My wife had a business trip planned to her company’s headquarters in Sweden with a stop over in London and suggested I join her to make a vacation out of it. This was July 2019 and we started looking at options between time off and cost. Cost helped narrow the choice as I suspect the weather in Sweden is a significant factor in deciding when to visit and the weather in summer seems to be much preferred. We found a deal on some flights on BA from London Heathrow to Portugal and the plans were set. I would meet her in London, we would stay a couple of nights with my family in the UK and then we would spend a long weekend in Portugal traveling from Lisbon to Faro.
This post is about what I did on a free day I had while my wife worked and I was only minutes away from London.
July 1st was a Monday and we had just returned to my uncle and aunt’s house near London after a weekend up with other family in Chester area. Jess had to go into her company’s office in Bracknell to work for the day so I joined her on her drive in then walked from her office to the train station. On both the walk and the short train ride into London I felt a bit out of place in my tourist dress of t-shirt and sunglasses next to the regular business commuters.
I was headed to Waterloo station (listen to the Kinks song Waterloo Sunset) with just vague plans to wander London and make it back before dinner.
10:45 am: After a 40 minute train ride I arrived at Waterloo Station. The business people spread out while I headed north towards the River Themes and the London Eye (aka the Millennium Wheel). Opened in 2000 it was the worlds largest world's tallest Ferris wheel at 443 feet. I hadn’t planned on taking a ride and I’m not sure there would be a ticket available if I wanted. It is recommended people buy the ~$50 ticket on-line in advance. In the summer the attraction can get busy and on this late there looked to be bus loads on kids, probably on end of term trips, lining up. I started walking east a long the river.
s originally built in 1599 and over the years suffered a couple of issues such as being destroyed by fire and closed by puritans. The current reincarnation was opened in 1997 about 700 feet from the original.
11:45 am: A 15 minute brought me to Borough Market. This was a super cool place to visit. I was told to expect a British version of an American farmers market and sure I guess I can see some similarity but I’ve never seen an American farmers market that stared in the year 1014 or earlier. The various booths and tables offered a range of times from fresh vegetables, bread, cheese, seafood, cured meats, pie to arts & crafts. It was fun to wander around and try various samples in this old market and the modern new skyscraper (the tallest in the UK) called the Shard looming above.
12:30 pm: Just outside the market I found a pub called The Market Porter and thought it was a good opportunity to get a pint of beer. I can’t remember the beer I ordered but it would have definitely been some brand of bitter. Bitter is a pale ale that is ubiquitous to English pubs. Its best served cast conditioned which can make it seem a little less fizzy and cold than the typical American taste. I brought my beer from the bar and found an open table in the pub. There I found a menu and there at the very top was printed “Happy Monday. Fish & Chips and a Pint” - lunch plans were made for me! I went back to bar to place my order and pointed to where I was sitting. I decided to try a different bitter for the included pint and the bar tender started to pour. Half way through the tap coughed and the beer flow stopped. He apologized and told me the keg needed changing and he would bring my drink with my meal and let me take the half pint back to my table. And that’s how I ended up sitting in front of a huge fish & chips and three pints of beer for lunch.
1:45 pm: I decided to aid digestion by visiting the nearby Tate Modern Art Museum. A large portion of the museum was free with exhibits charging an entrance fee. I spent over an hour (and could have spent much more) viewing different sections of the museum and enjoying the art.
3:45 pm: After a bit more walking and a trip on the Underground, I continued my exploring north of the river. I only had an hour until the train I planned to catch home so I did a bit of a speedy visit which included a few minutes of enjoying a street brass band in Covent Garden while walking towards Trafalgar Square.
4:00 pm: On the way I stumbled upon the National Gallery and 10-15 minutes quickly walking through then walked the short distance to Trafalgar Square. The square has a fond spot in my memory as I remember being taken here as a child where we would feed the pigeons and be treated with an ice cream cone. On this day they were preparing for the London Pride Parade schedule for the following weekend with some barriers and traffic controls but there were still all the pigeons eating, the tourists snapping photos, the street artists and the locals hanging out.
4:45 pm: I walked down towards the Thames and took the tube over to Waterloo Station to catch my train home. I had a few moments drop by a shop in the station for refreshments for the train ride. Thank you for whoever invented Gin & Tonic in a can!
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