London, England - June 24th to 28th, 2025

When we were planning our visit to London, our daughter overheard us discussing getting tickets to see the Lion King Musical. “I want to see Lion King!”, she piped in. So she flew over to spend a week in London with us. She even stayed a couple of days longer than we did, since the flight was cheaper if she stayed a full week. We loved sharing our visit with her. And yes, we all went to see the Lion King Musical.

Tuesday was a travel day from York to London, by train. Our train didn’t leave until almost noon, so we had a relaxing morning and breakfast at St. Raphael Guest House before we walked over to the station. We had a lovely conversation at breakfast with Kate from California.

It was a short walk to the train station. Check out was at 10:30 am and our train was scheduled for 11:54, so we had some time to hang out at the station. When we arrived at the station, the boards said our train was going to be leaving from Platform 3, so we sat down on a bench on the platform. When we checked the boards a little later, the platform had changed to 5A. So we picked up our bags and headed over to Platform 5A. Around 11:30 am, Ann got up to stretch her legs and checked the boards again. They had moved our train back to Platform 3. So again, we picked up our bags and walked over the bridge to Platform 3. Thankfully, this was the last platform change. We were glad that Ann checked the boards that one last time.

The train ride itself went pretty smoothly. We had reserved seats with seat trays for our electronic devices. We were riding a Grand Central Rail train this time, one we hadn’t been on before. The seats were comfortable. Instead of electronic light indicators above the seats indicating which seats were reserved, there were physical cards stuck in slots at the top of the headrests for each seat.

After arriving at the Kings Cross train station in London, we walked about five minutes to the Underground station for the Victoria Line. A subway train comes by every couple of minutes, so we didn’t have to wait long for the next train. We got off at the Victoria Station and walked the five minutes over to our lodging for London, the Cherry Court Hotel.

Our daughter, who had just flown over to London, arrived at the hotel just minutes before us. The hotel and our rooms were very small, but had everything we needed. They didn’t serve breakfast, but they had a fruit basket in the room along with the obligatory electric tea kettle, tea and coffee supplies. The room is so small that the double bed was pushed up against the wall. That meant that Ann had to crawl over Keith to get in or out of bed. But at least the place had air conditioning, as the temperatures outside were warming up. It was the first place we’ve stayed so far in Europe that’s had air conditioning.

Our daughter had brought over some items for us. For Ann, she brought the multi-focus reading glasses that Ann had ordered on Amazon, a couple of sports bras and pairs of underwear (as one bra already ripped), and more Backroad Buddies stickers. For Keith, she brought over the underwear that the company sent as replacements as the elastic on his underwear was raveling. For both of us, she had the luggage tags that Viking had sent us for our Rhine River cruise coming up.

Then we gave her some items to take back for us. They included the reading glasses Ann didn’t like, the sports bra that didn’t fit, our bug head nets, Keith’s hiking boots, and Keith’s eye glasses. We felt we didn’t need the bug nets anymore. Keith only uses his eye glasses for driving, and we had no rental cars for the rest of our trip. Keith decided he would wear his new trail runners on the Tour du Mont Blanc (100 mile hiking trail in the Alps) instead of his hiking boots. He kept his old trail runners to wear everyday, as his were not completely worn out yet.

After freshening up, all three of us went out to get our first taste of London. Part of the goal was to keep walking and keep Kirsten, our daughter, awake until it was time to go to bed.

We started off walking towards Hyde Park, then over to Mercato Mayfair. Mercato Mayfair is a church, St. Mark’s, which has been converted into a food court. St. Mark’s was built from 1825 to 1828 and deconsecrated in 1974. It became a food court in 2019.

We stopped and had some baklava along with Turkish tea from the Bebek Turkish stand. We tried three different types of baklava, including a chocolate one. The chocolate baklava was served cold, soaked in milk with cocoa powder on top. It was very refreshing on a hot day. The Turkish tea was a type of black tea served with a sugar cube. We enjoyed our treats while staring at the beautiful stained glass and intricate wood carvings inside the church.

Then we wandered around Hyde Park and through the Italian gardens. At the Italian gardens, there was an old Rolls Royce that had been converted into an ice cream truck. How cute!

