Four Days in London

We had four days to spend in any city in Europe. We narrowed it down to a decision between Paris and London. I strongly leaned towards Paris, as I dreamed of delicious pastries, seeing the Eifel Tower, and walking the streets of this sophisticated city. However, due to outside circumstances, we had to remove Paris from the running and we suddenly found ourselves with plane tickets to London! I felt that this trip would be perfect for my blog because food was such a significant part of our London visit.

Let the (LONG) journey begin.

A 24 Hour Journey: May 1^st, 2015

Los Angeles to London should not be more than a 10.5 hour direct flight, right? Wrong! 

Due to our final destination being Turkey, we had to book our flights on Turkish Airlines and connect in Istanbul.

Unfortunately, our journey started off with some trouble. Our departing flight from Los Angeles was delayed 3 hours. As a result, we missed our connection in Istanbul and had to be put on the next flight to London. When factoring in everything, the door-to-door journey was just over 24 hours. I did not sleep for one minute on the flights resulting in one of the longest journeys of my life.

Upon arriving in London, we had a very tight schedule and four whirlwind days to see the city’s main attractions.

Day One: Hop-On Hop-Off Bus Tour and Big Ben

Meals: Lunch at Dishoom

London bus tour.

We arrived in London at 11pm and slept like babies after our 24 hour journey. We woke up around 9am on day one and immediately purchased tickets for a Hop-On Hop-Off bus tour. We felt that this was a great way to relax after all the travel and still get to explore the city from the comfort of the second story of the bus. Unfortunately, the weather was not cooperating on day one (and all of the days we had in London). It was raining, windy, and cold… something we had not anticipated during the month of May. My wardrobe was completely wrong for the weather, resulting in me having to take an unplanned detour to purchase a winter coat. Once I had the coat in my possession, my trip became a lot more enjoyable. I enjoyed the bus tour and seeing the various neighborhoods in the city.

Lunch at Dishoom... amazing!

Once we were done with the bus tour, we headed to lunch at the best Indian Restaurant I have ever visited, Dishoom. The food was incredible, flavorful, and halal. In fact, we loved the restaurant so much that we returned for a second visit despite our very short stay in the city. We tried many different items; however, my favorites were the biryani with cranberries and the rose lassi.

Hanging out with Big Ben.

After our lunch stop, we took the Tube (London's subway system) to our next destination, Parliament Square. The Tube was nice and quick, but somewhat expensive when taking into consideration the poor dollar-to-pound conversion rate. We had Oyster Cards, which helped bring down the price a bit. Later in our trip, we started to take buses instead of the Tube because we felt that not being overground allowed us to take in the beautiful city. Anywho, once we arrived in Parliament Square, we walked around and took silly pictures with Big Ben. I stopped at a small market to purchase delicious Cornetto Ice Cream, which I had tried many times during Middle East travels. At this point, jet lag was starting to kick in and we headed back to our hotel to call it a day despite the sun not having set yet. 

Day Two: Tower of London, Walking the Tower Bridge, a Boat Tour, and the London Eye

Meals: Lunch at Tayyabs

View of Tower Bridge from Tower of London.

In planning our trip, it had never crossed our minds that we might run into holidays during our stay in London. Unfortunately, only a few days before departing the US, we became aware that Day Two in London, a Monday, was going to be a bank holiday. This meant that most stores were closed and tourist attractions were heavily packed since people were off of school and work.

We started day two by visiting one of London’s main attractions, the Tower of London, right at opening and it was already packed. We spent the next few hours walking around and enjoying the history of the castle. I especially enjoyed the Crown Jewels exhibit, where jewels and other artifacts from the British Empire were displayed. After spending the morning at the Tower of London, we walked over to nearby Tower Bridge (which is often mixed up with London Bridge). We actually walked on both bridges this day; Tower Bridge is the glamorous bridge while London Bridge was a very simple bridge just like any you could find in the Midwestern US. After the stroll, we headed to lunch (more like dinner as this was about 5pm).

East London Mosque

We went to a place many had recommended to us called Tayyabs. This was a halal Indian restaurant that was considered one of London’s best. On the way to the restaurant, we passed through East London and walked through mostly-Muslim neighborhoods. The environment was incredible and reminded me of the Middle East and reminded my travel companion of India due to the clothing bazaars and fruit stalls everywhere. We passed by the huge East London Mosque. Most restaurants displayed halal certification on their doors, including chains such as KFC and Quiznos. It was quite an interesting sight. In addition, the streets were full of Muslims dressed in both traditional Muslim clothing as well as Western Clothing with a traditional twist (hijabs, beards, etc.); there were plenty of non-Muslim British people in the area shopping in the Muslim businesses and eating at the restaurants. It seemed like a vibrant community.

Yummy British treat: Cornetto!

We finally arrived at our destination, Tayyabs. I do not like to write negative reviews about restaurants. However, I will say that the restaurant failed to meet our expectations by a long shot. The meat was not cooked thoroughly, we found issues with the hygiene, and service was not attentive. I would not encourage someone to go out of his/her way to visit Tayyabs.  I left hungry after losing my appetite from the first couple of bites and treated myself to ice cream elsewhere to compensate.

