 2 at 6:30AM. Getting through security/customs was a breeze. We had made arrangements from justairports.com for a taxi to pick us up. (We booked them online from home in the US—this cost us a little more (£56 to St. Katharine Docks) than had we paid by cash. Thankfully, our driver was waiting for us as promised. (Unlike the fiasco we had in Paris…another story.) The ride from the airport was at times nail-biting—weaving in and out, tailgating and motorcycles driving between lanes of stopped traffic. Of course, at this hour we were hitting rush hour traffic. We were amazed to rarely hear a car horn honk---so unlike major US cities. The drive took about 90 minutes to arrive at our rental in St. Katharine Docks.

The owner of the flat was very accommodating in allowing us to check in early—9AM! The flat was lovely and the view of the marina was very relaxing. After a 90 minute siesta to recharge our batteries, we headed out to get the coveted Travelcards from the National Rail Service—our main objective for the day. (NOTE: These are not Oyster cards) Since we wanted to walk over the Tower Bridge and check out the Southwark area, we headed to the London Bridge Train station—not to be confused with the London Bridge Tube station. With our 2”x2” head-shot photos in hand that we brought from home, (Took them on our camera—didn’t pay for passport photos.) we bought two 7 day passes for zones 1 & 2 for £31.40 each. Don’t balk at the cost—it was a bargain. The Travelcards can be used on bus, tube or trains—but the biggest savings came with the 2 for 1 coupons that could be used in conjunction with the Travelcard. Thanks to fellow Fodorites that turned us on to this great savings!! Prior to leaving on our trip, we went to www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london and printed out the coupons we thought we’d use.

After completing our main objective for the day, we walked along the Thames. The weather was beautiful and lots of people were out enjoying the sunshine. We grabbed a sandwich at the Hay’s Galleria. They had a large screen set up along the walkway there to watch the matches at Wimbledon. We worked our way back to the Tower Bridge and decided to use our first 2 for 1 coupon—the Tower Bridge Exhibition….£9 saved! (cha-ching!) It was fun to walk across the upper part of the bridge and we enjoyed it but it definitely is not a ‘must see’. We then hit Waitrose for some groceries before returning to our flat. Dinner on the balcony consisted of wine, prosciutto, cheese and crackers while overlooking the marina—divine!

Day 2 (Tuesday)….Westminster, War Rooms, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar
We adjusted to the time change perfectly—slept in until 6:30AM and were out the door by 8:30AM. First on our list was Westminster Abbey. We rode the District Line (tube) from Tower Hill. Westminster opened at 9:30AM and we had a short line to wait in before admittance. Senior rate admission was £15/ea—no 2 for 1 here. The audio guide was included, though. While in the Abbey, I kept remembering William and Kate’s wedding being held here and all its grandeur . Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin are buried here. We spent almost 2 hours there and hit the gift shop afterwards where I made a couple of purchases.
We walked to the Churchill War Rooms…another 2 for 1 coupon site …£17.50 saved (cha-ching!) and included the audio guide. Fascinating place even for those who are not war buffs.
Hungry for lunch, we stopped at Pickles for some sandwiches ‘take away’ (to-go) and had a little picnic at St. James to enjoy the lovely weather. Lots of other people had the same idea—it was a busy spot.
With stomachs full, we walked thru St. James’s Park to Buckingham Palace to take some photos. Buckingham Palace is open to visitors in August and September when the Queen is away on holiday, so this was going to be a walk-by. We were advised by Fodorites to skip the changing of the guard here because of the crowds and time wasted—good advice, in our opinion. We were able to zoom in with our camera to take photos of the guards out front. We were struck with how regular street traffic zoomed so close to the Palace—that would never happen at the White House!
We then walked back past Westminster Abbey and onto the Westminster Bridge to get the obligatory photo of Big Ben and the House of Parliament.
Trafalgar Square was next on the list…(Sorry, my notes don’t indicate how we got there—oops.) I had read where you could do some brass rubbings at St. Martins of the Fields Church. Unfortunately, it was later in the afternoon and no one was around. The plates I saw to use didn’t interest me, so we skipped that.
The National Gallery was right in front of us but we were running out of time and steam and opted to fit it in another day, if possible.
We took the red double-decker bus #15 back to Tower Hill. We left Trafalgar at 4:30PM….(Note to self….take the tube during rush hour!) It took us 45 minutes to reach our final stop!
Dinner was at the Dicken’s Inn which is right in St. Katharine Docks. Good food.

