London Is A Bad Habit One Hates To Lose

I've finally finished sorting through our vacay photos from last summer (I know, it's been dragging on and on) and am ready to do a few photo dumps now. London was by far our favorite stop and I wish we would have scheduled in more time to explore, but I suppose that means I can look forward to planning another visit sometime in the future. We did most of the touristy things to get them knocked off the travel bucket list, so next time we can delve more into the hidden gems that London has to offer.

I've already shared our Tower Bridge, Buckingham and Harry Potter shenanigans, but we also made a stop at The London Eye.

We quickly scoped out The Palace of Westminster, but sadly Big Ben was under construction so we didn't get any good photos there.

Mariah had us wandering all over town looking for a little rat painted by Banksy. We didn't find it, but we did hop on the London Underground to rest for a bit after our search.

One of our favorite things to do while visiting other countries is to stop into their grocers to check out the foods. We did grab some Maltesers and Cadbury Chocolate Spread, and if it didn't come in a glass jar that weighed a ton, I would have cleared them out of their stock to bring home. Alas, we only had 2 suitcases, so buying unnecessary items wasn't happening on this trip. We did stop in McDonald's and were quite envious of their salted caramel pies that aren't offered here.

We stumbled upon Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and I think Mariah was a bit miffed that she didn't know about the show there. I'm sure she would have insisted on us buying tickets otherwise. (Jason and I were secretly glad we didn't know about it ahead of time. We're Harry Pottered out on our vacations!)

However, we did walk through a few of the Harry Potter filming locations, like Leadenhall Market that was used as Diagon Alley in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

We also stumbled upon this hot dog draped in the American flag outside of the Tower of London, so of course we had to stop for a photo.

I think it's a sin to go to London and not get a pic in the iconic red telephone boxes. Though the charm of them was quickly killed for me when I realized they all smelled of urine.

We had just stopped off at Peggy Porschen's, but I had Jason make a 10 minute drive down the road so I could check out Saint Aymes. I didn't buy anything this round, but couldn't resist popping my head into the beautiful bakery to have a quick peek at their goodies.

Finally, we couldn't leave without doing the most touristy thing: acting like Beatles on Abbey Road. Here's a tip: get there first thing after sunrise before all of the other tourists if you want snaps, otherwise you are going to be fighting for a place on the street before traffic starts flowing. We took about 4 pictures in 20 minutes before getting frustrated with the other tourists just jumping out into the street without waiting their turn so we left. I also thought all of the London locals were exceptionally nice, except those who have to drive on this popular stretch of road. Obviously, they are tired of putting up with the rude tourists in this area too because we heard a lot of yelling and horn honking here.

That wraps up our 2 days in London. You can read my other London posts in the links below:

Warner Brothers Studio Tour
King's Cross Station
Tower of London
Tower Bridge 
Buckingham & Kensington Palace
Queen Mary's Gardens
Peggy Porschen's Bakery
 

What's a touristy thing that you would like to do in London?