Part 4 London and Paris 10 Day Getaway - The London Eye, The Beatles, Camden Market and Tea!

11:19 AM AirplaneFoodCritic 0 Comments

It is going to be a FUUL day today and for that, we will need a FULL breakfast - A Full English Breakfast that is! I canceled my normal breakfast that is included with the hotel because it was so flimsy. My friends were now staying with us (THEY are staying in a massive room I might add!) so we all went to a diner like place for brekkie. I got sausage and eggs which was perfect. Andy got the Full English and it looked AHmazing.  It is so fulfilling eating such a breakfast after a huge day of walking and before another one.

Another Full English, Andy got it this time and it is incredible!
After breakfast we began walking. And walking and walking and walking. We passed by all sorts of famous things. We passed by red phone booths and big, double decker buses. We passed by the Prime Minister's house and loads of historic buildings.
It's fun being a tourist. You get to do stupid things...like this!
I got to ride in a double decker bus! Oh I am silly.
We got to the Parliament Building and Big Ben and I have to say, those buildings are like Michelangelo's David...You HAVE to see it in person to really understand it. Just beautiful. The buildings with their many gothic spires just tower above you. I was truly in awe. I wanted to check out Westminster Abbey but we would have had to give up another attraction in order to do so. I settled for walking past. I did take a lot of photos though.
Such a presence, these buildings. I love love the gothic look and their golden appearance. 
We crossed the river right at Parliament and made our way to The London Eye. The lines for this get long so we felt we should do this first thing.
Approaching the Eye from Parliament.
I think people had to use the restroom first so we waited in some weird arcade area. There was a McDonalds that was having some sort of promotion. I grabbed a bunch of balloons to play with while we waited. We got our tickets and got in line. Then we waited. But with Andy, even waiting in a long line is fun!
Oh Andy!! 
We got on the pod and up we went. I must have taken another 500 photos. We saw so much and it was a wonderfully sunny day! As we went up, I saw bridges and got great shots of the Thames. At the top we could see out to the Royal Palace on one side and The Shard on the other. Coming back down you can get great shots of Parliament and Big Ben. I could post a lot of photos here but Ill just choose a couple.
Coming down you can see across to the Parliament buildings and beyond

At the crest of the route around the Eye, you can see the boxy looking Royal Palace. It is there at the top of the woodsy area. You can sort of make out the red color of the gravel in front of the Palace.
After our warm but pleasant ride we crossed back over the bridge towards Big Ben but not before stopping for some of the best roadside ice cream I have had in my life. I don't know what they did to make it so delicious but it was amazing. We all walked happily with our cones to the next destination.
We were all screaming for ice cream after a ride on the London Eye
We got back on the Underground and chugged our weary feet across London and then walked some more until we made it to Abbey House on Abbey Road. We all signed the wall in our own ways and one big signing for the group.
Signing the wall. Notice even in the background, Andy is still smiling! Always smiling!
Then we did the obligatory walk across Abbey Road. The road is certainly not too similar to the famous Beatles album cover. There is loads of traffic. Not only cars but people...people just like us...walking back and forth, back and forth trying to emulate that famous photo. We were laughing and correcting each other. It was so much fun. And to be in such a Beatle-y place was totally enthralling. We had so much fun. What a good group we make.
Here is our best shot of the day. I, apparently, thought I was Frankenstein. 
After hanging around all the Beatle memories we walked back to the Underground. We bought all day tickets for the underground so we could hop on and off where ever want. We were heading to the Camden Town stop to hit up Camden Market. We passed a stop that I really wanted to get off at for a photo. It was the Baker Street stop. I just wanted a photo next to the sign, which I got, but I got more than that.  In the underground area at the Baker Street stop they have a bunch of Sherlock items. They have tiles with Sherlock's profile on it. If you aren't as huge a fan of Sherlock fan as I am, he lived on Baker Street.
Doing my best Sherlock....it's terrible, I know.
Little Sherlock easter eggs at the Baker Street station.
We emerged from the Camden underground stop into Camden Market. This was a highlight of the whole trip. I have never been here before. It is a giant shopping area. The main market is a series of tents with people selling all sorts of stuff from booths. Like an outdoor market. Well, it IS an outdoor market. But so much more. We looked at a few of the clothing articles hanging in the market but then made our way to actual brick and mortar shops. The streets were full of people. It reminds me a bit of Haight Street in San Francisco with all the wild looking shop fronts. The shops all had booths that spilled onto the sidewalk. There was so much I wanted to purchase! I could barely keep myself calm. Many of the things I bought were from the people on the streets in front of the shops and they all only took cash. I think I was lucky for this or I may have spent much, much more.
This is our view as we came up from the underground. Notice the trio of Amy Winehouse lookalikes on the left.
I got an army jacket with The Smiths emblazoned on the back and some sunglasses with the Union Jack on them. The bf got 5 t-shirts of cool British bands like Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Beatles, The Smiths and more. I wanted to stay so much longer but my feet and my wallet seemed to have teamed up to stop me. Camden Market is not just interesting shops and people watching. There are beautiful bridges that cross clear little streams. There are lovers kissing under weeping willows. There are outdoor cafes to people watch. I loved it and I will be going back for sure on another trip. But for now, we were starving and our feet hurt so back on the underground for us.
A small idea of what Camden Market looks like today.
We exited the underground and started walking again. We were heading to a tea house that our friends thought would be fun. Along the way we went down good old Carnaby Street. I was here when I was 14 or 15 years old. At the time I was into SKA and Goth and had black hair. I bought a pair of Doc Martins boots on Carnaby Street. I still wear those boots today! My recollection of this area was more of a punk scene. Now I know that is what Camden Market is like. Carnaby was beautiful and full of people, street performers, mini celebrations and cute, alternative shops but we only strolled through on our way to the tea house.

I have great memories of Carnaby Street from when I was a teenager.
We turned a corner, ducked through a little side street and came out into a place called Kingly Courtyard. Up on the second story was Camillia's Tea House. We were tired and hungry so it was really nice to be there. We all ordered the full high tea and we got a sandwich on the side for the bf who was dying. It took me a little while to figure out how to order. But we managed to get a table and they brought the triple plate dish with the mini sandwiches on the bottom, scones with clotted cream and jam in the middle and tasty sweets and pastries on the top. I enjoyed myself so much that I bought the serving dish set up.
Having high tea at Camellia's Tea House. This is the exact same tiered serving dish I bought too. Adrobs.

We rested a while with our full bellies and then began the walk back to the hotel for a proper nap. There was one more little errand I had to take care of though. We had to find a Turnbull and Asser shop nearby because my brother requested a tie from there. We scoped out where it was and found it to be just down the street from our hotel. It was closed so we decided to come by tomorrow morning. Tomorrow our friends have to face real life and go back to work so we will be on our own until the late afternoon when Andy will pick us up and take us to his house for a stay.

You Might Also Like

0 comments: