Now things are starting to get blurry when it comes to London! That’s what happens when you’re on the go every day. Thursday we met up in the morning with my friend Lottie who took us to Choccywoccydoodah for some wonderful cake! Guys, this cake was to die for. If you find yourself in the area, make sure you check it out. You can thank me later.

I mean, look at this! It was beyond rich and dreamy. It was hard to pick which cake to chow down on, they all sounded fantastic and left me drooling. After cake we did a little bit of shopping where I picked up some goodies for the nephews. Our time with Lottie was limited because that evening we had a London Eye tour booked. We said our goodbyes and then we got ready for the tour. It was part of the package that Mel and I booked for the Ravens game. We headed down to the hotel lobby around 4PM (I think) and then our bus took us over to the Eye. Now, all week the weather had been perfect! Of course when it was time do for a tour that’s best done in amazing and sunny weather, Mother Nature had other ideas. It was a bit rainy and overcast during our 30 minute adventure aboard The Eye but it was still an outstanding view. I know it’s touristy, but it really was a good time. If you have the time in your schedule I recommend checking it out. I actually want to go back and do a night tour. The city is beyond beautiful at night, which you’ll see in another post!

Our tour guide was very entertaining and I was really surprised by how much room the pods had! I didn’t feel squished at all and everyone I think had plenty of space to move around and check out the different views. The 30 minutes seemed to fly by and before we knew it, the ride was over. By this time I was starving (shocker), so once we got back to the hotel we made our way down the block to Rose & Crown. It was a pub we came across during one of our walks. I ordered the fish and chips because come on. It was delicious! The vibe of the place was really nice too. It was pretty packed but it didn’t feel crowded. The service was timely and it seemed like everyone was just having a nice night out. We called it an early night and headed back to the hotel.

Friday morning we got up early and headed off to see the Peter Pan Statue, The Princess Diana Fountain, and The Princess Diana Memorial Gardern (White Garden). It was a beautiful morning to spend in Hyde Park. People were walking their puppers, riding bikes, just enjoying the weather and scenery. It didn’t take us long to find what we were looking for. The nice thing was it wasn’t too crowded at our spots. Peter Pan was the first spot we came across, then it was a nice little walk down to the fountain. It was such a beautiful space. It was very calm and relaxing. I love how different the fountain is. When you hear the word “fountain” you expect something large, but this was all low to the ground and like a calm river. I really recommend checking it out if you can. It’s a great place to just relax and take in everything around you.

After a little break, we started walking towards Kensington Palace where The White Garden can be found. It’s very easy to find and it’s free. You don’t need to pay any fees to see it. It’s stunning! The amount of white flowers is really breathtaking. Again, another serene and relaxing area. I still can’t believe it’s been 20 years since her passing.

Here’s a video I took where you can see the entire area.

A post shared by Barbarella (@youthinkmemad) on Sep 24, 2017 at 1:27pm PDT

After exploring a bit, we hopped on a bus and made our way to a pub for a Ravens event. That’ll be in a different post though. I’m going to put all the football stuff together just to make it easier. I really recommend checking out Hyde Park if you find yourself in London. It’s such a beautiful and relaxing spot. Plus it’s great for dog spotting! I could have spent all day there just wandering around and checking it all out. I’m not sure how long the White Garden will be around, so I’d probably try to visit that sooner rather than later.

Ready for the next installment of London posts? That’s a hypothetical question because you’re getting the post no matter what the answer is! Wednesday morning we said goodbye to Katy and headed off to our hotel, The London Hilton on Park Lane. The location was perfect and made it very easy to explore London on our own. We had a bus stop right across the street and it was a short walk to a tube station. Wednesday was one of our last “free days” where we didn’t have any tours booked with our package. We decided to fill the day with The Royal Day Out at Buckingham Palace. It’s a three part tour that includes The Queen’s Gallery, The Royal Mews, and The State Rooms. The tours are only offered during certain times of the year, basically when The Queen is visiting Scotland on vacation. You’re not allowed to take photos of The State Rooms but whatever you think the Palace looks like inside, multiply it by a thousand. The amount of gold, marble, and details is just mind blowing. It’s crazy to think that dogs and kids run around that place like it’s a normal residence. We were allowed to take photos outside though and at The Royal Mews and Gallery.