We worked our way over to the Mitre Lancaster Gate pub for dinner. Ann had the Mitre burger, Keith had the glazed gammon (cured pork), while Kirsten opted for the chicken supreme. The food was tasty and the setting was charming.

Then we walked some more. Through Hyde Park, we crossed into Kensington Gardens, past Kensington Palace. It was surprising how “wild” Hyde Park seemed, with woods and tall, uncut vegetation. As we walked along the Flower Walk, we caught a glimpse of the Gorilla Circus Flying Trapeze School Kensington Gardens. We watched a couple of people swing on the trapeze.

Then we came across the Albert Memorial. The gold plating on the monument was stunning, glistening in the bright sunshine of the evening. Across the street was the Royal Albert Hall, which is a concert hall.

Further down, back in Hyde Park, we walked past the sports fields. There was a bowling lawn, but no one was playing. There were plenty of people practicing and playing rugby, football (soccer), and, surprisingly, softball.

After that, we meandered through the city streets back to our hotel. By the time we reached the hotel, we had all walked over ten miles that day. We were used to putting in close to that many miles in a day, but our daughter wasn’t. But she’s young, she’ll recover fast.

Wednesday morning, we ate our fruit baskets for breakfast. The basket contained bananas, apples, granola bars, oranges, cookies, and a juice box. Then we headed out to catch a hop on-hop off bus tour.

Not far from our hotel, near Victoria Station, were bus stops for the various hop on-hop off buses. There are quite a few different companies that offer one. We chose the Big Bus. On hop on-hop off buses we’ve been on before, you usually can buy tickets from the bus driver. However, we tried to do that this time, but the bus driver doesn’t sell them. He directed us to a little news stand down the block to purchase tickets. There are several tour routes along with extras for things like a boat tour. We just bought the 1 day ticket for the Red Route. The person at the booth said there was a sale that day, so we only paid 29 GBP per person. That is the same price we could have purchased them online, even though they list the full price as 43 GBP.

The buses are about 15 minutes apart, so we were able to catch the next bus without much of a wait. They provided headphones to plug in to individual controls for the commentary. We like that, as we can control the volume. However, that means that we end up with headphones that we’ll throw away. It seems like there should be some kind of recycling of those.

The commentary was pretty entertaining and informative. The bus does get tied up in traffic, so you don’t get around the route very fast. That just means you have more opportunities to take pictures of the things you are passing. The Red Route covers central London, lasting about two and a half hours (if you don’t get off). We rode the whole loop without getting off and it took close to three hours.

After hopping off the bus, we went directly into the Victoria Station to catch an Underground train to Camden Town. It took one transfer to get there. First was the Victoria Line to Euston, then the Northern Line one stop to Camden Town. The trip took us about 25 minutes. Taking the Underground was so easy. We just used our credit card via Apple Wallet to tap in as we entered the first station and tapped out when we left the last station. London automatically charges the correct amount, up to a daily max of 8.90 GBP for Zones 1 and 2, up to 16.30 GBP for all six zones. After the max, all the rest of the rides for that day are free. There is no need to buy an unlimited travelcards, as they are more expensive than the daily max.

The Camden Market was on our daughter’s list of things to see in London. After a quick browse of the market hall, we went over to the Hawley Arms pub for lunch. It was getting late, after 1:30 pm, and we were hungry. We went up to the roof terrace. The open air was nice, but that is also where the smokers sat. As Americans, we are not used to that anymore, since most places in the States don’t allow smoking at restaurants, even outside.

Kirsten ordered the smash burger and Keith had the burger. Ann ordered a couple of starters instead of a main, the sweet potato fries and the bruschetta. The food was pretty good.

After filling our bellies, we wandered through the market some more. It was much larger than just the market hall. There are no food options in the market hall, but there are plenty of them in other areas surrounding the hall. We were thinking we might have enjoyed some of the food options there, but there was no place to sit to eat. However, Kirsten and Ann did split a mixed berry cheesecake bun. It was like a hollowed out cinnamon roll with a cheesecake filling in the middle. Delicious.

