Great report so far. I love the theme of your trip

Saturday - Final Day

We didn't have much planned this day. A lazy morning where I did a little packing and checked over my list of things that I wanted to take back with me.

There were a few gifts I needed to pick up, so I made up a little itinerary to go to a coin shop (some Roman coins for my nephew), some Indian sweets from a shop up near Euston Station and a breeze through the Japanese store Muji. I also hoped to hit the Paul. A Young chocolatier. The loop took me about two hours but was a nice walk, it was a great day out. I got back to the hotel around 3 PM, did a little more organizing then Mom and I headed out.

We were headed back to the Tate Modern, this time we took the bus to St. Paul's, since it was a straight shot even though we knew at some point it was on "diversion".

The promenade and bridge were extremely crowded as it was the weekend. Still, it was exciting too. There was street artist that was making little enameled pictures on the bridge that everyone was stopping to look at.

The museum was also very crowded, but we went back to the Paul Klee exhibit and finished that up. I noticed both time that there were a lot of German folks there. Mostly I would listen in as other people talked about things and was amazed at home many fact they got wrong, you know, things that were posted on the wall of the exhibit. Anyway, if I rolled my eyes too much, I'd miss the art ...

Then we took a stroll through some of the other galleries, looking at some of the modernist installations and cubists.

Then we went up to the members lounge and shared a sandwich for dinner on the big deck. It was a nice evening, though we had to keep our jackets on.

We finished up with another little stroll through the gift shop then headed back over the bridge, found the tube and back to the hotel.

My flight was at 11 AM the next day though my mother's was about 90 minutes later, we were sticking together. We figured we'd leave by about 7:30 - the train would take about 1 hour with the walking and we'd get breakfast at the airport (to spend that last 16 pounds or so we had). I left my clothes for the next day and toiletries out, but otherwise I was all packed up.

We relaxed with some TV and I actually looked through my email (which I'd been avoiding most of the time).

Up Next - My Summary of Hits & Misses and Coulda-Shoulda-Wouldas

Did you try any Cadbury bars? If you did, has Kraft ruined them? The English Cadbury Fruit & Nut Bar used to be my favorite candy bar, but the Hershey-made US bars are nowhere near as good.

carolyn - I didn't pick up the standard bar, as I've had both the US and UK side by side in the past. I did pick up some Milk Chocolate Eggs and their Dairy Milk Bubbly bar (which I haven't tried yet).

I do agree that Kraft has ruined a lot of stuff, I know that Toblerone were better years ago, as were Terry's Oranges.

I also got a few Lion Bars (hard to find the States), Nestle Aero, a set of Nestle Wonka Marvelous bars, some Galaxy Minstrels, Crispy M&Ms (discontinued in North America) and Lindt had some Easter items I've never seen in the States as well.

I also got some Easter candies for my mother to take to the niece and nephew from me (Cadbury Spoon & Egg, some Percy Pig items and Green & Black's bar assortment).

I can't remember what else at the moment though!

Chocolate--wonderful purchases but how do you send them back without them melting a bit on the plane? Great report.

europeanvoice - I didn't have any trouble with melting on the plane. Some were in my carry on and some in my suitcase. I usually pack them to be on the interior (so clothing around them to insulate). So far everything did well, but it was March ... July is another issue, especially if you change planes and the suitcases sit on the tarmac in the sun.

Here's a little wrap up:

Places We Loved:

The British Museum Prints & Drawings Study Room - I would love to spend more time here, to be a local and visit once a month, checking out something new each time. Now I'm looking into something similar closer to me.

The William Morris Museum - easy to see everything in the whole museum and not be exhausted or pressed to breeze over anything. Very good cafe with a lovely view of the gardens/park.

Cheapside Hoard Exhibit at the Museum of London: the display was well done, easy to see the pieces up close and I felt like the didn't hold anything back ... they made sense of the whole thing and provided context where they could (with contemporary paintings of women wearing similar types of jewelry).

Selfridges Food Hall - I didn't fully appreciate it when I visited at first because I hadn't been to the others. It was much cleaner, easier to get around and more organized. I wish I'd gone back later in the trip.