I highly recommend checking this out if you’re visiting during the time frame that Buckingham Palace is open. It was really amazing to see and I’m glad I did it! It was 100% worth the time and money. After our tours, we headed back to our hotel and our room was ready! It was a pretty nice room! It had plenty of space for both of us, the shower had great water pressure (that’s important), and it was clean. The only thing that sucked was for whatever reason people felt the need to stand outside our room to make phone calls and it was loud as fuck. I think one lady was having issues with her condo association or something. We’re not talking muffled voices here. I could clearly hear all the conversations that were being had. Other than that though, the hotel and room were great. We turned into typical tourists for dinner and hit up The Hard Rock Cafe. We were starving by that point and hadn’t had time to really explore what was nearby. It did the job though and we just missed the evening rush. Fun Fact: If you’re in London for the Miami Dolphins game this weekend, that’s the “Home Bar” for the team! The more you know. After dinner we just went back to the room and relaxed. It was a long day and we another long day ahead of us! Yup, there are more posts coming including The London Eye, South Bank, Thames River Cruise, and ya know, that NFL game that I went to see that I’d rather not talk about but I will because I love you guys.

If you have any questions feel free to drop them in the comments!

Oh boy. What a trip. I don’t even know how the posts about it are going to go. It’s probably going to be a bunch of random words and some photos. It was a real whirlwind of trying to do all the things. I’m sure some of you were following along on social media and if you were, thank you! I appreciated all the Instagram likes and comments. Side Note: Can Instagram please add a separate section for comments?! When you get 67 notifications and one is a comment, it’s like looking for a needle in a haystack! Anyway, I’ll try and put things in order. I’ll probably make a few posts that way things don’t get too long. When we landed on Monday, we didn’t do too much! We made our way to Katy’s place and just kinda took it easy until we went out for dinner and a movie. It was nice just to relax after such a long flight. Tuesday we headed off for adventures that included the Royal Naval College (Thor: TDW filmed there), The Millennium Bridge, tea at Fortum & Mason, lots of walking and buses, and ending at “The Pub” from Captain America: The First Avenger. I’m sure I’m forgetting something but it was such a packed day! And it was great. The tea was fantastic and I made sure to grab a few to bring home, along with some cute little chocolate skulls. Plus the scones and sandwiches were to die for. I couldn’t get over the weather either. It was really perfect and stayed that way for most of the trip. I think we had one day where it rained a little but it wasn’t anything horrible. The Pub was probably the highlight of the day though. I think it has new owners and felt a lot more relaxed than the last time I was there. The drinks were really good and reasonably priced. The staff was really nice as well! Plus we were able to sit at the bar in the spots where Chris Evans and Sebastian Stan sat during the movie. Because we’re nerds like that. It was a really long day. I think we made it back to the house around 8PM or something like that? It was a fantastic day though and I’m glad we were able to jam a ton of stuff into it. And now some photos!

Tea

Random London:

Royal Naval College:

Captain America Pub:

And that’s it for this post! I know, I’m an asshole for not naming the Pub but I think of it as my special place. Sorry, not sorry! If you look up filming locations though, you’ll find it. And don’t worry, we saw much more of London and those photos will be up later in the week!

I can’t believe it’s almost here! I’m really excited to be going back. I had such a great time last time! This time around the trip centers around seeing the Baltimore Ravens take part in the International Series. Melinda is coming along this time as well. We leave September 17th, arriving on the 18th. Then we head home on the 25th. The first few days we’ll be staying with Katy, then on Wednesday we check into our hotel and start dealing with everything that comes with our package! It includes tours, a river dinner cruise, the London Eye, brunches, pub outings and more! We’re still waiting on all the details but it’s going to be a great time. We found out that Tom Hiddleston is going to be taking part in a special performance of “Hamlet” too. We’ve all entered the lottery and have crossed our fingers that at least one of us gets picked. It would be an amazing thing to see and would really be the icing on the cake. We have plans to get together with another friend, Lottie, as well who’s going to show us yummy cakes.

No matter what happens, I know it’s going to be a great time. It’s such a great place to visit. Plus it’s Melinda’s first time! I’m excited I can be there with her when she gets to experience everything. I’m looking forward to our fancy hotel too which is in the center of all the fun things. I just want to explore and see as much as I can. I think we’re going to try and do a fancy dinner one night which should be fun. It’s just hard to schedule things when we don’t know our package schedule yet, but hopefully soon we’ll get that info! The nice thing is they provide the transportation to the football game, so one less thing to worry about!

Anyone else have any fun trips coming up soon?