Day 3 (Wednesday)….Cotswolds
Today was out day tour of the Cotswolds with International Friends tours. We visited Bampton—the site where many village scenes in the “Downton Abbey” TV series are filmed as well as Cogges and Swinbrook. Blenheim Palace, the home of Sir Winston Churchill was also on the tour.
Our scheduled pick-up point was outside the British Museum at 7:20AM. Being a bit paranoid about being late, we opted to take a taxi as opposed to using public transportation. Plenty of taxis could be found at the corner of E. Smithfield and Thomas More St. We flagged one down in no time and arrive at our pick-up point with plenty of time to spare. (Fare was £14.20.) After a few more pick-up stops by the tour bus, we were on our way.
Our first stop, after a 2 hour drive (traffic accident on freeway) was Cogges Farm in Oxfordshire. This is a working farm that dates to the 10th century. It was such a lovely bucolic setting with lovely gardens—great photo ops here! There was also a little food area where we had our first tea & scone with clotted cream. OMG…it was delicious! I tried not to think of the clotted cream clogging my arteries—totally worth every calorie!!
Our next stop was at Bampton where many of the Downton Abbey TV series is filmed. We are fans of Downton and enjoyed seeing the filming sight. It was a quaint, picturesque town. Lunch was at the Swan Inn in Swinbrook. The food was good but the service was s-l-o-w. There was a ‘footpath’ near the inn. We learned that a footpath in England is protected by a 1000 yr old rule that allows the public to cross private land. There is even stepping stones to climb over any stone fencing that one might encounter.
Our final stop was at Churchill’s grave site and Blenheim Palace—home to Winston Churchill. The palace was quite grand with lots of acreage--although it paled in comparison to Versailles. Churchill’s grave is in an unassuming spot in a graveyard of an old church nearby. (FYI…A graveyard is always attached to a church where a cemetery is not. Who knew??)
The tour bus dropped us off at the Bond Street tube station (Jubilee line). We took that two stops then hopped off at Westminster to catch the District line home.
Dinner was at Elements—a quiet spot at Tower Hill. The food was excellent.

More to follow......

janisj

Looking forward to the rest -- I love being in England in June -- the loooooooong daylight and usually nice (or nice-ish) weather. If you had a flat w/ a balcony overlooking the Marina I think I stayed in that same one a year ago -- was it a one bedroom?

One little correction: >>the home of Sir Winston Churchill was also on the tour.<< Blenheim wasn't Winston's home. He WAS born there (his mother was visiting) but the house belongs to a different branch of the Churchill family (cousins) / The Duke of Marlborough

ElendilPickle

Super trip report so far!

Lee Ann

europeannovice

Great report. Looking forward to the rest. Thanks for posting.

marlene_

Janisj--Yes, the flat was a one bedroom (Sandpiper 42). Alas the owner informed us they would be selling it at the end of the year. Thanks for the correction on Blenheim as Churchill's birthplace and not his actual home. Regardless, it was impressive. You are right, the extra long daylight in June was a bonus.

janisj

I stayed in a different flat. I <i>think</i> Sandpiper is over on the east side of the complex along Thomas More St and near the Waitrose - right? I've always stayed on the other side of the basin near the Dickens Inn and Indian Restaurant.

flanneruk

I'm glad you enjoyed your Wednesday day out.

But the tour organisers really weren't altogether practising honest advertising. Blenheim, the adjacent Bladon church, Bampton and Cogges Farm aren't in the Cotswolds: Swinbrook (just) is.

This isn't just pedantry: the Cotswolds have distinctive, undulating, fields and woodland (of which you get only a teeny hint at Swinbrook), on a limestone base which means quite different vegetation and livestock: the characteristic Cotswold sheep breed, for example, can scarcely survive (their feet rot) on the muddier soil of the plane Woodstock, Cogges and Bampton are built on, so the surrounding countryside even has different sheep.

Trouble is, of course that with Banpton's recent fame, there are now sites that are kind of "must-see"-ish on the Cotswolds' doorstep - and they probably add up to an experience closer to what many people really want to see than the real thing.

Obviously, most of us don't mind: keeps our streets clear of coaches. And the burghers of Bampton can suffer the indignity of having their couple of million quids' worth of house, on which they've spent even more redecorating, called "quaint".

irishface

marlene, thanks for your TR. I am off to England in September so I am taking careful notes. Thanks for giving the distinction between graveyard and cemetery--I didn't know that bit of trivia. Always good to have something up the sleeve for family gatherings when we try to stump each other with bits like that.

