Photo of the Month - September 2023

Welcome to the September Photo of the Month! On this post - the third and last from the series - we proceed with a focus in London.

Different from the other posts, on this one there are only mine and Natalia’s photos, all of them captured with our phones as tokens from the travel and not necessarily for the blog. Besides - or maybe because of it - I’ll focus on the narrative to make things interesting.

This is the last of a 3-post series:

• Photos from the city without us
• Couple’s essay with a professional photographer
• Various photos from us to capture the good times

This may be the biggest post from the blog so far. In other words, take a deep breath because here comes photo! I even let the table of contents open on this post to make it easy to navigate it, in case you want to split the reading by day of travel.

At this point I may not even need to remind you: these are my vacation photos, don’t be fooled into thinking there is more to it, because there isn’t!

Given the huge number of clicks, I spent a good time thinking on how to structure things. I could sort it by topic, places, or in chronological order. I opted for the latter, since the focus is on the narrative.

Before each day, I present some statistics and data, like the number of steps and our route map - with the precision offered by the electronics we had, which is limited but interesting nevertheless.

Day 1 - London Eye, Big Ben, and St. James Park region

Step count:

Google Maps route:

This travel starts in Guarulhos on what should be the day 0, but which I’m keeping under day 1 to make things simple. We boarded a beautiful Airbus A350-1000 from British Airways heading to London, in Natalia’s first transatlantic cross:

As we arrived, we went through a small turbulence: our transfer to the hotel didn’t show up and we had to find a way with the express train to the Paddington station and, after that, the tube to Waterloo. We left the luggage in the hotel and went out seeking for some adventure.

Our tour started conveniently in the London Eye region, which was very close to the hotel. The following photos were from our first view of the London Eye, coming from Waterloo. Being it the first day, we were amazed by everything already, and this landscape we longed for so much was very powerful:

We stopped to learn more about tickets. Since the weather was good, we bought the tickets to 3:00 PM on the same day. We walked slowly in the Westminster Bridge direction, headed to the Big Ben:

The bridge is very busy with pedestrians, it is required to walk slowly and patiently. Big Ben itself is very pretty and lives up to its fame. Maybe because we went through this region many times or due to the good vibes, this was one of my favorite places from the travel.

We stopped to rest a bit and see the time go by on a small square named Parliament Square Garden, between Westminster Palace and Westminster Abbey. There are some interesting statues like Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi in the square, but we didn’t take pictures of them.

We passed in front of Westminster Abbey, but decided to leave the visit to another day. We were tired from the travel, hungry and the line was too big. Of course this didn’t prevent us from enjoying the beauty of the building as we walked to an Italian restaurant nearby named Mio that Google Maps suggested for lunch.

Funny fact is that, after we had lunch in the Italian restaurant, across the corner there was a stree fair in the Strutton Ground “street” with a variety of food options we could have tried. That’s all right for a random lunch on the first day. Besides, the food was delicious at Mio, where we both ordered gnocci, but with different ingredients.

On the way back we enjoyed again the view of Westminster Abbey, now with our bellies full and more patience.

Exploring more of the region, we landed on the closest entrance to St. James Park. By then we had already walked a lot and were starting to get tired. Once more we paused to enjoy the park and mostly to rest!

A bit recomposed, we resumed walking with the goal to cross the Golden Jubilee Bridge and go to the London Eye ride scheduled for 3 PM.

On the way there, we went through the entrance of The Household Cavalry Museum, where there is a mounted guard. People often take photos and sometimes unwarned tourists touch the horses and are scolded by the guards. We only took one selfie and it isn’t the best photography there could have been, but for lack of another one, here it is:

We wandered through the Whitehall street region, with its famous public buildings, went through the Whitehall Gardens, and finally got to the bridge:

We stopped at Jubilee Park and Garden, practically in front of the London Eye, to have a frozen yogurt and kill time until it was our turn in the ferris wheel.