The view from the London Eye.

We ended the day with a boat tour on the River Thames. It was a completely different experience to see the city from the water; I highly recommend it. The weather was still gloomy and not cooperating, but we tried to not let that stop us from sightseeing.

After the boat tour, we took a spin on the London Eye. Once again, it was nice to get a different view of the city. Keep in mind that the London Eye is a relatively expensive attraction, so I would only do it on the first trip to London and probably not again.

Day Three: Saint Paul’s Cathedral, British Museum, Walking around SoHo, Regent’s Park and Central London Mosque

Meals: Lunch at Dishoom and Dinner at The Golden Hind

The British Museum

Saint Paul's Cathedral

Sky-scrappers of London

We started the day at Saint Paul’s Cathedral because my travel companion really wanted to see it, and I am glad we went. The Cathedral reminded me a lot of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, although the dome of the former is far grander. The view of the city from the top of the Cathedral’s dome was incredible. Once we were done here, we headed to the British Museum. One of the nice things about London is that most museums are free; the British Museum was very large and had something for everyone. We spent most of our limited time at the Ancient Egypt exhibit (where they displayed actual mummies). The entire time I walked around, I could not believe they did not charge an entrance fee. However, the large crowds did testify to this fact.

Regents Park

After the British Museum, we walked a bit around Soho and my travel companion stopped at a gift shop to purchase magnets and other goodies. Once she was done, we headed to Dishoom and had another excellent lunch. We contemplated going back for a third visit the next day, but we had too many other restaurants on our list.

After the British Museum, we took a double-decker bus back to our hotel, allowing us to experience SoHo and other neighborhoods. After a quick rest in our hotel, we headed to Regent’s Park. The park was absolutely stunning and the gardens and water fountains were exactly what you would expect British royal gardens to be. Luckily, our next destination, the Central London Mosque, was actually on the Regent’s Park premises. Therefore, we found ourselves with the most scenic views as we made our way to the mosque on the edge of the property. The Central London Mosque was also nice, although showing its age inside. It was a nice spiritual stop as we ended another day of sightseeing.

Fish and Chips!

For dinner, we headed to the Golden Hind, a fish and chips restaurant that was highly recommended to us. As someone who has loved fish and chips from a very young age, I was excited to eat here. I will be honest: I was not all that impressed. The fish tasted very fresh, however it lacked flavor (even when I added the provided vinegar). The mashed peas were interesting, although I expected them to be more than just literally mashed peas. Nevertheless, I am glad I got to try authentic British Fish and Chips.

Day Four: Day of Shopping on Oxford Street, Regent Street, and Harrods

Meals: Tea at Laduree (More like a huge meal) and Dinner at Beirut Café

Shopping the streets of London.

We had intentionally avoided any shopping on the first three days of our trip because we knew that the final day would be dedicated completely to shopping. We got up early, and headed straight to Oxford Street and Regent Street. The shopping experience was both a letdown and a positive thing. The letdown is that we very quickly realized that most of the stores we came across were also present back in California. The positive of this is that I was seeing the exact same clothes we had in Zara and H&M in California, except that prices were slightly lower in California. This was a comforting thing in a not so pleasant situation. After many months of looking forward to shopping in London, I came to realize that London was overrun with the same international chains that every city in the world seems to have. We did stop in British stores such as Liberty, but it simply reminded me of Bloomingdales with a bit more color.

Tea service at Laduree!

The second half of our day was spent at Harrods. We started the visit by having tea service at Laduree. Don’t let the term “tea service” fool you; this was enough food and pastries to fill us up for days. The macarons were delightful and every pastry we tried was flavorful and perfect. The mini-sandwiches were cute and the tea was… well, tea. I do somewhat regret not having an authentic British tea (Laduree is definitely 100% French); however, with our time crunch a decision had to be made and I am glad we got to try out the famed Laduree.

Harrods!

After the tea, we walked around the enormous Harrods food hall and were kicking ourselves for not having enough room to eat anything. If you are a foodie like I am, the Harrods food fall is an experience like no other. Imagine room after room of different cuisines, foods, chocolates, tea, coffees, and so much more. It kept going and going and I only wished that we had another day to return. Unfortunately, it was our last day and we needed to see the rest of Harrods and go back to our hotel to pack.

We walked throughout Harrods and checked out the different styles and accessories. Once again, I felt like I was in Bloomingdales; I saw many of the same designers. I came to realize that the most interesting thing about Harrods was not the clothes, but rather the architecture. That was worth the visit for me.

After our visit to Harrods, we had a quick meal at Beirut Café in a heavily Middle Eastern neighborhood in London called Edgeware; the food was nothing to write home about and I found Arabic food back in California to be much better.

Finally, we headed back to our hotel to pack and get some sleep before our early flight to Istanbul. Once again, we had an entire day of flights and layovers to look forward to.