Our last day in London was Monday, October 6th. We had a full day planned, starting with a tour of the Tower Bridge at 10am.
We had a quick breakfast at McDonald’s because I wanted to see how their sausage egg McMuffins stacked up to the U.S. The verdict? U.S. > U.K. for this one!
The Tower Bridge was a five-minute walk from our hotel, so we walked over and started our self-guided tour. There were lots of signs and details about how the bridge was built and all the people involved in keeping it running. It was fascinating! What I loved most, though, were the kid-friendly placards scattered throughout the exhibits, complete with the most adorable cat that I quickly became obsessed with.
I also loved the glass floors of the bridge. I know these terrify some people, but I love them. I think they’re so cool!
Once we finished touring the bridge itself, we followed a winding path to the engine rooms to learn more about the engineering that powers the bridge. This was pretty cool because it showed impressive steam engines and the process they went through to raise and lower the bridge throughout the day. With each new room you entered, there would be a new steam engine going through a different process until you worked your way through the entire raising and lowering process. Pretty cool!
After our tour, we spent some time in the gift shop, where I bought another magnet and a print of the Tower Bridge. I love collecting local art when I travel, even if it’s mass-produced like this one likely was. But whatever. It’s pretty and I thought it was worth it.
Then we walked back to the hotel and played on our phones for a bit before walking to a nearby restaurant for lunch. I can’t remember the name of the restaurant, and I took exactly zero pictures, even though the place was so cute (especially the restrooms, lol). I ordered shepherd’s pie that was so delish! Shepherd’s pie might be my all-time favorite comfort food – yum, yum!
After lunch, we got an Uber to St. Paul’s Cathedral. Here’s where I come clean and say I wasn’t all that excited about this excursion. We had a small window of time (around two hours) to tour the cathedral, and my feet were hurting a lot by the end of the trip, so it seemed like it would be a big to-do for a lackluster experience. But my mom really wanted to tour St. Paul’s Cathedral, so off we went.
And man, I’m so glad we did because it might have been my favorite place in all of London. It was stunning. I couldn’t believe such a beautiful, holy, reverent place just seemed to be in the middle of London. As we were nearing the cathedral, I peeked out the window of the Uber and gasped when I saw the dome come into view. It’s just not something you see every day!
I would’ve liked another hour at St. Paul’s Cathedral, especially to climb some of the stairs and get a different vantage point, but we didn’t have the time and frankly, the energy. So we walked through the nave, dome, and quire while listening to the audio guide and taking in all of the incredible architecture. We took our time, sitting when we needed to, and walking when we wanted to see more of the cathedral.
We also visited the crypt, which was quite an interesting experience! We were most curious to see Florence Nightingale’s memorial, although it took us way too long to find it. (We probably passed it three or four times before we realized, sigh.)
Soon, it was back to sunshine-y London and another Uber back to the hotel. We had about 20 minutes of downtime before we had to get ready for afternoon tea at the Shard!
While I am not a tea drinker, my mom definitely is, and I wanted her to have an afternoon tea experience while we were in London. There is quite an array of options, as one might expect, but we opted for the Peter Pan afternoon tea because it looked like the most fun and had the type of menu that appealed to us the most.
We had a great corner seat, and I was delighted that I was able to order a mocha for afternoon “tea.” (Yes, coffee at 4pm. I had two and had no trouble sleeping because I AM BROKEN.) I’ll admit that the food was so-so, but we’re also picky eaters, and I would assume most people with normal palates would really enjoy the offerings! At this point, it has been over a month since afternoon tea, so I have no recollection of anything we ate, but I think there was a chocolate mousse my mom really enjoyed and some scones with clotted cream that I really enjoyed.
We had such a fun experience, though, and thoroughly enjoyed our tea and coffee and the gorgeous views. It was a great way to end our London trip, and we both agreed that while things didn’t unfold exactly the way we wanted them to, we had fun, and we definitely wanted to come back and do all the things we didn’t get to do. <3
Oooh fancy tea! That all looks very lovely. I can’t wait to visit!