Flanner, thanks for filling in what makes the Cotswolds separate from the surrounding areas. Another good bit to stash away.

bilboburgler

on for the ride

marlene_

Janisj---Yes, we were off Thomas More, close to Waitrose.

Flanneruk---Well, live and learn. Loved the countryside just the same.

latedaytraveler

Hi MARLENE,

Following along on your London adventure. In my current trip report I describe the same tour to the Downton sites and Blenheim. (under Friday, June 20) We had a great day. Do you recall the guide's name? Ours was Debbie, an Oxford native who was excellent.

FLANNER,

"This isn't just pedantry: the Cotswolds have distinctive, undulating, fields and woodland (of which you get only a teeny hint at Swinbrook),..." Thanks for the clarification. I thought that Swinbrook and surrounds were particularly lovely. Hope the locals are benefiting from the great success of the series.

marlene_

Day 4 (Thursday)….Hampton Court Palace
Because rain was in the forecast for later in the week, we decided to head to Hampton Court Palace while we had good weather. I was eager to see the gardens there. We were on the fence as to whether we should visit Kew Gardens or HCP….HCP won out. We took the District line to the Embankment station where we were to catch the Northern line to the Waterloo Rail station. From Waterloo we were to take the South West Train to Hampton Court. I say were because our plans took a turn when we got off at Embankment to find the Northern line was not stopping at Embankment for the next few months. So we walked to Charing Cross, caught the Northern line there to Waterloo where we caught the SW train to Hampton Court. The Waterloo train station was huge—must have had 15 train platforms! The train to Hampton Court runs every 30 minutes. As luck would have it, we just missed a train by 2 minutes. Oh well. Total travel time to Hampton was 2 hours from Tower Hill. The palace was a short walk from the train station. (BTW, our travel cards were good for zones 1 & 2. Hampton Court is in zone 6. We were advised to get a one day pass (£8.90 /ea) instead of an extension on our cards that would have cost £11.70/ea.)
The palace was as expected—very large with 67 rooms and 241 chimneys! It was home to Henry VIII and his six wives, hence its nickname, “House of Pleasure”. It sits on more than 1000 acres. The gardens were lovely with lots of perennial borders. The oldest hedge maze (over 300 yrs old) is there which we had to do. Yes, we eventually figured out how to reach the center and then took the short cut out. Lunch was at the coffee shop there. We used our 2 for 1 coupon at Hampton—£18.20 saved (cha-ching!)
Dinner was a L’ulvio near Charing Cross. Another good meal.
One regret for today was that we didn’t stop at Wimbledon which was on the same train route as Hampton. The famous matches were going on and we dreaded dealing with the crowds. In hindsight, we wish we would have at least check it out.

Day 5 (Friday)…………Tower of London, St Paul’s Cathedral, Ceremony of the Keys
We arrived at the ticket booth 15 minutes prior to the Tower’s opening and were through the gates by 9:15AM. Cost was £22/ea, but we had a 2 for 1 coupon….savings of £22 (cha-ching!) We went directly to the building that housed the Crown Jewels. We had read the lines there can be very long. This was a great time-saving tip as we walked right in. The jewels were astounding! You stand on a people-mover that takes you past the enclosed glass cases of all the crowns, scepters and gold. Good thing, too because you just want to stop and gawk! After seeing the jewels, we backtracked to on one of the Beefeater tours that run every 30 minutes. Our ‘yeoman’ was entertaining and informative and the tour lasted about one hour. The tower was used as a prison and was the site of some beheadings (Anne Boleyn, to name one). Gruesome forms of torture are also on display. In the White Tower Museum, there are suits of armor as well as the actual execution ax and chopping block. We spent 3.5 hours here and could have easily spent more time but we were getting hungry and went in search of some sustenance. I had just the place in mind on this beautiful sunny afternoon.
We rode bus #15 to St. Paul’s but first went to the nearby New Change Mall to check out the terrace restaurant, Madison. Unfortunately, we could not be seated without a reservation. (Guess everyone had the same idea.) So, we ‘settled’ for lunch at Barbacoa (Jamie Oliver’s restaurant) for a tasty meal.
We walked from the mall to St. Paul’s. Cost for two was £29 (no 2 for 1 ) which included an audio guide. It was beautiful inside and the dome was impressive. We decided to walk up to the Whispering gallery –a mere 257 steps. From there, we walked up to the Stone Gallery and then finally up to the Golden Gallery. Most of these 528 steps were on circular staircases which tend not to be the easiest—especially my DH with size 12 shoes! The view from the top gallery was beautiful….no need to ride the Eye if you hit this on a nice day like we did.
We took the #15 bus back to the flat and had a light meal at the flat.
We had to be back at the Tower of London at 9:30PM for the Ceremony of the Keys. I had requested two free tickets 5 months prior. It was a bit of a hassle making the request as I needed to include two International Response Coupons for postage that are no longer sold in the US. Fortunately, we have friends that live in Windsor, Canada who were able to get them for me. There is a limit to 50 people to this ceremony and I felt lucky to get tickets. The Ceremony of the Keys is the traditional locking up of the Tower of London and has taken place each night, without fail for at least 700 years….repeating the same phrases each and every night—one guard draws his bayonet and says, “Halt! Who comes there?”…”It is the Queen’s keys.” is the reply. I would have to say the 40 minutes we were there was somewhat of a let-down. The only good thing was we got some great nighttime photos afterwards (no photos or speaking during the ceremony allowed) of the Tower Bridge and Shard.

