You find no man, at all intellectual, who is willing to leave London. No, Sir, when a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
~ Samuel Johnson
I’d venture to say that Samuel Johnson was not speaking while under the influence of jet lag. While I obviously know London is an impressive city, I was surprisingly underwhelmed. I think it’s gotta be because of stacked stress, weeks of sleep deprivation, and jet lag. When I look back at photos now, I have fond memories of my time there.
And so the adventure begins
After a long overnight flight to Heathrow, we took the tube, a bus, and our weary bodies to the London district of Wandsworth. Luggage trailing behind us, we walked from the bus stop to our above-pub boutique hotel, Spread Eagle. What an adorable place. It was squeaky clean, recently renovated, and well decorated. The noise level was low and the employees were kind and accommodating. It had small-town charm for being in such a large city.
We settled in and took a moment to pause before heading to Westminster via a double decker, a train, and the tube. Came up the stairs from the Underground station and—BAM!—Big Ben was right there.
We walked over to Westminster Bridge and soaked in the scene. A steady stream of vehicles and pedestrians, a saxophonist playing “I’m Yours”, a foreigner selling red balloons, the London Eye slowly rotating, tourist boats below us on the Thames.
The Houses of Parliament
Then Big Ben sounded his 6:00 pm peal.
We walked along Great George St and stumbled upon this telephone booth conveniently placed for a photo op. I mean, can you get any more quintessentially London than this??
We continued on through St. James’s Park. My goodness, what a slice of heaven! Definitely my favorite part of London. It reminded me a lot of DC. We sat and watched the ducks, geese, swans, and pelicans before walking along the lake and under the willows toward Buckingham Palace.
This is what my garden in heaven looks like. Throw in a rope swing, a book, and my giggling children, and I couldn’t be happier.
Our journey continued down The Mall, past Trafalgar Square, past lots of beautiful flowers (I’m really wanting hanging flower baskets after seeing them everywhere here. I think I’ve avoided them because they remind me of my laborious teenage years working the greenhouses haha).
We wandered Great Scotland Yard (aka the entrance to the Ministry of Magic) and headed back to the hotel on another double decker. I fell asleep on the bus ride, but gratefully was smart enough to set an alarm on my phone beforehand (I once fell asleep on a train out of NYC and woke up way past my stop at the end of the line, oops).
I had a delicious serving of comfort food back at the pub beneath the hotel before calling it a night.
