LONDON
Guidebook - London Top 10
After several folks coughed on me on various stages of our trip, I was finally full blown sick by the time we hit London. This caused a slight reduction in our sightseeing, but we still packed quite a bit in. We stayed with some friends in the Battersea area near the Clapham Junction rail station. This was 2 stops or so from London Victoria or Waterloo tube stations and the location was excellent. The neighborhood was also quite fun... lots of little shops and restaurants. It felt a little like Williamsburg/Brooklyn. Staying with friends also gave us an inside track on a great BOGO discount program in conjunction with purchasing rail tickets. This allowed us to visit London Eye and Tower of London for half price. What a steal!
We first hit Tower of London, and as recommended by our hosts, we waited on a tour led by a Beefeater. In our case, we had the energetic and funny Barney. He led us on a historical tour of the highlights and then we were off to explore on our own. The main highlight was seeing the Crown Jewels, though it was quite a spectacle just to get into the building. First, a long outdoor queue, then inside there are two main snaking queue rooms where you watch video of the Queen's coronation and close-ups of the jewels. When you finally reach the vault, you are brought by the main jewels while standing on conveyor belt. A very Disney-esque experience. We then walked to the adjacent London Bridge as the sun set.
The next day (New Year's Eve) we hit the London Eye. I took my first "flight" on the Eye in May 2000, only a few months after it had opened. Not much has changed (better camera this time around), but we both enjoyed the sights. They also include a 4-D movie in the ticket price now, which was a treat for us since it featured the fireworks shooting off the Eye that we were certain we'd only see on TV later that night. We then walked by Big Ben and Westminster Abbey through St. James's Park to Buckingham Palace.
We had been invited by expat friends from Houston to come over to their place for a NYE party to "watch the fireworks," which I assumed would be on TV. As I was feeling on death's door, I figured we would pop in to make an appearance and then head home to watch the fireworks on TV. We headed up to their flat and upon checking out the view I realized I knew where we were. I saw Big Ben on the left and the London Eye on the right... we were right in the middle of all the action for the fireworks. We were staying put, whatever it took! The company was great, the food delish and the firework action was outrageous. We were also introduced to our new favorite splurge, Thortons Mini Caramel Shortcakes. Another neat thing to watch were the many Chinese lanterns that were lit and soared into the sky. You could see them all over town. Here's a photo (courtesy of our host) showing just how close we were to the party.
Here's a brief video we took on the BlackBerry. What's need about the London fireworks is that they are shot off of barges in the Thames River as well as off the London Eye itself. Around 0:20 you can see the fireworks circle the Eye which had a pretty cool effect.
We walked around a bunch in London and wouldn't you know it, we found another open Christmas Market (just Kevin's luck) called Winter Wonderland at Hyde Park. Oddly enough, this was a German-style market that featured stalls, food and a huge carnival. It was PACKED! On the approaching walk we were behind a little kid and their dad and the kid was literally exploding with excitement as we hit the entrance. It garnered smiles from the both of us. There was a booth from Jamie Oliver's Fabulous Feasts where we had sausage stew with cous cous and feta. Talk about the perfect meal for cold winter weather... mmm mmm! I've had some success in recreating this back in Doha with turkey sausage, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and garlic.
We had more great eats in London, though the only place we tried out of our book was Rock and Sole Plaice near Covent Garden for fish-n-chips. Our hosts also guided us to several recommended spots in Battersea, including Pizza Metro Pizza, Banana Tree Canteen and a mom-n-pop fish & chips shop. On a side note, most shows here have few commercials so shows end around the :45 min. mark and the channels put :10-:15 min. of "filler" content in. On the Food Network (UK), I often see a filler spot with Chef Andy Bates making yorkshire pudding roast beef sandwiches. He's also shown selling sandwiches, Scotch eggs and desserts from a booth at the Broadway farmer's market. I really wanted to try these and we trekked quite a distance to the market, but alas, it was closed (New Year's Day and all). Oh well! This was one of my only negatives for London, that we didn't time our visit well to see the farmer's markets and antique markets that set up on specific days.