We’ve noticed that we have never seen plastic silverware or plastic straws anywhere in Britain or Ireland. It has always been metal silverware or, for takeaway, thin, wooden silverware. All of the straws have been paper, including the straws on the juice boxes in our hotel room. And all of the cups in our lodging have been real glass. We are old enough to remember when real glasses were in all hotel rooms in the States, before all those disposable plastic cups became popular. We appreciated not generating all that plastic waste.

From the market, we walked along the Regent’s Canal to Regent’s Park. There were a lot of canal boats in the canal and we watched a couple go through the Camden Locks.

The stroll through Regent’s Park was pleasant, walking alongside the zoo. However, there was vegetation that blocked our view of the zoo. There were broad walkways, shaded nicely by trees. We learned on our bus tour that there are so many trees in London that it is considered an urban forest (London Urban Forest Resource Hub).

We stopped at the Broad Walk Cafe inside the park for a drink. Then we circled around Regent’s University in the south end of the park, since the public was not allowed onto the campus, and wandered through Regent’s Park Inner Circle.

For dinner, we walked back to Mercato Mayfair, which we visited the day before. The place was much busier in the evening than late afternoon. We all chose a different food stand. Kirsten had ramen, Keith had pad Thai, while Ann had ravioli. We all enjoyed our choices.

We debated about taking a bus back to the hotel or walking. Kirsten reluctantly agreed to walk. It was about 1.7 miles to get back. When we reached the hotel, we had walked a total of 8 miles for the day. Our daughter may think twice the next time she considers joining us on our travels.

Thursday morning we had timed entry tickets for Westminster Abbey starting at 10:30 am. We met outside the hotel a little after 9:30 am and walked over to the Abbey. After going through security, we were given headphones and a device with a tour. There were so many people going through, that they channeled you around the abbey, from one item on the recorded tour to the next. It took about half an hour to get through the commentary.

Westminster Abbey has been the site of numerous coronations and royal weddings. Most of the points of interest inside the Abbey were burial sites and memorials for royalty, prime ministers, actors, musicians, writers, scientists, and military leaders. Kirsten found it interesting that Charles Darwin was buried there.

After touring the abbey, we had some time to wander around the area. We had timed entry tickets for the London Eye at 15:30 (3:30 pm). The London Eye was just across the River Thames from the Abbey. It was a Thursday, so there was a Food Market in the St. Thomas’ Riverside Garden. It was lunch time, so we each picked out a different type of food. Ann picked a stand with Sri Lankan food. She tried the parotta, fried egg, and chicken curry with yogurt, and pickled onion. Parotta is a layered fry bread. Kirsten went to a Turkish stand and got their gözleme. It was a stuffed flatbread that Kirsten said reminded her a little bit of a quesadilla. Keith stopped at the Afghan stand and ordered a chicken wrap. The Afghan wrap was served on a fresh naan bread with black pepper yoghurt, fresh mixed salad, seasoned boiled potatoes, and a green secret sauce. All of our food choices were delicious.

We continued walking south along the river. On the wall beside us was the National COVID Memorial Wall. There was a red heart painted on the wall for each person who died in the United Kingdom from COVID. Bereaving families have put the names of their loved ones in some of the hearts. There are more than 240,000 individually hand-painted hearts on the wall, which stretches for 500 meters (1640 feet).

At the end of the wall, we stopped at the 2 Love coffee stand. We didn’t have any drinks with lunch, so we were a little thirsty. We bought some cold drinks and a cup filled with strips of watermelon. The stand didn’t look like much, but the watermelon was rather tasty. Ann’s Coke bottle had a cap that stayed attached to the bottle. We’ve noticed that the majority of plastic bottles are that way in Europe. We’re assuming it is to reduce litter, as the caps seem to get lost and end up on the ground. We don’t know if it is a requirement in Europe, but we’ve never seen bottles like that in the States.

As we sat at a table next to the river enjoying the views and our refreshments, a dark cloud rolled in and it started to rain. None of us had brought umbrellas or jackets with us that day, so we headed for some trees to take cover. It didn’t really rain hard, but we didn’t feel like getting wet. The trees led us into Archbishop’s Park for a stroll and a bathroom break. As we were taking shelter under some trees, we searched Google Maps for a place to visit. The Graffiti Tunnel sounded interesting, so we went to check it out.