marlene_

Latedaytraveler--We had two groups on Wednesday's tour. Debbie was with the other group.

europeannovice

Marlene,

Glad you went to Hampton Court Palace. It was one of our favorite places we visited. We spent 5 and 1/2 hours there and really enjoyed it.

The Tower of London too--another great venue to spend hours.

Isn't the view from the top of St Paul's worth the climb?

Great report.

latedaytraveler

Hi MARLENE,

Really enjoying your report. I am glad that there were two groups taking the DOWNTON LOCALES/BLENHEIM trip - only 10 on our tour.

Wonderful that you were able to climb to the dome of St. Paul's and enjoy the view.

PatrickLondon

The tennis at Wimbledon is quite a way from the Wimbledon main line station: you wouldn't have seen anything of any great interest anywhere near the station, and would have had to spend a couple of hours to get any great sense of the event. So don't feel too bad about it.

marlene_

PatrickLondon--Thanks for pointing out that skipping Wimbledon wasn't a huge loss. Feeling better about our decision.

marlene_

Europeannovice--I loved the gardens at Hampton Court. It was a favorite of mine as well. The view from the top of St. Paul's was beautiful....my DH thought I was out to kill him with the walk up! LOL

marlene_

Day 6 (Saturday)……….V & A, Shopping, Afternoon tea
Our luck with the great weather ran out and because of the rain, we scratched going to the Portobello Market. Instead we took the District line to the V & A museum—getting off at South Kensington. We were delighted to find there was a tunnel from S. Kensington tube directly to the V&A—no dodging raindrops necessary. Admission to the V&A is free. We focused on seeing the jewelry, miniature portraits, tapestries, furniture and ceramics.

It was now pouring rain, but we walked anyway to our next stop, Harrods. Well, now I know why it is referred to as Horrids. It probably was a combination of it being a Saturday, it raining AND the sale they were having—that the place was mobbed with people. I wanted to see the memorial to Princess Diana that is in the store. We found it to be kind of eerie. The food court was wall to wall people—no place to sit to have a bite. I did make a small purchase there and then out we went to catch bus #9 (or could have taken #10) to take us to Kensington Palace where we had reservations at the Orangery for Afternoon tea. Despite what other reviews I had read about the tea at the Orangery being rather ordinary, it fit our needs perfectly and we enjoyed the tea there. Cost was a total of £27.50 for tea sandwiches, scones, dessert and two pots of tea. The plates and cups were beautiful china with a blue and gold pattern.

Following the tea, more shopping was in order. We took the Central line to Oxford Circus then walked down to Regeant St. Lots of upscale stores are here. We stopped in Liberty and Hamley’s toy store. Hamley’s was fun to walk through—four floors of every kind of toy imaginable. We ended up at Fortnum Mason—a tea shop plus a whole lot more. Found some wonderful ‘London’ things there to take back as gifts.

We wanted to go to Poppies for fish and chips for dinner. We took the Victoria line from Green Park south for one stop and switched to the District line to head east to Aldgate East. We then walked up Commerce St to get to Poppies. Poppies in known for their fish and chips and is a small diner filled with 50’s memorabilia. The place was packed. The portions were enormous and the food was very good.

Feeling lazy, we hopped on bus #67 to Aldgate then took the District line home to Tower Hill.

SB_Travlr

Great TR -- revving me up for our trip next year!

When I was a student (waaay back in the 60s) I had a summer job at Harrods, (before it became Horrids) which was hard work and a wonderful experience. On my break, I used to escape to the Flower Hall (sadly, no longer exists.) It was a huge tiled room, cool to keep the flowers fresh, with the sound of the fountain in the center. I loved it!

Marlene, where did you rent your flat from? Sounds great.