Day 3 - Exploring the Heart of the Capital: A Proper London Experience
A cold, wet, windy, cloudy day … FINALLY.
08/11/2023
Another day, another morning of Matt waking up at 2am! But this time, I managed to take a sleeping tablet & get through to 5am. I hope this trend disappears as we “acclimatise” to London time.
Once 5am rolled around, Chelsea & I worked for 3 hours in our bedroom. We’ve added a small table setup at the end of our bed to try and not impede Chelsea’s Grandad’s whole dining room. However, it was a bit cramped and ended with Matt working with his computer on his lap… back to the dining room table tomorrow morning I’d say. Also we think Grandad missed us as he asked us if we were coming down for our coffees about 3 times, bless him.
After a morning cup of tea & chat with Grandad, we headed towards Central London for our first time in the city.
We left Grandad’s place on the 237 Bus, and stopped off in Chiswick to grab the 49 through to London. While waiting at the bus stop, we were hit with our first taste of typical London weather. A cool breeze blew through and a shower of rain passed by. We were finally going to experience one of those dreary London days we had wanted (we’ve got the best sun there is back home haha).
We had been told to catch the 49 Bus into Chiswick, as it runs alongside Kensington Gardens, Hyde Park, down Oxford Street & into Regent Street (see map below).
This was a great way to get to see some of the sights, without having to pay for a bus tour (yes we’re cheap haha).
Kensington has some very grand houses & hotel buildings that left Chels & I dreaming of winning the lottery. Although we were thankful for the rain, we will have to plan a day to have a picnic around Kensington Gardens & Hyde Park on a nice sunny day.
Although we have both been down Oxford Street before, we still can’t get over the amount of shops & people! It’s like its own little suburb.
Once we arrived in Regent Street, Chelsea dragged me into Uniqlo to grab some upgraded thermals to use in Switzerland. I managed to grab some new pants too (trying not to wear the same pair of jeans every day).
After shopping, Matt was getting a bit hangry (hungry and angry), so Chelsea quickly found a place to eat to avoid any tantrums.
Chels managed to navigate us to a lovely table at Gaucho Piccadilly, an Argentinian Steak Restaurant (Chelsea knows me too well). Here’s what we ordered:
GORDAL OLIVES - Andalusian pitted green olives
CUADRIL RUMP - The leanest cut with a pure, distinctive flavour
HAND-CUT CHIPS - Pierre Koffman potato, chimichurri salt
CHIMICHURRI
MUSHROOM TAGLIATELLE - Torrontés cream, truffle oil, free range egg yolk
ITALIAN RED - TENUTE ORESTIADI, Perricone 2021 - Tenute Orestiadi, Sicily
SPANISH BEER - VICTORIA MALAGA LAGER
The meal was great and the setting beautiful. We are very good at finding great tables at high-end restaurants yet ordering the cheapest items on the menu (works awesome for us but earns a few eye-rolls from the waiters haha).
After a great lunch, we ventured back into Regent Street and stumbled into one of our favourite shops in all of London, Whittard Chelsea. For those of you who don’t know, Whittard Chelsea is a lovely tea shop, but not just any tea shop. They have the best White Hot Chocolate we’ve ever had! To top that off, they have free samples in-store.
After stopping in to pretend to browse the other teas while having 3 or 4 free samples of white hot chocolate, we finally left Regent Street and made our way to Piccadilly Circus. Unfortunately, the Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain is being renovated, so we had to miss out on that for now.
While in Piccadilly, we were hit with some of the heavier rain & wind, so we took shelter in a small doorway. While in there, two other groups came in, both with blokes who had full camera bag setups & about 3 large lenses each. Matt eyed off the camera gear and decided they both had about $8,000 worth of equipment… (hint hint for anyone looking to start saving for Matt’s birthday next year).
After Piccadilly, we headed down to Chelsea’s favourite part of London, the famous Trafalgar Square. Even though the rain was coming down, it couldn’t wipe the smile off Chelsea’s face.
The National Gallery, King George IV Statue & Nelson’s Column are all beautiful monuments that Chelsea enjoyed gazing at while Matt snapped some photos in the rain (thanks for the water-resistant Camera and lens Mum & Ken).
After grinning while getting drenched, Chelsea took me on a run down a rainy street to a little pub that Mark & Asha may be familiar with, the Old Shades, a very British-style pub that has been serving the people of London since it was originally built in 1898, including Mark on many occasion with his mates, and later on, Mark & Asha on dates as a couple.
This old pub served as a great escape from the busy streets and downfalling rain around Westminster.
While on our way to the pub, we caught a glimpse of something we hadn’t planned on seeing that day. BIG BEN. Chels gasped & even had tears in her eyes!
The last time we were here, it was under renovation and completely covered with scaffolding. Although we didn’t have time today to visit the monument, we made plans to return tomorrow for a special visit up close.
From Trafalgar Square, we made our way to a spot we frequented and loved the last time we visited London, Covent Garden.
Not only is Covent Garden beautiful year-round but it is especially known for its festive decorations and vibe around the Christmas Period. I don’t think I have to say too much about how excited Chelsea was to experience this first-hand, I’ll just let the pictures do the talking.
After getting carried away at the sights around Covent Garden, we caught the bus back to Brentford, which took a fair bit longer than expected due to backed up traffic (believe it or not, London is a busy city).
Matt fell asleep on the bus and passed out as soon as we got home (this is why the blog is a bit late - apologies to our avid readers.. Tina looking at you!).
After a big day today, we will most likely be following that up with another one, as we venture back into the city to see Big Ben and the surrounding attractions!
PS. If anyone wants some of the photos taken to download, message us through the Contact Us section of the website, or email us hello@picswesendtomum.com
Cheers,
Matt & Chels
Pics We Send To Mum
