The search for insta-worthy cafe’s continued on Day 2 in London! We started our day with a short walk to Elan Cafe. I’m pretty sure Londoner’s must be obsessed with all things pink and flower laced! Unlike Peggy Porschen I’d say this cafe is mostly all talk. We ordered the fancy oatmeal, a breakfast sandwich and some coffees to go and nearly choked on our coffee when they gave us the total! I wish we would have just stopped here for a quick cup of coffee and a few pictures rather than break the bank on a subpar breakfast.
After we were properly caffeinated we hopped in a quick cab towards Buckingham Palace. The Changing of the Guard is a must see when visiting London. The ceremony begins at 11AM and lasts about 45 minutes. If you want to get a good view you have to arrive early. We unfortunately did not arrive early, so, truth be told we couldn’t see much. Even still, I can’t believe they do this so often! All the pomp and circumstance-plus it’s a lot more fun than I thought (the band plays a song from Austin Powers!) Overall it’s a very cool experience.
After we said goodbye to the Queen we made our way down Constitution Hill towards the Wellington Arch. Here we activated our London Pass and hopped on the Hop on Hop off bus tour! I cannot recommend a Hop on Hop Off tour enough when in London. It’s definitely not the fastest way to get form point A to point B but it does take you to every major tourist destination all while providing historical information and context on the city of London!
Davis fell asleep instantly on the bus so we decided to ride around listening to the tour all the way until the Tower of London. The Tower of London is one of my absolute most favorite places in London! As I’ve said before, I’m a huge British monarchy history buff and the things that went down at the Tower are pretty darn historical. Walking by Traitors Gate where many a prisoner was brought (including Anne Boleyn!) Or checking out the tiny room where the “boys in the Tower” were kept. And who doesn’t love viewing the Royal Jewels-as they say diamonds are a girls best friend! Seriously, there is a little something for everyone and I definitely recommend spending a few hours here! Plus, it’s included in the London Pass!
Did I mention Davis loved running around the Tower? Clearly he was in heaven! Located just next to the tower is Tower Bridge-not to be confused with London Bridge (which is actually just a pretty normal looking bridge a few blocks away!) Tower Bridge was built between 1886 & 1894. It’s definitely one of the defining architectural characteristics of London. Its totally free to walk across and there is a museum you can visit included in the Pass. We decided to walk across the bridge and head towards the South Bank for lunch.
Dining at street markets is a wonderful option when traveling with kids! Borough Market is one of the cities oldest markets (dates back to the 13th century to be exact) and has over 100 food stalls for you to chose from. Seating is a bit limited but if you stalk around enough you’ll find a spot to relax and enjoy your food! Gabe wanted Thai and I wanted Indian food so we decided to divide and conquer. Unfortunately while we were divided the fire alarm went off and they asked everyone to temporarily exit. Yes it was chaotic and yes it was a little scary considering we didn’t both have phones. After not being able to find one another for about 15 minutes we were reunited. In hindsight it wasn’t a huge deal but at the time it was definitely an adrenaline booster. 
Once we completed lunch we walked across London Bridge and headed back towards the Tower of London to catch a quick boat tour on the Thames. This was also included in the London Pass and I was really looking forward to viewing the City from another vantage point. Unfortunately the boat time we were going to catch was canceled. The next one wasn’t for another hour and we didn’t have time to waste if we wanted to make it to Westminster in time to visit the ChurchHill War Rooms.
So a little upset that we had just walked out of our way to catch a cancelled boat we hopped back on the bus and headed towards Big Ben. After a few stops we hopped off across from the London Eye, which is one of the few sites not included in the London Pass! We walked passed Big Ben (which was under enormous amounts of construction and had so much scaffolding you could barely recognize it) We wizzed passed Westminster Abbey and completely ignored all the wonderful phone booth photo opportunities since mama was on a mission to make it to the War Rooms before they closed at 6PM.
We strolled up at 5:05PM and were turned away because final admission was at 5PM. I was pissed. I still to this day cannot believe they didn’t let us in. I explained to them how we basically ran with a toddler in tow to make it here and they just flat out refused. So, I pulled up the London Pass to see what else was nearby and still open that we may be able to visit.
The Household Cavalry Museum was only a few blocks away and didn’t close for another hour. So we booked it there! Final admission was at 5:30PM, we arrived at 5:32PM. At this point we decided it was time to cut our losses and head back to the apartment to order dinner and call it a night! It was an eventful second day in London. I wish that the end of the day had gone more according to plan but traveling isn’t always easy.
I leave you with this one tidbit of advice: look up final admission time at all the destinations you want to visit! Closing time doesn’t mean shit. Lesson learned.
Britt Heller 