Grocery Stores: I like chocolate, so I enjoyed the excellent selection of good quality chocolate bars at decent prices in all the stores. I didn't know all the brands well, so I'll be better informed next time. It was also fun that all the Easter candy was out, which are some of the better holiday treats.

Mistakes I Made

Pacing: I got tired. I know that I don't sleep well, and this trip was no exception. It's hard to start a trip after being up (red-eye) for so long and then expect to ever really get back into the groove.

Since I knew I had a day and a half without a fixed itinerary, I kept thinking that I'd go back to some places ... but that didn't happen.

Transportation: I really should have spent more time learning the bus lines. We used the bus only three times, partly because I didn't know what I was doing. I was very confident in the underground, but the buses were just harder for me to wrap my head around. It's far more convenient to take a bus, since there's no stairs/escalators and far less jostling. Yes, there's traffic, but you do get to see everything you miss underground.

Diet: I have a fussy stomach and some food sensitivities and that dictated some of the things we did, probably to the detriment of my mother's diet. Next time around we'll get some more complete stuff for the hotel room (more fruit/veggies and maybe breakfast cereal for more fiber). My solution to tummy troubles is to just not eat, but that's not really something I can force on my mother.

Regrets:

British Museum - I should have made a list of the things I wanted to see, as it's one of the places where you can really map that out ahead of time. As a result, I missed a few things on my list. But at least I know they'll be there next time.

St. Paul's - they have free organ recitals on Sundays in the later afternoon ... if I'd known that in advance I would have switched around our itinerary to be there.

A Real Afternoon Tea Service - I really wanted to have an actual afternoon tea with sandwiches and loose leaf pots. (Not high tea with dress codes and snooty people.) I got very close with the marmalade tea at Fortnum & Mason, but I would have preferred to do it with some company instead of by myself.

Kew Gardens - It turns out that the weather was pretty good, but somehow the other things on our list took priority.

People Watching: I wish I'd made more of an effort to find a spot to park myself to just watch people. The cafes at the museums didn't work for this, because they demand a turnover of the seats (understandable) and I'm not much of a drinker so pubs never quite fit the bill either. I should have found a cafe near the hotel or something there I could go have a tea in the late afternoon.

There were a couple of other destinations on our list that we thought we might fit in: Museum of Brands & Advertising, Tower of London (for the coins, which I enjoy) and a Buddhist temple I'd read about. There just wasn't time if we were going to keep our sanity.

Things I Did Right

My packing was spot on. There was only one shirt I didn't wear (because it wasn't as cold as I expected) and in every other way my attire and other goods served me well. I had four full outfits, all the same color palette so I could mix, match & layer. We did laundry on site on day four. My suitcase was easy to handle on the subway with my carry on. I had a cross body purse, which was heavy but at least small and organized. My trenchcoat was great, though only lined but not insulated, this meant I had to layer under for the 40 degree temps, it kept me dry and kept the wind out. I'm not much of a fan of hoods, but when it did drizzle, it was preferable to an umbrella.

Foot Care: I brought two well planned pairs of shoes, didn't over do it and checked my feet every night for any signs of blisters brewing. Usually if we went out in the evening I switched shoes to make sure my feet got as much care as possible.

Research was Solid - I made a google map of everything I was interested in. In the month or so leading up to the trip, everything went on there, so I could see what was close, what was outside the zone and the unlikely things that could be paired for an itinerary. Each day before we left, in addition to having my map on my phone, I also wrote out the directions (which tube, street addresses, phone if necessary, etc) before we left. This was far more helpful than the map at that point, and I usually pre-visualized so I could concentrate more on experiencing it than trying to figure out where I was going.

Budget: I did really well on this. Our plane tickets were under $1K each, and the room was under $200 a night... which was a little higher than I originally wanted, but the fact that it was a studio apartment with a kitchen pretty much made up the difference. We had far more room and had more control over what we were eating.

Most of our activities were free. We browsed the great department stores, popped into a few churchyards, and most of the museums were went to were free. On top of that we used the 2for1 for other exhibits.

Transpo: Our travel passes were for zones 1-3 (we went to zone 3 on 2 different occasions, so it did actually make sense for us when I ran the numbers). The fact that our hotel was on the Piccadilly meant that we just used the underground (cash ticket) for the airport transportation.

