Day 1 in London...

After leaving the states at 8pm ET on the 19th, we arrived in London around 8am on the 20th. Luckily our driver had been watching the flight so we weren't waiting too long before heading to our destination, London House Hotel, which would be home for the next few days.

Since it was too early to check into our rooms, the wonderful folks in reception stored our luggage for us and allowed us to use the restrooms to freshen up so we could head out for the first sight-seeing adventure of our trip: Hyde Park and Kensington Palace.

Hyde Park itself is amazing and takes up 350 acres of Westminster, Greater London. There are numerous entrances into the park from any number of locations throughout this area.

But since we'd been flying all night, we stuck to the roughly 2 mile walk to Kengsinton Palace (the birthplace of Queen Victoria) where we toured the palace itself as well as the grounds and had lunch at The Orangery located within the palace next to the gift shop.

Kensington Palace is the official home of the Prince and Princess of Wales along with other members of the Royal family. One thing that really touched my heart was the memorial to Lady Diana her son's had installed near a pond on the grounds of what is formally known as the Sunken Garden (now called The White Garden).

The beauty of Kensington Palace can not truly be described with mere words. The furniture, draperies and artwork are stunning so, please forgive my pitiful depiction - I am not a photographer LOL!

This excursion certainly made for a wonderful day.

Met by a misty rain that afternoon, we ventured out to dinner where we both had fish and chips (what else for your maiden visit, right?!) then on to Selfridges where my cousin shopped till she/we dropped. Well, almost. But that is certainly possible in this 540,000 sq. feet smorgasboard of designer apparel and accessories, beauty and wellness shops, fine dining and all sorts of venues to explore and be inspired. 

As you know from my last post, I am not a shopper to any degree but experiencing my cousin's joy of being there made trouping through the rain worthwhile.

We got an Uber ride back to our hotel and tiny room and even tinier bathroom (which had me humming the blues due to its size) and settled in for the evening. When I say "tinier bathroom" I mean.... S-M-A-L-L. Seriously, you had to back up and turn around to change your mind LOL! 

Alas, it served its purpose.

Not bad for our first day in London, right?

Stay tuned weekly as I continue to share my UK Vacay with you!

Until next time, happy traveling.

PamT