Glass floors are so freaky-feeling!
I’d call that a pretty great way to end a trip! I always enjoy finishing by looking forward to the next one (in a low-key, unscheduled-for-now way).
I am bridgephobic since I was in Minneapolis when the I-35 bridge collapsed. I would have a lot of difficulties standing on the glass floor! You’re so brave!
But what was the bridge cat’s name!?!?!?!? I’d love that part of the bridge so much too!
I am so glad you ended up liking St Paul’s Cathedral! Do you feel like your feet hurting also had to do with your shoes or just from not being used to walking so much like you mentioned in a previous post?
OMG that cute little tea ship STAHP!!!
Bella! (I had to look it up, lol. I don’t remember seeing a name!)
I think it was just all of the walking. I’m not used to that much walking!
this trip! these pictures! SO SO amazing. It’s so great that you have such a perfect travel buddy in your mom 🙂
I am so grateful that my mom is such a great travel companion! We travel so well together, and I don’t take that for granted at all.
Those glass floors. Eeks. I don’t think of myself as having a big issue with heights, but even looking at the picture legit made me feel a bit queasy!
The idea of afternoon tea is so lovely. I could NOT drink coffee at that time in the afternoon, but I think it’s an amazing talent some people can drink caffeine late with no impact to sleep. I AM JEALOUS.
What a great last day! The weather looks spectacular. And St. Paul’s is so beautiful!
That bridge cat is adorable! I am very drawn to signage made for kids because that’s about my attention span/level of interest at museums and such TBH… I saw the tour bridge but did not tour it when I was in London.
We recently watched Mary Poppins (err, an 1.5 of the 2.5 hours of the show… still need to finish it!) and there is a part where they go by St. Paul’s Cathedral. Paul had a lot of questions about it and it’s a place Phil and I had both been – but separately. Out of everything I saw in London, that’s what I have the clearest memory of! We made it way up high in the cathedral. It was so gorgeous! And of course Paul was tickled that he shares a name w/ that gorgeous cathedral!
I’m glad you had a great time in London! You had some extenuating circumstances that made this trip challenging between back pain and your mom getting sick!
When I look at your goals at the very beginning of the year, Stephany, I actually didn’t notice any goal to travel to London this year. This, I think, is what makes this trip to London serendipitous.
It’s cool that something you weren’t looking forward to turned out to be one of your favorite things! It all sounds amazing! The glass floor would be freaky!!
I think the Tower Bridge is so cool (I only got to see it once on my forced layover on my trip to Germany when I got stuck in London for three days because of a snow storm! So rare!).
It sounds like a fantastic last day! 🙂
Next time I go to London, I’d like to do a fancy afternoon tea, but it would need to be when G is with me because it is something that would be better done with another person. I didn’t do the Tower Bridge either, so that will be going on my next time list too.
Ahhhhhhh. Glass floors… I’d have a panic attach right then and there!
Your London recaps are so wonderful and make me want to go back there. London is just so amazing. When I was 16, I went there for two weeks, then came back for 6 months to go to school. I then came back in 2010 when I was an adult, at 29. A different experience but great nonetheless. Tony went last spring for work and loved it (his first time).
You and mom make great travel companions!!
What a great day.
I had NO CLUE you could actually go up on tower bridge. I need t put that down for the next London trip. Also St. Pauls is gorgeous. I can see myself spending 2 hours there.
And ending it all with afternoon tea. How fun.
I remember those cute kid- and Stephany-focused placards on the Tower Bridge. I think I’ve mentioned our epic family story – I will have to share that on my blog, someday. It’s probably one of those funnier-if-you-were-there stories, but it’s still pretty good. 😉
So glad you loved St. Paul. Aren’t the cathedrals and churches in Europe astonishing? Not just their beauty, but their age. Also, FLO! She has a whole museum in London – I’ve actually been (hello, nerd) and loved it. I think I have a keychain… 🙂