The ride in the heights was awesome to me, but Natalia suffered a lot and wasn’t able to even get up on her feet. It was our only panoramic experience in the city, so I cannot compare it with others as the View from The Shard or the Sky Garden on the Walkie Talkie.

To end the day, we walked slowly back to Waterloo. It was near the end of the first day, tired and looking for a market to buy some provisions, that we had our first glimpse of the Lower Marsh region. It will show up here on this post up ahead.

We even had the energy to go out for a drink and dinner in a bar named Cubana, with a Latino theme! Very tired and happy, we went back to the hotel. This was the end of the beginning, a well-deserved rest after a long travel and a busy but lovely day.

Day 2 - Green Park, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, and Kensington Palace

Step count:

Google Maps route:

We slept until late and weren’t able to wake up even for breakfast, but no surprise there. We were able to go out of the hotel by noon and explored a bit of Lower Marsh looking for a market. Our plan was to buy sandwiches and have a picnic later:

We found a Pret-a-Manger, that later we figured out to be a ready-food chain with several units spread across the city. It isn’t really a fast-food, they actually have gondolas with the cold food. It is possible to eat in and buy warm beverages.

Each of us chose a sandwich and we took the tube to Green Park. We bought the Oyster Card pass for a week, and it was very worth it in the end. After the picnic in the middle of the park, we walked to the long awaited Buckingham Palace.

In front of the palace, we enjoyed the Victoria Memorial for a while:

And finally the palace:

Due to this being a region full of people - even outside the rush hour - there is always a funny picture with the passersby:

Note in the next photo the lady with the green and white dress behind Natalia…

…and in the next picture she is taking a look back.

Since we left the hotel, we were in doubt whether to visit the Buckingham Palace or the Kensington Palace. Because of that, we went around the Buckingham to have a look at the queue.

We gave up the Buckingham visit, but had a walk in the surroundings towards Victoria Station to make use of the time exploring the region. There were some urban landscapes to enjoy while strolling, with some modern buildings:

In the station, we took the tube to Kensington Park, going off in a station near Kensington Palace. We walked the Broad Walk until a lake that is in front of the palace, where we stopped to rest for a while.

Due to the heavy sun and warmth, besides us being walking for a long time already, the stop was essential to get our strengh back and also to enjoy a bit of the park.

Next, we walked through the Princess Diana Memorial Garden and into the Kensington Palace. It was an interesting tour because it gave us a notion of how would the interior of such a palace be and how a royal family member would live back in the day. Queen Victoria was born there, and there were some curious facts of her childhood.

As the tour ended, we called it a day. After all, the strenous rhythm makes it hard to wake up early and enjoy the next day. Of course this didn’t stop me from going out alone after getting to the hotel.

I decided to try to find a promising place in the Elephan and Castle region and it was worth it: the region is nice and the place I was looking for, named The Food Market, was crowded and full of food options from all around the world. To go there, for the first time I took one of those classic double-decker buses, because it was the best route.

In The Food Market, I wandered lazily while absorbing the huge variety of food from all around, and drank a beer there. I bought a kebab with fries to go and went back to the hotel have dinner with Natalia.

The kebab stall:

On the way to the hotel, I bought a four-pack of Brewdog Punk IPA. Since our room didn’t have a mini-bar, I drank the first beer as soon as possible, and stored the other ones:

Before going to sleep, we bought tickets to visit the Windsor Castle in the next morning. We also bought train tickets in advance to secure availability. The rest of the day was purposefully left open, with some ideas of places to visit when back in London.

Day 3 - Windsor Castle, Covent Garden, Trafalgar Square, and Charing Cross Road

Step count:

Google Maps route:

After an early wakeup we went to the Waterloo station to the get the train, but not without first having breakfast in the hotel for the first time. I even ate vegan sausage! Natalia didn’t like the English breakfast style very much, because it is much heavier than what we are used to.

