My London Adventure - A Long Weekend And A Reunion

As Dave’s friends from university all live in or around London, a reunion had been arranged for Saturday, the 30th of August 2016. London is a fair way for us to go (now we have ‘small island syndrome’ again), so we decided to make a weekend of it. We booked tickets to see a Shakespeare play and I had a voucher for afternoon tea, so we booked that too! Below is a brief overview of our London Adventure. Follow the links for more details!

The Train, The Airbnb And The Jars

We got the train to London on Thursday evening. Luckily it was only an hour and a half trip (we booked far enough in advance that we could get the fast train cheap). Unluckily it was delayed (albeit only for half an hour).

We were sat at a table on the train and were next to two guys who work in London. We got a few drinks and started chatting. The train journey (and delay) soon flew by!

Arriving in London we headed to the nearest tube stop for our Airbnb. There we met our host who led us back, showed us around and pointed a few things out to us.

After dropping our bags down we went on a BFG Dream Jar Adventure! There was a trail nearby on the Thames, so we followed this. It was harder than we thought (and took a lot longer). By the time we’d finished it was nearly 10pm and we realised we hadn’t eaten, so we went to find somewhere to eat.

BFG Dream Jar

Food And A Walking Tour

The guys on the train had told us about Borough Market, which we were fairly near, so we headed over (as it was also on the way back). I don’t know why we expected that it may still be open, but funny enough it wasn’t.

Walking back to the Thames we found a restaurant that had Paella outside – this was just what we were looking for. The place was called Brood and looked good, so we grabbed a table and had some food.

After eating we heading back to the Airbnb for a much needed rest!

The next morning we planned to head to Covent Gardens to go on the Sandemans New Europe London Free Walking Tour at 10am. Although we were up and pretty much ready to go, we got talking to our host! So we left our Airbnb a little later than planned. But we were still determined to walk, as there was also a tour at 11am which we could grab.

We got to Covent Gardens in time for the 11am tour. However, they said it would run for two and a half to three hours. We had booked afternoon tea for 2pm, so we wouldn’t see all the tour! But we did what we could.

Sandemans New Europe London Free Walking Tour

A Lot Of Shakespeare

Leaving the walking tour, we headed to the Swan (just outside of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre), as this was where we had booked our afternoon tea. You could tell it was near the Globe – everything had a Shakespeare theme!

Afternoon Tea At the Swan – London

After filling up we headed to Borough Market again, just for a look as we were not hungry at all! It was much bigger than I realised the night before! After a good wander around we spotted Southwark Cathedral and decided to take a look. Here we found more Shakespeare links! There were some very interesting sculptures both inside and outside.

Shakespeare Sculture In Southwark Cathedral

Once we left the Cathedral we still had a few hours before our Shakespeare show, but we didn’t want to go too far. We headed to the Thames and had a wander around. We soon came across the Golden Hinde – we then realised that we could actually go in the ship, so we did!

The Golden Hinde – London

After a thorough explore of the Golden Hinde we stopped off at the Anchor for a drink. This pub has a notice outside that states that they “…can be fairly sure that he (Shakespeare) enjoyed an ale or two…”

Then it was time for the show. So we headed over to the Globe to watch ‘The Taming Of The Shrew’. And I must say, it was absolutely amazing. I love being in the ‘peasant’ standing section!

Shakespeare’s Globe – Waiting For “The Taming Of The Shrew”

After the show we grabbed some food and headed back to the airbnb.

The Reunion

The next day was Reunion Day, so we were staying the night with two of Dave’s old uni housemates. So we left the Airbnb and first went to Borough Market (I was a little in love) for some breakfast. We found Gourmet Goat and had a very unusual breakfast!

Borough Market

Then we got the tube and headed to Clappen Junction, where we met Sophie and Georgie. We walked to their house with them to dump our bags before heading out for a day of festivities! The festivities included table tennis, a Thames-side pub and breakfast in the evening.