Spending Money: Total expenditures for both of us was 800 pounds including what we charged and all the cash we brought ... a little higher than I thought we would have done, but far more of it was stuff we brought home with us than paying entry fees or did include the transpo passes. We had three great meals at full service restaurants and the rest was more on the cafe snack level supplemented with leftovers and grocery store fare. I brought home a huge pile of candy and biscuits and jam and even a bottle of whiskey.

Location: Most of our destinations were on the Central or Piccadilly line, so it really made sense that our hotel was as well.

Final Thoughts

Know Yourself: I lead a pretty low key life. I don't go out in the evening much, though I like cultural events and museums, I tend to do one thing at a time and crave structure. So packing a lot of stimulation into one day is not really an enjoyable vacation. Planning ahead helped, but in the end, I had to be okay with not doing anything in the evening.

I'm already figuring out what my next trip will be. I'm hoping to do a bike tour in Provence in the next couple of years. I'm probably going to go to NYC for a few days later this summer and perhaps Acadia Nat'l Park, since I've never been.

lovely summary

maybe next time you could go kayaking on the Thames (:

http://kayakinglondon.com/

Lizzie, again – great report full of meaningful details and reflections. Bottom line, no one does EVERYTHING he/she plans on a trip to London. All the more reason to return, eh?

Great planning, great trip, great TR, thanks! And thanks for the William Morris museum - I'll have to put that on the list for my next visit.

Super report!

Lee Ann

What a great report. Exactly the sort of things I like to do. I must be the only person on earth that LOVES violet creams. I guess a 4th trip to London is in my future.

>>A Real Afternoon Tea Service - I really wanted to have an actual afternoon tea with sandwiches and loose leaf pots. (Not high tea with dress codes and snooty people.)<<

"High Tea" isn't posh at all! Foreign visitors often get this confused, but high tea was traditionally the late afternoon meal working class people used to have pre-1970's, consisting of cold meat or maybe fish and chips, followed by bread and jam washed down with cups of tea. Not to be confused with "afternoon tea" served in posh hotels, these days mainly to tourists.

High tea is now mainly a Northern English and Scottish thing.
I have been in Scottish hotels where it has been served around 6pm with dinner being served later. High tea is a less formal meal than dinner and is especially suitable for families with young children

This is a high tea menu http://theroyalgeorgehotel.co.uk/high-tea-menu.html
You can see how "dainty" it is ;-)

SharonG, my daughter loves the violet creams. Every time we go to London, we go to Charbonnel et Walker so she can get her fix. One was enough for me, but I do love some of their other chocs.

Lizzie, what a great trip you had! It doesn't really matter how many times I go to London, there is always more that I want to do than I get done.

What a wonderful trip report. I agree it would be easier to bring back the chocolate in cooler weather than in the summer months.

There is always more things to do than the time you have to do them in one trip. Reason enough to want to go back!

>>"High Tea" isn't posh at all!<<

There must be some interesting research to be done to work out how this particular variation occurred. I don't think (but I may be wrong) that "High Tea" has ever been used in the UK to indicate the doilies-and-fondant-fancies type of "afternoon tea", though to the extent that both approach a sit-down meal for relatively formal entertaining, I can see the overlap. But even in the same class setting, there would still have been a difference, I think: for working/lower-middle class families, high tea was an early evening meal, especially on a Saturday or if a new boyfriend/girlfriend was being introduced, but afternoon tea would probably somewhat earlier, and for, say, a visit from the vicar, or the new boyfriend/girlfriend's parents (and definitely in the front parlour).

At other times, middle and upper classes had afternoon tea (with varying degrees of formality) and dinner in the evening, where the working classes had "tea" soon after getting home from (usually hard manual) work. There might be something snacky to tide them over (not much more than "char and a wad") till a later meal, which might be "supper".

I'm wondering if there might have been a different usage in Ireland, and that that's what made it over the Atlantic.

That high tea menu MissPrism posted seems to have been poshed up a lot, too. Poached fillet of salmon? Ribeye steak? I don't think so!

When I was at school I had my dinner at dinnertime served by dinner ladies. After school I went home for my tea, then had supper (jam and bread and a cup of tea) before going to bed.

At university, dinnertime became lunch, tea became dinner and supper was the meal posh people had at the end of the day.

Time for tiffin anyone?