Showing posts with label what to do in London. Show all posts
Showing posts with label what to do in London. Show all posts

FRIDAY FAVORITES....LONDON DAYS 3 & 4

What glorious Friday it is! Oh, my friends the weather has been in the 80's this week and absolutely spectacular! I know I normally do Friday favorites but this trip to London and Paris is going to be a favorite of the entire year, so I know you’re wanting to see all the details, so why not do Day 3 & 4 today!

 

Day three was my favorite in London! Of course, we started off the day with rain, lol but we got to behold Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. We did not stay for the whole thing because we had a tight schedule, but so happy with what we saw. I can’t believe the king lives there. And the queen did for so many years, although I don’t know if you know this, but near the end of her life, she lived in her place at Windsor castle.



This guy was late to his post, lol

I was so ready for a coffee, and we found the cutest little café. Now this is a chain in London called E L & N and is in other European cities too, but my goodness is it ever precious, talk about photo opportunities I wish I would’ve had on a pink outfit, lol! ADORABLE & Yummy, lol




Then, of course, it was the thing I have been waiting for shopping wise, and that was to go to Harrods department store, the most famous iconic shopping destination to behold in London. I was so in awe.




All those designers had this girl wanting to dress to the “Nines”! Lol. 


We didn’t have very long because we had to get back to high tea but wow, so incredible! Before tea, I had to fit in a visit to Princess Diana’s water fountain! It wasn’t exactly what I expected, but if you read this plaque, it will explain why it was designed the way it was.



We quickly went back and changed and went down to the mirror room at the Rosewood hotel, which was just two blocks from ours. It was absolutely magnificent! We spent three hours there. High Tea in London is a lengthy process but still relaxing and worth it. We ordered the Dom Pérignon Art Tea


What they do at the Mirror Room is an

Art High Tea where the desserts are crafted after an artist who has works in the Tate Modern Museum. This rotates with the season, and it is phenomenal! We started with a little finger sandwiches then the most amazing scones I’ve ever had, then spring like sponge cakes and finally those works of art. And of course, 2 kinds of tea.

Pinky up!
 


Then they topped it off with a cute little dessert and candle for me to get the birthday week started.

 The bathroom was phenomenal and the entire place so elegant and pretty. Great spot for photo ops. I shared this photo on Instagram and someone asked me if the dog was real, it sure did look like it!


 

Then it as back to change again for the musical Mamma Mia! Of course, I have seen this musical in the states but after researching, it was the number one rated show of them all in London, so this is what we chose & our seats were wonderful. I do have to say I had to sip Sprite the whole time as in between since having tea, I had terrible tummy troubles if you know what I mean. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it to musical, but it got better. Oh, and I almost forgot right before heading out I burnt my beautiful Anthropologie dress while ironing, a hole right through it, so I had to hurry up and figure out something else to wear that was not restrictive around the waist, lol


Next day we had intended to get to the millennium Bridge for sunrise but the time was too early for the tired Nines, lol! 


Instead, we found some quick coffee and started our day with the Tate Modern Museum. It is exactly what you would expect in modern museum to be, but I was expecting more sculptures.



Then we had reservations to tour the sky garden. It is a spectacular venue on the 35th floor that allows you 360° views of the city and it was amazing. 



We were super hungry by then. I use TripAdvisor all the time. It usually never steered me wrong, so I looked up lunch spots near where we were and found a delightful, hidden gem called the Wardrobe. We got a traditional English lunch with me getting the veggie pie, and Mr. Nine getting the bangers and mash. It was so delicious and so charming.


So yummy!


Next up, it was time to tour, Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the iconic church, where Princess Diana got married, and rich in so much history. It was stunning.





Since we were so tight on time, we had to cancel our tea at the building, called the Shard. We really wanted to go up there for at least cocktails, but they were booked, but here was a beautiful tree in the entry. 



Time for the magnificent Tower Bridge with a glass bottom. I must admit it was a very weird feeling, but we did it. 




After sideways winds and 22,000 steps, we were exhausted. So, I don’t even have pictures for the rest of the night. We went to a pub. Mr. Nine was dying to go to, but it was wall-to-wall millennials, so he had a quick drink and we left. We ended up having smash burgers that were delightful, and then back to pack in early to bed.

 

Every single place you go eat somewhere different when we would step on the tube, the underground subway system, every place we would walk out into a different by, and we loved that! Our 5th day was heading to the train station to take the Eurostar to Paris.

 

The only famous person we saw in London: The Fruit of the Loom guy, lol.

 
Let me tell you if I have not already: 4 or five days in London is NOT nearly enough! You need at least a week and in hindsight, we would have done a week+ in London and a week in Paris.  I’m thought I had not planned activities close together but we had to omit some because getting from place to place takes a while so allow plenty time. Taxis and Ubers are great but extremely expensive because traffic is so packed it could take you even longer. If you’re planning a trip, trust me, we have lots of tips of things we did right, and things we did wrong, lol. And so many pictures, so little time or attention span for you readers, lol. Thank you for hanging in.