The tunnel is located under the train tracks near the Waterloo Train Station along Leake Street. The official name for the graffiti tunnel is the Leake Street Arches, where graffiti is legal. The artwork inside the tunnel was spectacular. There was even a restaurant inside the tunnel. Kirsten noticed that one of the art pieces on the ceiling was commissioned by the German Embassy in London.

From the tunnel, we strolled north, through Jubilee Gardens and along the South Bank up to the OXO Tower. Ann and Kirsten ducked into the La Gelatiera for some gelato. Ann had a cone with dark chocolate along with honey and lemon zest. The gelato was delicious.

By the time we returned to the London Eye, it was time to get in line. The London Eye is a very large ferris wheel. We bought the standard ticket, so we knew that even arriving within our 15 minute time slot, we could still be waiting up to 45 minutes in line to get on. There was a long line, but it moved fairly quickly and we were on board within 20 minutes.

The ride itself is about 30 minutes long. Each gondola can hold quite a few people. There is a bench in the middle that everyone can sit on and face outwards. Or you can stand up along the glass windows. The gondola is almost entirely glass, except for a small patch of the roof and the floor. So there are views in every direction. Thankfully, they don’t pack the gondolas very full, so there is plenty of room to wander around the gondola and take in all of the views.

After our ride, we started walking back towards our hotel. Along the way, we swung by Buckingham Palace to get a view of it from outside the gates. We didn’t find the front of the palace itself to be all that spectacular, but we did enjoy the very decorative gates and the Queen Victoria Memorial out front.

Before returning to our hotel, we stopped at St. George’s Tavern for dinner. It sounded like they were known for their pies, so that is what we had. Keith had the chicken pie, Ann had the rabbit pie, and Kirsten had the fish pie. The chicken pie came sealed inside a pastry shell. The other two pies were not in pastry shells, but rather in a pan with a layer of mashed potatoes on top. All of the pies were very tasty.

To drink, Keith ordered the Nickelson’s Cask Ale, Ann enjoyed a ginger and lime beer, while Kirsten drank a couple of the elderberry, lime, and mint soft drink. Even though we were not very hungry by this point, we managed to eat dessert. Ann and Keith opted for the lemon tart while Kirsten tried the sticky toffee pudding. None of us were disappointed.

Friday we took a bus tour to Dover and Canterbury. We’ll cover that in our next post.

We started Saturday by touring St. Paul’s Cathedral. We had timed entry tickets for 10 am. From the Victoria Underground Station, we took the District Line out to the Mansion House station. The cathedral was a short walk from there.

We arrived a little early, so we walked around the outside of the cathedral. There were some peaceful gardens surrounding the church along with an exhibition about the St. Paul’s Watch. The Watch was a group of over 300 volunteers who kept watch over the cathedral during World War II. They would put out any fires that started due to bombing and help protect the cathedral from harm.

After we entered St. Paul’s, we were given an audio guide. Keith and Ann chose to follow the Highlights Tour, while Kirsten used the regular Tour. The Highlights Tour lasted 30 minutes, but we found it a little hard to follow, as it did not tell you how to get to the next location and so we were constantly scrolling back to the map. The Tour allowed you to select an area of the cathedral and then select each item in that area.

We split up and went our separate ways inside St. Paul’s. In the Crypt, at the end of our Highlights Tour, Keith and Ann found each other. Then we realized we had not gone up to the Whisper Chamber. Did that cost extra? No. We found it on our guides under “Galleries”. We located where the stairs were that led up to it and headed back up to the main floor to find it.

The Galleries staircase was not too hard to find, as there was a large group of people waiting to go up. We got in the queue and it didn’t take long to start our climb. They checked our tickets when we entered the stairwell. We’re not sure why since you had to have tickets to be inside the cathedral in the first place. Keith had all of our tickets, so he texted a ticket to Kirsten in case she wanted to come up. We couldn’t find her and she had her phone in airplane mode to keep from draining her phone battery.

