London Part 2
One thing that meant A LOT to Justin was going to see Stamford Bridge, where Chelsea Football Club plays. He is the BIGGEST sports fan and it meant to much to him to go see Chelsea play at Stamford Bridge. About a month before our trip, we found out that the Chelsea game while we were there was an away game… however, you could book a private tour of the stadium, and I thought, how happy would Justin be?! I booked our Airbnb close to Stamford Bridge, so we could still go to a Chelsea pub and watch the game and still be in the same city.
We had planned on heading to Stamford Bridge after checking in to our Airbnb and getting all settled. When the sweet driver from the W was getting close to the flat, we noticed that the neighborhoods were starting to get a little less clean. When we pulled up to the flat, I was a little shocked. It was in a really yucky part of West Kensington and there was trash all over the stairs to the first floor flat. We got into the apartment and it was semi-clean and well furnished. Just as we were exploring the back yard, the key to the back door completely snapped in half when Justin went to lock it… We had no way of locking the door! I immediately started looking at hotels in the area because I was not comfortable with sleeping somewhere that had a completely unlocked door where someone could easily walk right in. We left the flat for a few moments to get some water in the drug store. When we returned, once we unlocked the door, the front door wouldn’t open!! There was an electrical cord wrapped around the lock on the other side and we couldn’t even open the front door! Since it was about 9 a.m. California time, my parents were on the phone trying to think of what to do. Once we finally got in the building, we were packing our bags. My mom works in the hotel industry, and was so to contact the Hilton in Kensington. She got us an amazing rate and we immediately had our bags in the taxi and were on our way. The Hilton was so sweet and accommodating and made sure we were comfortable after our less than ideal afternoon. They had a bottle of champagne waiting for us in our room and our night was already turning around. That evening, I contacted Airbnb and told them the whole story. They had already refunded me that night and made sure that we were okay. After a long day, we walked down the street, picked up some pizza, got back to the hotel, put our cozy robes on and drank our champagne and ate our pizza.
The first thing next morning, we got right up and went straight to Stamford Bridge for our tour! Trying to forget the last 15 hours, we got up and started a brand new day! We went straight to the team store and Justin definitely had some fun with buying jersey’s! He was like a kid in a candy store. I did not choose to listen to his total amount (just as i’m sure he doesn’t listen to mine at Sephora), but this was all Justin wanted to do and he was so happy.
I have to say… the tour of Stamford Bridge may have been one of my favorite things in London! It was SO much fun! We had the best tour guide and Justin was smiling ear to ear the entire time. It was so cute how happy he was! I had never toured a stadium before, so it was so cool to be in the locker rooms, the press room, and on the pitch!
After our amazing tour, we were off to tour Kensington Palace & Gardens! I remember falling in love with Kensington Palace, so I was really excited for Justin to see it. The Princess Diana exhibit is so amazing because you can see some of her most iconic outfits up close and photos of her wearing them. 1 - She was so tiny! and 2 - The dresses were even more beautiful than I remember and it is such a wonderful representation of her, her beauty, her grace, and her pure elegance. While we were in the Palace, there was all of a sudden a random rain storm that completely cleared out the place - we must have been the only people there! We wandered around the gardens for a bit and tried to say hi to Harry & Meghan… but they were busy…..
After roaming the gardens, we were hungry and started making our way to Ladurée! Ladurée has the most incredible pastries and they are most well known for their famous Macarons! They are known for having beautiful, pastel Parisian decor and exquisite afternoon tea. Since Justin and I are both picky eaters, we decided to skip the gourmet three tiered tray and ordered French Toast instead! Honestly, the best french toast i’ve ever had. I was in absolute heaven and I was so happy to be at my favorite place with my favorite person. The cool thing about this particular Ladurée is that it is actually attached to Harrod’s, which is a beautiful, luxury department store in London. Something Harrod’s is known for is their YEAR ROUND CHRISTMAS SECTION. Yep, you read that right! There is an entire half floor dedicated to Christmas decor. Everything from christmas trees, ornaments, north pole train sets, to fake snow displays…. they have it all and it is there all.year. Visiting London during Christmastime is high on my bucket list, so it was really cool to get a taste of it, even in September!
Coming from my family, chick flicks on Saturday mornings (let’s be honest, more like every morning) were a must. Our favorites ranged from Sense and Sensibility, Pride & Prejudice, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Pretty Woman… the list goes on and on. One of our favorites has always been Notting Hill. Notting Hill is known for the colorful town homes and street markets. After Ladurée, we took a taxi over to Notting Hill to roam the streets. The buildings switched from pinks, blues, yellows and purples and I wanted to move their immediately. I didn’t see Hugh Grant or Julia Roberts spilling orange juice on each other…. but I did see a lot of really, really cheesy souvenir shops with Notting Hill movie posters! We didn’t stay in Notting Hill for too long since the market was wrapping up and there wasn’t too much to do, so we grabbed a taxi and headed back to our hotel to pack for part 2 of our Honeymoon! We found the cutest restaurant down the street from our hotel that had the BEST garlic bread with caramelized onions and they made a mean Aperol Spritz (my favorite)! We reflected on our highs and lows of London (mostly highs) and talked about our journey for the next day!
We left a little piece of our hearts in London… Although I had been there before, my heart completely fell in love with the city unlike it had before. I felt like I was leaving home. The people of London were so incredibly nice. We honestly felt like we belonged to be back in London one day. We were so excited to get to the next city, but it was very hard to pack up and leave London. I can’t wait to go back one day and explore everything we didn’t get to see!
The next day, we woke up and grabbed a yummy English breakfast, packed up our belongings, and headed to St Pancras International Train Station. I have never been on a train in Europe, so I was SO excited to experience it. The seats were comfortable and spacious and the train was clean. The wifi unfortunately did not work the entire ride, but we didn’t care! We were happy to look back at photos of London and go over our itinerary for the next week!
After a 2 1/2 hour train ride, we finally pulled up to Gare du Nord International Station in….
PARIS!
My favorite spots in London :
There are a couple Ladurée locations in London, but this one is by far my favorite. The decor is just so lovely and you truly feel so special being there. Their french toast is TO DIE for!
We honestly can’t recommend this hotel enough. We had the loveliest stay and we cannot wait to go back!
This staff could not have been nice and completely saved us from our Airbnb gone wrong. I highly recommend it!
We had the loveliest breakfast here! We found it at the perfect moment that it started raining and we are SO glad we did! It was the best breakfast we had while in London.
This was our first meal in London and it was so delicious and the building was the most beautiful little lunch spot!