 

I’ll be back Monday with the Paris Day 1 & 2 recap. AND keep your eyes on my Insta in the next few days: HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT coming!!! 


And in case you missed it: Trip Favorites HERE and London Days 1 & 2 HERE  

 

Love ya! Happy Weekend!

 


Linking up with  Friday Favorites  // Metamorphosis Monday

xoxo



FRIDAY FAVORITES...EUROPE TRIP FAVORITES

Happy Good Friday! We’re Baaack! Part of me is so glad to be back home, and the other part wishes we would’ve had just a little bit more time as the weather started to get nice, which we never really got to enjoy, lol. But you know we Nine’s, we made the most of it with gusto.

 

Today, since it’s the 7th, I’m sharing my top 7 favorite things from our trip in seven different categories, but I will get into much more detail in my recaps. So much to do, so much to see so much to wear; I could probably do a month’s worth of posts on London and Paris, lol.

 

Food/Drink in London:

The Dom Perignon Afternoon Tea in London

Mr. Nine and I did research on our English afternoon tease, and we knew that we had to do this one at the mirror room. Of course, I chose the Dom Perignon art afternoon tea. This is so beautifully presented in the most beautiful location and loved it. We had an afternoon tea plan for the next day, but we canceled it, because this is a lengthy process, but so enjoyable!


The scones were my favorite but Monday I'll show you the "artful" desserts.


Attraction in London: 

Westminster Abbey! 

As I was walking through the Abbey, I could just hear Elton John singing “candle in the wind” at Princess Diana’s funeral. Originally, I thought that her and Charles got married there too and then I remembered that the wedding was at St. Paul’s Cathedral, where we went a couple days after this. Westminster Abby is absolutely stunning, and so rich in history. I loved that we got to go up to the Queen’s jubilee and have a view like this.



Food/Drink in Paris:

My favorite meal was at a little spur the moment café called Treize au Jardin, on the only good weather day we got, so we got to sit outside in the sunshine and enjoy brunch! Um this pic says it all!



View:

Hotel Suite View in Paris

This was something I was so excited about because I knew our suite at Hotel Regina would overlook the Eiffel Tower, but it exceeded my dreams. Especially on the last night when we got the one and only Sunset of the entire week and a half! The neat thing about the Eiffel tower is that at 9 PM it lights up and then every hour for a few hours and for five minutes long, it’s sparkles!




Attraction in Paris:

Palace of Versailles

It was all really cool, but I have to say the Palace of Versailles and the gardens there are a sight to behold! Did you know it took 104 years to build the Palace of Versailles and over 39,000 men lost their lives during its Construction! Plus, it’s a very interesting story about the kings of France and how indulgent and horrible they were.

Magnificent Hall of Mirrors



Best Day:

Sunday, April 2nd; My Birthday

My favorite day of the trip was absolutely my birthday! Sunday, the 2nd, it started with breakfast in bed, and the most beautiful spread presented by our hotel. They even lit a candle for me. 


My Favorite Photo of the trip

Lunch was at the magnificent. Le Maison Rose, a very famous pink restaurant in my favorite section of the entire city called Montmartre! So charming. 

The waiter had everyone in the restaurant sing happy birthday to me and I got yet another candle. 


Then that night we did an evening dinner cruise and got to see all the sites lit up in the evening along with a four course French meal. And they also sing happy birthday to me along with another gal who shared the same day, and my third and final candle of the night to top off the best day.


View of Eiffel Tower from the Boat


  

Purchase:

By Mr. Nine I should say, lol. We shopped enough that we needed to buy an additional suitcase to take back, lol. But besides this trip being my birthday gift, Mr. Nine indulged me in a Saint Laurent purse and coin/card purse. I was lucky to get the last two of these items with the gold on them, which is what I had my heart set on.

Bag HERE // Flap Card Case HERE

I was going to get a colorful Louis Vuitton, but I like the classy aspect of Saint Laurent so that is why I went with something more refined.

 

PS FAV: My Birthday Pie

Oh so wonderful to come home to a clean house, a happy doggie and my annual Key lime birthday pie from my beautiful mama! She took such good care of everything and even had my beloved ham and beans waiting in the fridge so I wouldn’t have to cook after our return! She is the best, and so is her pie! Check out her recipe HERE



I’ll be back Monday with some travel recapping: this one will be all about the beginning of our trip in London.

 

I’m happy to report it’s finally going to be a beautiful weekend here in Indiana that we have desperately needed.

 

Happy Easter

He is Risen


Linking up with  Friday Favorites  // Metamorphosis Monday

xoxo


 and a funny one

 

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