London & Bath
September, 2023
Pre-departure
I have been to London twice before, but long ago and very brief. My husband had never been. This time I wanted not to move around too much, but to immerse ourselves in one of the great cities of the world. Since my husband tends to like smaller towns/villages, I added in Bath to give us a break from the big city. Plus, Bath is one of only two places in Europe where the whole town is a UNESCO World Heritage site (the other place is Venice, next on our list).
We watched several lectures on England on the Great Courses. We always want to know a bit of the history of a place before we go. We watched The Cathedrals and Medieval England and 1066 The Norman Conquest.
I will cover the following in this trip report; Sites and Activities, Accommodations, Food, Final Thoughts, Costs
Sites and Activities
Westminster Abbey-I had originally booked a morning time slot. However, several weeks before our departure, I received an email saying that we could not come at that time as the abbey had a private event going on. We could come at 1:30pm or any other day at a time of our convenience. We chose to go at 1:30 even though we knew it would be crowded. And boy, was it ever. When we got there, I asked several staff about the Verger tour, which I had planned to do. No one knew if the tour was being offered that day. Finally, the third staff person was the head of security and he helped. He said not to worry, there was a Verger tour the following morning at 11am that we could come back, at no additional charge for entry to the abbey. Thankfully, we did not have a scheduled/pre-purchased ticket to anything the following am, so we paid for the Verger tour and were good to go. We went through the abbey, including the Queens gallery. The following day we webt back to the abbey and took the Verger tour and were so glad we did. Tons of great information and you get to go where the rest of the touring public does not, like Edward The Confessors tomb. The abbey was still insanely crowded. It ended up being the attraction of our whole trip that won the prize for most crowded.
Churchill War Rooms-A fantastic museum, very well done. We love Winston, watched the movie the Darkest Hour. If you have any interest in the man or WW2, it's a must. The part I remember the most was when he said that when the United States was bombed by Japan, he slept so well that night because he knew that now Britain would win the war. I loved learning more about his private life etc. This museum was also crowded, but not insanely so.
Hampton Court Palace-This was one of the highlights of our trip. Huge palace, loved walking in the footsteps of the Tudor's. There is an excellent audio guide that comes with your entry. Loved the garden's as well and we even did the maze. Spent all day here and had lunch in the cafe. Did not feel crowded at all because of it's size. Wished we had time to explore the town of Richmond a bit, but too tired and you can't do it all in one trip.
SIX (The musical)-We had pre-purchased tickets to this musical and I think the place was sold out. At the Vaudeville theater in Covent Garden area. It wasn't quite what we were expecting, but we enjoyed it. The audience was very enthusiastic!
Kew Gardens-A UNESCO World Heritage site. If you love gardens, and we do, don't miss it. My favorite part was the Princess Diana conservatory. I have a special love of cacti and this is where they are housed. It did not feel crowded at all. We spent about 4-5 hours here including lunch in the cafe.
Bath Walking Tour-On our arrival day in Bath, we did the Mayor of Corps free 2 hour walking tour. Excellent, but we had a large group.
Thermae Baths-We were not impressed with this at all. Way over-priced for a dip in the rooftop pool, a steam and sauna. Many things were broken, like the elevator and dressing rooms.