Europe Travel Notes | Part 2

Travel to Europe part 2 – London       3-1-23.




Waking up in London, England, I felt classy. This was the day we were scheduled to have tea on the Kensington Palace grounds. We had been watching the weather, and it was going back on forth on to rain or not to rain. But, our first morning it was sunny and although crisp and chilly, there was no rain.

I think it's ok for us adults to get excited about having Tea in a royal place!

Our apartment was near the Gardens and park of Kensington Palace. The foilage wasn't in bloom, the season is winter, but it was still pretty. They have these birds that look tropical. I thought maybe it was someones pet bird that had escaped, but then I saw more of them and was relieved they were wild. We walked into the park and strolled a good hour and half before our tea reservation. We found the Princess Diana memorial walk and stopped to admire the lovely swans swimming in the little lake.

Chris dared me to tap the head of one who was attempting to take a rest on the pavement. I love birds, so I did. Then walking further, we saw signs that said, “possible bird flu- don’t interact with the birds!” Eye roll, I just had to touch the bird…

Chris and I aren’t up to speed on the Royals, except for what we see in the news and I watch little pieces of history blips here and there. So, we walked around while I did my best to explain to Chris in my American accent what I knew about this royal line. Like it or not, the Royal family line of England has a lot of influence on the world today. I can't imagine what an invasive life they have to live. I think I would hate it.

These folks love their pedigree dogs here. And they use words and phrases like “he’s a bit chatty isn’t he?” or “that’s rubbish!” In attempt to tell someone to move on, they might say “Jog on.” Everywhere, you here the English accent answering someone else with a question in conversation saying “Ya?” And what is a “quig?”

Our table for tea was in the sun near the window, with the Kensington Palace right behind us. The Kensington Palace is where the young royals might live. Princess Diana lived there for nearly 15 years. We saw the statue in the garden that her sons dedicated to her most recently. What a neat thing, the two of us sitting in that location just enjoying ourselves and feeling like royalty ourselves with the expectancy of beautiful food coming to us soon. Its a sum of moments that are stored as warm fuzzy memories. The parlor didn't disappoint. Except the fish sandwich, I could have done without. The tea parlor brought us out a special plate and on it was one extra dessert with chocolate words of “Happy Anniversary.” Chris had answered their question when making our reservation that we were celebrating this. But he didn’t know they would bring us that. It was enjoyable, peaceful and we sat there a good long while talking about life and our history and just soaking up the beautiful time together.

From there, we found the double decker city tour bus we had tickets for and got on. The entire bus line we took lasted for about 3 hours, and we didn’t know it was that long of circular tour. But it was nice to be able to get acquainted a little with the city of London. Sometimes you must wait for a seat on the top and have to sit at the bottom. You plug in headphones and listen to the recorded people tell you about the sites you’re driving past. We passed the Big Ben and Westminster Abbey at dusk. The sun setting behind all that grandness was neat to experience. The bus makes several stops and people get on and off when they wish too. We finally decided to get off near food and walk back to our apartment rather then get transportation. Chris found us an old Irish pub for dinner. We climbed to the upper floor and it was just us for a good long while. We got chilled sitting on the top of the bus, so it was nice to sit and warm up over burgers, fries banana pie and toffee pudding. I snapped a picture of the Royal family tree on the dimly lit walls on our way out.

The 2nd full day we spent in London, we hopped on the bus only a few times and let it take us around to the stops we wanted off on. The first thing we did was Madam Tussaud’s. This is a wax museum which is wax figures of famous or historical humans and characters, and you can have pictures with them and see them as if they were in person.  London was the home of Madam Tussaud, so I expect this was the best wax museum to visit. These are all over the US as well. The line to get in is long and we got a reservation ticket for a certain time. They only let a certain amount of ticket holders in at different times so to keep the crowds from being nuts. We skipped the Alien and Crimes of London exhibits. I really enjoyed the ride they have. It takes you on a historical journey of London. I know these museums or not everyone's cup of tea, but I like them. It gives me more of a visual of people in real life.

We observed a large community of middle eastern Culture here. Many shops and tiny places to eat are written in Arabic  lettering. It seems strange that a middle eastern culture wants to mix with a history like England’s. They are vastly different. I am used to America, where it seems we are just a melting pot of unique people groups, but for some reason, the British culture and middle eastern culture mixing seems like oil and water.

