Our flight to Europe is booked! No, Harley does not get to come.

We will be starting our Eurotrip in London and it has me reminiscing about the last time we were there in 2013. Being a very small town girl, the country is more my thing… so I never expected to love this city so much! We stayed in a small suite (smaller bathroom) at Studios2Let near Kings Cross Station and using the overwhelming yet efficient underground, got around fairly easily. One time we passed on taking the claustrophobic, cattle car elevator and used the stairs (disregarding the “This staircase has 175 steps, equivalent to 15 floors. Do not use except in an emergency” signs). It was quite the workout!

We only had three days to spend but obviously wanted to see everything. Given our love for biking, we decided to try out a recommended Fat Tire Bike Tour. On the first day we chose to do the Royal London one. It took us by all the hot spots: The Houses of Parliament, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, The Royal Parks, Big Ben, Kensington Palace and Trafalgar Square. We even got to see the changing of the guard. The weather was beautiful, spring was in the air and the flowers were just beginning to bloom. We loved it so much we decided to do one on our second day as well. (Had to work of all the meat pies and ale somehow.)

Although the weather was a bit gloomier and a little cold, the River Thames Bike Tour was also totally worth it. I thought we had seen it all the day before but this tour took us by The London Eye, Tower Bridge, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Shakespeare’s Globe, London Bridge, The Tower of London, Borough Market, The Monument and Leadenhall Market (AKA… DIAGON ALLEY HP Fans!!!) The best part of this one was, however, St. Dunstan in the East. Is was not officially part of the tour, just a place our tour guide happened to love. From the outside you could see the steeple and entrance of a medieval church but when you when through the door it opened up into a beautiful garden with a not so beautiful, yet interesting, story. It was originally built in the 1100s, was damaged in the Great Fire of London, rebuilt and then bombed in the Blitz of the Second World War. An amazing oasis in the middle of a busy city. My only wish is that I could have curled up on a bench with a book for the afternoon. Instead, we spent some time at the stunning V&A Museum. The line to get into the Natural History Museum was a little bit too long but this was definitely an acceptable alternative.

Our evenings were as busy as our days. We did a bit of grocery shopping and cooked a lot of our meals in our studio but did head out to the theatre for two of the three nights. We had the chance to see The Lion King at the grand Lyceum Theatre and Matilda at the smaller, Cambridge Theatre. Both shows were great.

We had an absolutely spectacular time in London. Though we didn’t get into too many places during out short visit, we really did SEE everything. I would definitefly recommend it all, right up until our Eurostar departure to Paris. Dubbed the $600 mistake, it is a story in itself. I am not sure how long we be in London this time around, if at all, but am glad that I have some very great memories.