I’m finally writing another post about my favorite city in the whole wide world, London. My parents and I took my two cousins to Europe last summer. They have never been to London. My mother and little cousin, Romy were the most excited for this part of our trip. Romy is such a huge Anglophile (I believe this is my influence) and my mother had always been curious as to why my sister and I visit London every year. She wanted to see what the fuss was about. At the end of this trip, my mother understood why.London in the summer is as fickle as San Francisco, only a tad warmer. There is always that hint of rain (fog for us) everyday until the sky can no longer hold them. Last summer was just that. We spent 5 sublime days in this wonderful city and each day was nothing like the other.
I had a whole itinerary planned out for us. I knew that my family would want to see the old familiars so I made sure to add places that I also wanted to see so we all win 🙂 I knew that this trip was off to a good start when the minute we pulled out of the St. Pancras’ car park, my mom and Romy were gushing at the buildings, trees, and the general splendor of London. It was so cute!
Because these guys couldn’t wait, once we dropped our luggage, off we went to Central London. We started in Westminster and made our way to Trafalgar Square for more sightseeing and dinner.
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| Houses of Parliament |
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| Our Romy |
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| London Eye |
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| Somewhere in North London |
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| The Boys and Big Ben |
Of course, we had to pay a visit to the queen.
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| Buckingham Palace |
One of my favorite places in London is the British Library. It houses The Sir John Ritbalt Treasures. This exhibit is free and open to the public. This is where you will find handwritten lyrics by the Beatles, William Shakespeare’s and Jane Austen’s manuscrips, the Magna Carta, Leonardo DaVinci’s notebook, and the Gutenberg Bible, to name a few. It’s mesmerizing to be surrounded by these important musical, historical, literary, and scientific works from the bygone era. I highly recommend people to visit the British Library.
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| The magnificent St. Paul’s Cathedral |
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| Tower of London |
I also took my family to Notting Hill. Thankfully, the market was open that day and we were able to walk around, peruse the shops, smell the fragrant street food, and eat some of them too. Notting Hill is such a picturesque little area with pastel colored houses, private gardens, and beautiful rows of mews. I could live here 🙂
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| Notting Hill |
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| My Pimm’s cup at Lonsdale in Notting Hill |
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| A-mews-ing photo of this boy in Notting Hill |
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| Hyde Park |
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| Kensington Palace |
I asked my family after our trip what their favorite part of our vacation was. Their answer was London. The architecture, food, history, and the liveliness of this city enchanted them, the way London did for me and sister. We still talk about this trip with such nostalgia and yearning, like it just happened yesterday. Now they understand why I never get tired of this city.