My mother-in-Law really loves this store called Fortnum and Mason. It’s a special British gift store and place to eat. We made the trek down the streets of opulence and found it, and went in. We bought her a little something from the store for her birthday.

There are so many flagship stores here, I think 67. We went into this store called Selfridges who boasts of having the world’s largest shoe department! This, I had to see. I love shoes. They had a salesman in each brand of shoe! Many shoes were over 1,000$ a pair. I didn’t splurge. This store took up an entire city block, I think.

We walked our legs off. We walked to the Westminster Abbey and bought a crusty baguette sandwich for lunch. I didn’t love it. We sat on a curb and ate and took a break. I fed the pigeon, after Chris told me not too. I sang the song “Feed the Birds” from Mary Poppins while I did. He couldn’t help but laugh. We bought a ticket into the famous Abbey. The architecture was amazing. The place is like 700-years-old. Still operates as a catholic church and they still do the royal coronations and weddings and funerals there. I think King Charles will be sitting in the basic Coronation chair this coming May to be crowned officially the King. We saw that throne. It wasn’t super impressive, it is pretty old.

Our thoughts about the Abbey, It was basically a large cemetery. Over 3,000 people have been buried there, under the floor, in the walls, on top of the floor…. So many tombs. I don’t understand why on earth Charles Darwin is buried there. His theory has led many to Hell. Or Stephen Hawking? He surely wasn’t spreading the gospel. They even have postcards for sale in their shop of his grave. Many things about Catholicism remain head scratching to me.We didn’t do much except for observe here. It was neat to be at a location where so many historical things occurred. I love the cathedrals architecture. I wish we still built buildings like these. Instead, we choose some yawn worthy, cheaply built, fastest route for our churches, homes and general buildings.

I requested a thrift store, so Chris took me after we stopped for a coffee and pastry break. I found a few old tins with the late Queen on them. I really don't collect british royalty


Our time wasn’t long in the city of London, considering how old this place is and rich with history. The tourist part of the city is ready for the wealthy to open their pocket books, so much shopping.

The next morning, we took an uber to the Gatwick Airport, which was an hour away. We were debating on whether to have taken the train, but then decided to just do the car because it was less stress with all our bags. Our driver was quite talkative. He was originally from Romania. He told us how he wants to develop a life where he and his family do not have to slave their lives away in work in order to live. He wanted to buy a home in Greece and rent it out till they wanted to move there. He said a great many places to live in the London area were being purchased by wealthy people who needed a place to put their money, but the homes and apartments were never really lived in. He said the socialized healthcare wasn’t the best in service unless you had an emergency. He was grateful they didn’t have to pay for anything but the service part of it, you had to wait a good long while for an appointment. We had great conversation with him. My takeaway from that, was that he was wasting his intellect on driving a car. But, maybe he is doing what he is supposed to do in this season for him.


We went through security yet again after doing a “do it yourself” bag check. We then ate some lunch while overlooking the planes. Their system that notifies you about the gates and planes wasn’t working well. While I was in the bathroom, (that seemed way, way further then they should have been) Chris was being told by his app that our gate was closing and that we were missing the plane! He shouted into the bathroom for me to come out, because my phone was on silent, and I didn’t hear him try and call me. We ran as hard as we could through the people, down the stairs, down the hallway and reached our gate out of breath. The line of people was still there and boarding. Big sigh of relief. I for one just get embarrassed by situations like these and cope by telling myself I will never see these people again… This was our plane to Rome, Italy.

The plane took off, we internally said goodbye to London for the time being. The flight was about 2 hours and we got to see the Swiss Alps from the top!


Some of these airlines charge you for any type of drink, including water. In which I had read never to drink the tap water from a plane. Apparently, it’s disgusting stuff.

It seemed like everyone needed to use the bathroom at the front on this plane. Except me. Maybe I was dehydrated again.

I always need some time to mentally adjust whenever I go somewhere new. Going from London to Rome is no exception.

I think I could be happy visiting England again. I would like to stay in a place like the Cotswold’s. I have seen so many pictures of cute cottages and draping flowers and lush grass. Some of my heritage is English, maybe that is why I feel right at home!