3 days in London

You have booked one of our favorite London hotels, so you are off to a good start.

London is a great walking city, especially using the pedestrian Thames path along the river. You can access it from St. Ermin’s by crossing the Westminster Bridge (use the right side sidewalk as you face the river to avoid the shell-game scammers and associated crowds). You get great views of the Parliament buildings and Elizabeth Tower from the other side of the bridge. Head downriver on the path as far as you like——we have walked the whole thing, all the way to Greenwich, and it’s all good.

For the Tower of London, you could walk one way, using the beautiful Tower Bridge to cross from the Southbank side to the Tower. Then return by Thames Clipper (now called Uber Boats. They are part of the London transport system and you can pay with an Oyster Card or contactless credit card. There is a pier by the Tower and one at Westminster.

https://www.thamesclippers.com/plan-your-journey/route-map

Take a ride at night to see the illuminated River art installation—-special lighting on all the bridges.

https://illuminatedriver.london/

Two of our favorite places are the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Treasures in the Sir John Ritblat Collection at the British Library. The V & A is huge so I decide what I want to see for about 3 hours; the Treasures are amazing but can be seen in 1.5 hours and they have great lunch offerings there.

My favorite palace was Hampton Court. Seeing the musical SIX the night before made it even more interesting. It’s well signed and audio guide so you don’t need a tour.

I always enjoy combining St. Paul’s with a walk across Millennium Bridge to Bankside and Borough Market for lunch. Aside from all the major sights, I thought the Wallace Collection was pretty unique and amazing.

Old Bank Pub on Strand is really nice if you’re in the area. Probably the best pub food I had.

One of the highlights of our stay in London in June, 2023, was a tour of Royal Albert Hall.

Theatre every night. https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/whats-on/sep

Hampton Court Palace

https://www.hrp.org.uk/hampton-court-palace/#gs.dcvy3y

Bletchley Park
https://bletchleypark.org.uk/

Pubs:
The Seven Stars
Royal Oak by the Columbia Flower Market
The Black Lion in Kilburn
The Ship Tavern near Holborn Station
The Antelope in Belgravia

We were in England for July, staying in Central London at the tail end. It is an eminently walkable city.

I was up and out by 9 am and managed to get in a couple of two to three hour walks in before my daughter roused herself. One day, I went to The Bank of England to change sone old notes and the walk from Bloomsbury covered Greys Inn, the courts, the Royal Exchange, St Mary le Bow and a few other churches, The Royal Exchange, Daunt Books, St Paul's Cathedral walk by, a sojourn in the grounds of Greys Inn to read my book.

The second day: Bloomsbury to Trafalgar Square, Pall Mall, a walk by Buckingham Palace, Green Park, walk by The Ritz, a stop at Floris, stop for tea at Waterstone's, walk through Soho and back to Bloomsbury. That day we bussed to Hampstead for lunch and a walk on the Heath to Kenwood House, whose cafe unexpectedly closed early at 4:00 pm. I did 30,000 steps according to my watch.

I second the suggestion of Bletchley Park. If you are a real computer/math geek, the National Computing Museum is next to it. We went to both last year on a short break to Milton Keynes for another of our geeky interests: Take That. Another story.