One week in London (March 2016)

We just returned from a week in London, us and 2 adult sons. I will start by saying that London was not at the top of my list of "must-go-soon" places, but now I can't wait to go back. We rented a flat within 5 minutes of the Kings Cross/St. Pancras underground/train station, which made transportation extremely convenient. Even getting there from the airport was a straight shot on the Tube. Our sons did an overnight to Paris on the Eurostar, so that worked out well too, since the train departs from St. Pancras. We arrived on the morning of the 17th and returned on the 23rd, and it never rained, although it was always chilly.
As recommended by others, our first day we stayed outside as much as possible. We dropped off our things, walked to Fitzrovia to an all gluten-free bakery, Beyond Bread, for lunch (2 celiacs in our foursome). The place was amazing, great sandwiches, pastries, bread, coffee. The walk there was quite interesting, taking us through London City College, among other places, as well as some nice neighborhoods. After lunch, we kept on going and covered parts of SoHo, Fitzrovia, Covent Garden including the market, then went on to Trafalgar Square after stopping at a pub, and ended up at Westminster, where we took in a session of Parliament (House of Commons) where the budget was being debated. By then we were a bit worn out so we took the Tube to Piccadilly and took in some of the "sights" before walking back to the flat, with a stop to have some very good Indian food.
The second day our sons left for Paris at 5:40AM and we slept in, so we did not leave the flat until 11 or so. We ended up going to the Portobello Market in the Notting Hill section and spending most of the afternoon in that area. Very interesting, some good deals, and very nice people. On the way back we stopped at Leicester Square and bought tickets to see a play the night.
Saturday we had tickets for a football match, so my wife and I went to St. Paul's first thing in the morning, then the bakery, then back to the flat to meet with my sons who were back from Paris. Took the Tube and the train to the Selhurst area to watch Crystal Palace play Leicester (first place team in the Premier League). This was just a lot of fun, as the fans are singing and chanting non-stop. A comment on St. Paul's - they make a big point of noting that there are no statues/images of saints, however the place is a museum of military men. From Victoria we walked and ended up at a Pizza Express (good option for celiacs too) before heading home.
Sunday was museum day, starting out with the British Museum (impressive), a stop at BrewDog, where they have gluten-free beer (sometimes on tap), then the Tate Modern (not impressed), and a walk on the South Bank to get to the Tower Bridge. This was a nice day, a bit different from the others since we spent more time inside. That night the boys and I went out to a neighborhood pub to hang out - again, friendly folks everywhere.
Monday was "tour day, we used Golden Tours to go to Stonehenge and Bath. We enjoyed both places, and probably had enough time at both to see what we wanted to see. Of course, Bath is a place where we could spend a night also, but we visited the Roman baths and had a couple more hours to walk around. At Stonehenge, even though you are not allowed in the circle, on the one side you are pretty close to it.
Tuesday was, unfortunately, the attack on Brussels. Although saddened, we went to see changing of the guard, rented bikes in Hyde Park, and spent the rest of the day in Camden Town. RS covers it in his guidebook, but I will say if you want a neighborhood that is different and has a great market, don't miss Camden Town. The little food market by itself is worth the visit.
We are all now back home (DC, Detroit, NYC), but all agreed that London is indeed a great city and that we will be back, hopefully sooner rather than later.