London was somewhat of an add-on destination for us at the end of the planning process. We knew we wanted to start in Scotland and end up in France but considered exploring southern, more rural England instead of London. However, after a 3 day tour of The Highlands, we thought London would be a bit easier (and we heard they have a few things to do there).
We arrived in London on Saturday and our first foray into train travel went well. We reached our hotel in the late afternoon and had a few hours before our dinner reservations. Both of us had been reading Kevin’s grandpa’s book on the train and just got to the part where he was stationed in London during the war. One of the few specific places he mentioned was a local pub called Captain’s Cabin on St. James Street, which him and his comrades would frequent. Kevin did his research before the trip and unfortunately found evidence that the pub had closed a few years back but we wanted to track it down to find out for sure. As you can see in Kevin’s reaction below, the entire building had been recently torn down and become a construction site.
Kevin was upset but his mood quickly changed once we arrived at Sketch Restaurant, which I had read about and made reservations for months before. The restaurant is located in Soho and brings a quirky artist/designer in to completely change the design and concept every two years. When we went, the entire dining room was pink and the walls were lined with hundreds of hand-drawn cartoons with silly quotes. However, the bathroom was the highlight, with dozens of unisex egg-shape pods adorned with taxidermy ducks that housed the toilets. There was a large ‘nest’ installation in the middle surrounded by colorful lighting and even a bar underneath. Oh, and the food was great as well. After dinner we had a couple of cask ale pints, served at room temperature, at an extremely old pub called The Old Coffee House.
Since London was an add-on stop on our trip, we didn’t do much research before arriving. That being said, Kevin’s grandpa also wrote how he was stationed in “Churchill’s underground bunker” which is now the Churchill War Rooms Museum. So the next day we grabbed a quick lunch and headed there. The museum was fascinating as most of the offices and living quarters were abandoned right after the war and pretty much left untouched until the museum opened somewhat recently. Each room had enormous steel supports and about 20 feet of concrete to combat the “Buzz Bombs” dropping above them. There were many troops stationed there and Kevin’s grandpa mentioned how he got along with the French much more than the English, whom he called “all business.” In fact, the French and Americans created a new signal for each other – they would input QLB, or Queer Limey Bastard, to let the others know that an English officer was present. After the museum we walked around taking in the history and architecture around the area.
The next day we arose somewhat early and headed to Westminster Abbey, which we heard from many sources is a must-see. We were a little wary at first as it seemed quite touristy and had a long entrance line. However, it was one of the most unique and oldest buildings I have ever been to. The Abbey is essentially a gigantic tomb filled with the bodies and monuments of kings, queens, saints, philosophers and artists dating back to the 1200s including Darwin, Mary Queen of Scots, Long Shanks, Jane Austin and T. S. Eliot (one of my favorite poets), just to name a few. The building itself was overwhelming and massive as kings have added on to it over the years to erect extravagant burial monuments for themselves. Unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures inside but Kevin got a lot of good shots of the exterior.
After the museum I wanted to check out Buckingham Palace, which was nearby, but Kevin wasn’t as enthused. We discovered a beautiful park nearby with insanely manicured gardens and rare bird species. We then headed to Gordon’s Wine Bar, the oldest in London, dating back to 1890. The bar was primarily underground. Half of the interior displayed numerous old newspaper clippings and trinkets collected over the last century, while the other half was an old dark cavern that you had to squat to get in with only a few candlelit tables. We were lucky enough to grab a table and enjoyed a ½ bottle of wine in one of the most unique settings I’ve ever seen. It was even stranger when you heard and felt the rumblings of the subway train overhead.
We then walked around a bit more and stumbled upon a cool street market with antiques and jewelry vendors. We wanted to rest our legs and grabbed a couple of pints in some very old pubs including The Globe and The Dog and Duck – the name of which referenced how the area used to be a prime hunting spot during the Victorian Era when the pub opened. We then grabbed some Indian for dinner which boasted “the best tikka masala in London” – this was saying a lot because that is where the dish was invented. We then went back to the hotel for a good night’s sleep as we had an early train to Paris the following morning.
Recommendations:
- Sketch Restaurant. 9 Conduit St, London W1S 2XG, United Kingdom. https://sketch.london/.
- Churchill War Rooms. Clive Steps, King Charles St, London SW1A 2AQ, United Kingdom. https://www.iwm.org.uk/visits/churchill-war-rooms.
- Westminster Abbey. 20 Deans Yd, London SW1P 3PA, United Kingdom. https://www.westminster-abbey.org/.
- Gordon’s Wine Bar. 47 Villiers St, London WC2N 6NE, United Kingdom. https://www.gordonswinebar.com/.
- The Dog and Duck. 18 Bateman St, London W1D 3AJ, United Kingdom. https://www.nicholsonspubs.co.uk/restaurants/london/thedogandducksoholondon.
