Travel to London & Westminster Abbey
Travel from Tonbridge to London was easy. It was about 45 minutes straight into Charing Cross station, which interestingly is used as the center point for the city of London.
I had to find somewhere to keep my bag as I was out and about, because check-in at my hotel wasn't until 3:00 pm and I arrived at about 10:45 in the morning. They have "left luggage" facilities at the station, but I had looked into BagBnB as an option. With BagBnB you basically leave your bag at a store nearby to the train/Tube station. The stores have been vetted by the company. It was only £5 to do this (versus like £12 or £15 at left luggage at the station), so I walked to a souvenir store nearby and left my bag there. It actually didn't seem sketchy at all and it worked out well.
From there I walked to Trafalgar Square. I have seen it in passing but have never actually walked around there. I decided to go into the National Gallery because it was free and I had some time to kill until lunch time and my visit to Westminster Abbey.
Here's some cool sidewalk chalk art near Trafalgar Square.
The National Gallery is so overwhelming. I don't "get" art so I made a quick trip of this, which was like an hour. I saw Monet and Van Gogh, which was pretty fancy. Some of the other paintings were gigantic. I do appreciate the craft because I'm not sure how people do it.
I had to find somewhere to keep my bag as I was out and about, because check-in at my hotel wasn't until 3:00 pm and I arrived at about 10:45 in the morning. They have "left luggage" facilities at the station, but I had looked into BagBnB as an option. With BagBnB you basically leave your bag at a store nearby to the train/Tube station. The stores have been vetted by the company. It was only £5 to do this (versus like £12 or £15 at left luggage at the station), so I walked to a souvenir store nearby and left my bag there. It actually didn't seem sketchy at all and it worked out well.
From there I walked to Trafalgar Square. I have seen it in passing but have never actually walked around there. I decided to go into the National Gallery because it was free and I had some time to kill until lunch time and my visit to Westminster Abbey.
Here's some cool sidewalk chalk art near Trafalgar Square.
The National Gallery is so overwhelming. I don't "get" art so I made a quick trip of this, which was like an hour. I saw Monet and Van Gogh, which was pretty fancy. Some of the other paintings were gigantic. I do appreciate the craft because I'm not sure how people do it.
After this I walked to the area of Westminster Abbey and explored. Here's a woman waving an EU flag outside of Parliament.
I was hungry at this point and had researched some places nearby, one called Wesley Cafe. I decided to go there which was slightly a mistake because there was some sort of graduation happening and there was not a seat to be had. I hastily purchased a sandwich, chips, and bottled coffee and left the building to sit on stairs outside to eat. Glamorous first meal in London. I people-watched for quite a while.
Finally it was time to go into the Abbey. I had pre-purchased my ticket so getting in was easy. Figuring out what to do next was tricky. A free audio guide is included, but where does one go to receive it? I saw other people with theirs and eventually found where to get it, only to have the volume on my headset not work. Back to the line to get a new one.
Once that was all sorted and the traffic of people thinned out a bit, I really enjoyed it. The history is mind-boggling. All monarchs are coronated here. William and Kate got married here; I saw their marriage certificate. I saw the tombs of so many monarchs that I've read about, the most impressive perhaps being Elizabeth I. It was surreal to be near her. Mary I, Mary Queen of Scots, Richard III. Charles Darwin, Isaac Newton, Stephen Hawking, Charles Dickens. Gang's all here. It was quite something to be here. It's beautiful and overwhelming. Photos aren't allowed, but I snuck one when I was visiting a special gallery up top.
Here are some other photos from outside and in the cloisters area.
After the tour, I had cream tea in the café inside the Abbey. It's a pot of tea and two scones with cream and jam. The service here was not great, but I spent a little time there editing photos.
I had to walk back and pick up my bag at this point. A 20 minute walk goes fast when there is so much to look at on the way and a lot of people to dodge on the street. We're all trying to get somewhere!
With my bag in tow, I went to the Embankment station and got an Oyster card, which is what you use to take the Tube. I put £20 on it and quickly figured out which line I needed to use to get to Victoria station. I looked all of this up prior to the trip, which I'm so grateful that I did. Otherwise it would be super overwhelming trying to figure it out on the fly, trying to not be in peoples' way. The train arrived in like 3 minutes so I hopped on. It was right at rush hour at this time, which wasn't great planning on my part, but oh well. It wasn't super crazy or anything.
It only took about 5 minutes to arrive at the Victoria station and then about another 5 minutes to walk to my hotel. I had a moment of panic when the woman who checked me in said that the reservation was canceled. I had tried to book it on Booking.com twice and it didn't go through. I then booked it directly on the hotel's website and I know it went through; I had the confirmation email. Apparently it didn't go through that time either (I will check this when I get home!), but luckily they had a room open for the nights I need.
The hotel has happy hour from 5:00-8:00 every night with tea, coffee, wine, and snacks, so after checking in and dropping my bag at my (tiny) room, I went back down and had a glass of wine.
The amount of people in a city like this is crazy. All these people have to eat every meal every day and it shows with how busy every establishment is. I'm not used to it, but deal with it well even though it's mass chaos. All the pubs had a million people standing outside at dinner time; there's no way I would've been able to get inside. I ended up going to a place called Leon and getting a salad, which was actually really fresh and delicious. I'm sure my body enjoyed having greenery since it hasn't for a while.
More London adventures the next couple of days!