There are three galleries. The first gallery you reach is the Whispering Gallery, which is on the inside of the large dome, with great views down. It is called the Whispering Gallery, because of the great acoustics that allow sound to travel well from one side of the dome to the other.

The climb continues up to the Stone Gallery, which is outside. It is at the base of the dome, with obstructed views out over the city. By this time, Kirsten had turned her phone back on and got our messages. So we waited for her to come up and join us on the Stone Gallery.

From the Stone Gallery, there is a series of spiral stairs that move closer to the center of the dome as you approach the top of the dome, to the Golden Gallery. It is also outside, with unobstructed views of the city. As long as you are not afraid of heights and are physically fit to climb all of those stairs, it is worth the climb.

Overall, we enjoyed St. Paul’s Cathedral better than Westminster Abbey. St. Paul’s seemed less crowded and relaxed, as you could wander around at your own pace. The interior of St. Paul’s was more spectacular than the Abbey and the exterior was more peaceful, with the gardens instead of crowds of people.

From the cathedral, we walked over to the Leadenhall Market for lunch. The architecture of the market is stunning, dating back to the 14th century. Unfortunately, there was some construction nearby with loud machinery, so the atmosphere was not as great as it probably normally is. We went inside and upstairs to the restaurant at Lamb Tavern to help muffle the noise.

The tavern had a wonderful selection of food. Kirsten got the lamb chops. Keith ordered the ham terrine starter with a side of dauphinoise potatoes. Ann had two sides, broccoli and creamed corn with chili. We all enjoyed our meals.

From there, we wandered around the Tower of London, over the Tower Bridge, and into the Borough Market. Borough Market has been operating for over 1000 years. We were hoping to find a place to sit down, relax, and enjoy a cold beverage, but the market was packed with people, very noisy, and there was no place to sit. So we just walked through the market and continued walking down alongside the River Thames.

We came across a Pret A Manger. It is a chain that we’ve seen all over the place. It also looks like they have locations in the U.S. as well. The name is French for “Ready to Eat”. They have prepackaged sandwiches and salads, along with drinks and pastries. We just picked up some bottled drinks, then found a section of a wall in the shade to sit and relax. We happened to sit right next to Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre.

From there, we continued walking along the river, all the way past the OXO Tower to the Waterloo Bridge. Crossing over the bridge led us right to Lyceum Theatre, where we had tickets for that night’s performance of the Lion King Musical. Not too far away was the Marquis pub where we headed to for dinner before the show.

The pub was packed, but no one was in the restaurant upstairs. It wasn’t even 5 pm yet, so we had to let the staff down in the bar know that we wanted to be served upstairs. There didn’t seem to be any air conditioning, or it couldn’t keep up in the heat, because it was warm inside, even with the windows open. However, by the time we left, all of the tables were taken. For dinner, Ann chose the chicken burger with guacamole and sweet potato fries. Kirsten opted for a prawn starter and a Caesar salad. Keith ate the bangers and mash. After filling our bellies, we walked back to the theatre.

Lion King turned out to be what we expected. Incredible customs and puppetry along with the wonderful music that we all know from the movie soundtrack. We were impressed by the young actors who played the young versions of Simba and Nala.

After the musical, we caught the District Line from the Temple Underground Station back to our hotel near the Victoria Station. The musical was a great way to end our London visit. But Kirsten still had two more days in London before she flew back. It will be interesting to hear how she spent her time.

We later found out that Kirsten spend Sunday at the National Gallery on Trafalgar Square. Admission to the art gallery was free, although they do take donations. On Monday, she toured the Tower of London. Although we’ve heard good things about the Yeoman Warder tours, which is a guided tour of the castle, Kirsten opted for the self-guided tour. The Yeoman Warders, also known as the Beefeaters, are the ceremonial guards of the Tower of London.

Our kids don’t normally join us on our travels, so sharing London with Kirsten was a real treat for us. We let her pick out many of the places that we visited, so we saw some things that we might not have otherwise stumbled upon, like the Mercato Mayfair and the Leadenhall Market. Hopefully, she will join us on our travels in the future, perhaps if we promise not to walk as far.

Check out our related video: London, England

(Ann)