FINAL THOUGHTS
EATS - There are simply not enough adjectives to describe how great the food was on this trip - outrageous, delicious, scrumptious. I feel like I'm being repetitive, but food for 95% of the trip was awesome, whether we were going off of recommendations from our friends or our guidebooks or just dropping in when the eats looked good. The Christmas Markets helped up keep our budget in line because we ate at least one street food meal a day which kept us out of expensive restaurants. We also tried to hit grocery stores in every city to load up on cheap sodas and the occasional banana (this was a very fruit-less vacation). I think I also mentioned earlier that we only ate 2 meals a day. We slept in virtually every morning, with the exception of Prague (where our hotel stay included a breakfast buffet). Sleeping in let us kick off our day with lunch, sightsee, warm up in the hotel, then eat dinner. The good news is that exercise paired with fewer meals = weight loss. In an awesome twist of fate, I lost 8 lbs. on this trip.
CELL PHONES - Always carry a cell phone. I'm embarrassed, but not ashamed to admit that Kevin and I have lost each other significantly twice now. The first was at the Louvre and the second time was on this trip at a park not far from our hotel in Vienna. I didn't have my cell on me (my bad) and we spent too much of our vacation time trying to find each other instead of having fun. Thankfully some patrolling policemen helped me out.
LUGGAGE - A trick we learned from Rick Steves on our '06 Italy trip was to only bring carry-on luggage. Unfortunately this was not an option for us on this trip as we were on 3 airlines (Qatar Airways, SmartWings, easyJet) that each had different carry-on weight allowances, the lowest being 5 kg (11 lbs) which is quite tight for 18 days worth of clothes. We tried our best and checked one small suitcase and carried on 2 bookbags and a under-packed duffel. The suitcase was small enough to maneuver sidewalks comfortably and fit in most train overhead shelves. Under-packing the duffel gave us some room for souvenirs and also let us check another bag if we needed to. We also brought only enough clothes for 13 of the 18 days, since we had access to laundry in London (thanks, guys!).
NOTES - Bring a small notepad or scratch paper to jot down things you want to remember. Helpful in remembering names of tasty dishes you will never remember how to spell properly and for recommendations from fellow travelers.
GETTING AROUND - Often times transportation can eat up a good chunk of your vacation dollars. We didn't take a single taxi and we rarely took public transportation. Walking was a fun and convenient way to see Europe and fortunately (and miraculously) not a single blister!
PACK THE RIGHT CLOTHES - Never underestimate the necessity of layers. We spent 5+ hours a day in below freezing temps and layers were essential. I should have brought thermal underwear and if anyone reading this attempts a similar trip - BUY IT, BRING IT, WEAR IT!
MY FAVORITES
- Best Christmas Markets? Vienna
- Best Christmas Market street food? Prague, runner-up Vienna
- Best use of pork in a starring role? Roast pork in Salzburg
- Best day-trips? Munich
- Best snow? Prague
- Best overall? Hard to say since we enjoyed them all, but we really liked Salzburg - compact, delicious food, festive atmosphere, scenic views
In closing, I really truly loved this trip. It all started with some merry photos of Christmas Markets in Europe in Travel + Leisure. I had never really heard of Christmas Markets. I really had no idea what to expect and I didn't do a ton of research (heck, we didn't really even read the books in advance - generally on the train or plane to the next destination). Visiting these same 6 cities any other time of year would yield entirely different results. What we had was a fun, relaxed time, sprinkled with festive cheer and incredible food and sights. I would recommend this type of trip over and over again. And a HUGE thanks to my husband, who survived 18 days of me and 18 days of Christmas Markets and crowds. Love you!
WANT TO SEE MORE?
Check out the photos from Prague/Amsterdam/London over on Facebook. You can also see photos from the start of the trip in Vienna/Salzburg/Munich here.
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