Who doesn’t love the first full day of a trip? The excitement of being in a new place always outweighs the intense feelings of jet lag! We arrived in London the evening prior and got settled into our apartment. Rather than stay at a hotel (because hello London prices) we chose to rent an apartment at Nell Gwynn House in Chelsea. In fact here is a link to our exact apartment: Apartment 927.
It was perfect! Located right in Chelsea. It was about a 10 minute walk from two different tube stations, across the street from a Starbucks (although we mostly branched out to local cafes as you’ll see in these posts!) and down the street from a grocery store. I’d absolutely recommend staying here to anyone visiting London. You can stretch out in an apartment for about the same cost as a mid-range hotel with a much smaller room. Also, it’s an old art deco style building that has housed a few famous London residents over the years!
So, without much of a plan for our first day we left our apartment and headed towards Belgravia. We passed many posh stores, cute cafes, gorgeous buildings and the most stunning floral facades! After a bit of a walk it was time for a coffee and cake pit stop.
Peggy Porschen Cakes was obviously my first stop! You’ve probably seen this pretty in pink building all over instagram. Yes, it’s highly insta-worthy. But luckily, the cakes are just as delicious and deserving of the insta hype. They change the decor seasonally and lucky for us we were there in October so it was the cutest Fall theme! If you want to grab a table, you will likely need to wait as the line is usually around the corner. Or you can do like we did and walk straight in and order tea and sweets to go!
After properly fueling up on cupcakes and tea we continued our walk through Belgravia, past Victoria Station and onto Buckingham Palace. As we arrived we’d just missed the changing of the guard which was un-lucky considering we hit the crowds with none of the pomp and circumstance! It was just as well because we decided to take a load off and let Davis run around Green Park.
We made our way down the impressive promenade (also referred to as the Mall) towards Trafalgar Square. Trafalgar Square used to be refereed to as Charring Cross. It boasts many impressive statues, fountains and buildings including the National Gallery. We decided to take a quick look around the National Gallery because most museums in the UK are free! That’s right totally free! Considering they charge an arm and a leg to get into all the historic churches, castles and palaces I guess it’s only right they offer museum admission free to the public.
We decided to visit the National Portrait Gallery portion of the museum which is actually housed in a different building just behind Trafalgar Square. I’m a huge British history buff-mostly based on many hours watching The Tudors, White Queen, and countless Queen Elizabeth films. I absolutely loved walking around and viewing the actual portraits of all these “characters” I had come to learn so much about. Gabe was very impressed by the seemingly endless amount of information I had to tell him about these people! “Ohh that’s so and so he killed his brother in order to take the throne” “She couldn’t have children so he divorced her and married his mistress” I must say it was a highlight of the trip! And it was all made possible since Davis fell asleep instantly upon entering the museum!
After many more hours of walking we headed towards Covent Garden for some lunch. Covent Garden Market used to be a famous fruit and vegetable market. Now it’s full of shops and restaurants! I’m so embarrassed to admit this but we pulled a major American and decided to get Shake Shack for lunch. What can I say, we were hungry, tired and in the mood for a meal we knew would be a hit! Plus, they had the largest eating area in Covent Garden and we definitely needed to sit for a bit!
We lucked out to be in Covent Garden during the Fleurs de Villes Floral Couture exhibit. There were some seriously stunning creations that I felt truly lucky to have stumbled upon!
Next up, we made our way through Chinatown. We marveled at the endless buffet options, Peking Ducks hanging in the window and the gorgeous lanterns which lined the streets. I love visiting Chinatown’s wherever we are because Chinatowns always feel so distinctly that city. Like, we were in LONDON’s version of Chinatown. As evidenced by the 19th century buildings which housed a plethora of Bubble Tea options 😉
Shortly before heading to London I started following various London food bloggers to get some inspiration on spots to check out. One spot that kept coming up again and again was Chin Chin’s. Specifically, their viral hot chocolate. Yes, they have a hot chocolate that went viral!
It all starts with a rich home made hot chocolate, topped with an ooohy gooey marshmallow that they then take a hand torch to and roast. They serve it in a cup placed in a bowl because when you take your spoon to dig in through the marshmallow hot chocolate tends to explode everywhere (in the best possible way!) Lucky for us Davis was asleep the entire time so we didn’t have to share! It was delicious and fun but maybe just a tad over-rated.
After our hot chocolate extravaganza we continued our walk through London to Piccadilly Circus. Piccadilly Circus is like the Times Square of London. It’s full of chain restaurants and jumbotrons! Feels like one of those places you need to see to check it off the list but don’t need to spend much time there. Which was good for us because we were exhausted! We headed down to the tube and caught the train back up to Chelsea. Overall it was the PERFECT first day in London!
And in case your curious, here is a screenshot of the walking path we took that day! 4 miles over the course of an entire day was totally doable. London is HUGE but if you take it piece by piece it’s a very walkable city!
Britt Heller 