" Car services seem to be quite a bit cheaper on the 27th, "

The 27th is a Saturday so they aren't paying the congestion charge before noon.


Edit: Plus they likely do charge more on Boxing Day -- just like on Christmas. So the combination of a likely Boxing Day surcharge plus the congestion charge would add up.

I think this may have been mentioned up thread -- but Borough market will have just everything you might want to make a great Christmas dinner - some to cook yourselves and some prepared. The hours that week are Tuesday 23 December: 10am – 6pm and Wednesday 24 December: 8am – 3pm. But be prepared for HUGE crowds.

It closes down completely, not just much more thoroughly than the US. Just make sure you have reservations for ALL meals starting December 24-26.

I personally thing Borough Market is gross. It is one of the most touristy, most overcrowded things in London right now.

I like Borough Market very much. but it is a bit overwhelming. My sister refers to it as the "Diagon Alley of Food". I'm sure we'll pick up bits and pieces, but I do not want to try assembling a comprehensive holiday shopping out of it. I'm sure Tesco is mostly cheaper, anyway.

I'm not particularly concerned about reservations for multiple meals, since we'll mostly be eating in. If we want lunch somewhere on the 24th, I'll definitely reserve that, and ditto on the 26th if we want anything more pretentious than Wetherspoons. If we're out at Heathrow, it'll probably be the Toby Carvery of Langley (which we'll reserve). If we're still in central London it'll probably be random snacks and possibly dinner in.

We do have reservations for the 23rd, since we're doing the tea bus, and then going to Covent Garden.

And we have officially swapped Chur (overnight, we're still passing through) and Zurich for Stuttgart. That's going to be a long train day on the 18th, but we like trains, and we're hoping to be in Stuttgart more or less by dinnertime. Not booked yet, but we're probably in the Aloft near the train station (on points).

Thanks, guys! I'll probably have more specific questions on the various city segments closer to date, and possibly on trains as I'm able to start booking those, but this has been helpful for organizing my thoughts, and I think we're in good shape.