The train ride to Windsor was interesting, going through very English landscapes with brick walls, an old thermoelectric power plant named Battersea Power Station that has a desing that makes me think of the industrial revolution, and some modern buildings as well.

Natalia was feeling a bit cold due to the air conditioner and she improvised with the picnic towel. As Douglas Adams would say, the towel is one of the most useful objects for an interstellar traveller, because you can use it as a wrap, among so many other things.

Due to small delay in the departure from Waterloo, likely due to a partial strike that was happening on that day, we had to run a bit to get to the castle in time.

In the end it all went well and we didn’t even have to wait in line for too long. After entering the castle, we started going to the lower part, where there would be the guard change:

If you zoom in several times, you’d be able to even see a guard already:

I liked this one, it even looks like Natalia is in some festival or something:

And due to the heavy heat, this time we used the towel to protect ourselves! I ended up looking like a sheik:

The guard change pictures won’t be posted because they diverge from today’s post proposal. If you are curious still, on Google you can find high resolution pictures of the guard change in Windsor.

As a piece of trivia, still in this area of the castle, I noticed that the planes fly very low and frequently, due to the proximity to the Heathrow Airport.

We want to the St. George’s Chapel, but also without pictures because it’s forbidden. The next is on the chapel’s exit:

We walked up to the imponent castle tower, round the moat where there is a small garden.

I liked the next photo, one of my favorite:

Next were the Queen Mary’s Doll House and the State Apartments. There are no photographies from inside, but this was a highlight of the tour, with several rooms to visit, old arms and armors, rooms with different styles from different periods, the throne room, the Elizabeth queen’s broochs, the coronation gown and several other nice things that will remain only on our memories.

In the State Apartment exit, we took some pictures of the Windsor Castle Quadrangle, a nice yard with a lawn in the center of the castle:

When the tour ended, we had a quick lunch in the surroundings, in a small restaurant with open air tables:

I opted for an apple juice and a “codfish ball” (forgot the actual name of it), while Natalia chose a sandwich and a soda.

We stopped for a picture in front of the Crooked House…

…and continued to wander through the city center. We even found a TK Maxx, a store that Natalia was eager to go to.

We took some classic photos on those phone booths:

Before going back to the train station, we quickly went to The Long Walk, where we had a final view of the castle:

I took some photos in front of a house entrance I liked:

And in front of an MG, that I had only seen in games and photos before:

With no time left, we didn’t explore other interesting points, like the Windsor Royal Shopping:

Windsor felt like the type of nice place where it would be cool to spend a couple of days, only absorbing the details, the movement, and the food. Who knows maybe we go back there one day.

But anyway, we took the train back and got to London in the middle of the afternoon. Of course I had to take a picture near the train, because I love trains:

After a quick stop at the hotel to empty the backpack, we decided to go out for another ride. The day was still far from the end and it would allow us to go somewhere new without hurry. The Covent Garden region was chosen, as well as the Trafalgar Square, and maybe visiting some stores along the way.

When planning the route on Google Maps, I noticed several buses departed from the same stop in front of the hotel. I convinced Natalia to go by bus this time instead of taking the tube. When we entered the bus, in a hellish heat, the driver just went out without telling anyone what he was doing and left all passengers there waiting! Suddenly, another guy entered the bus and said he was going to drive. It was funny, despite the hassle.

We jumped off after the Waterloo Bridge and wandered through the streets of Covent Garden. There was a randon drugstore so we stopped to buy some basic supplies and check for hair stuff, makeup and the likes. The next photo was in front of a pub named The Round House which we didn’t enter, but I liked the front:

We stopped to buy some poba tea for Natalia, since she was after it for more than a day. After that, we headed to Trafalgar Square and had a look at the National Gallery.

Our joke was that this is the Praça da Sé of London, because of the pidgeons and the looks:

And of course we had to take some random photos, as random tourists:

Off the square, we went up the Charing Cross Road headed toward Primark, a famous department store. There are no pictures of it, but for the written record we passed in front of the Leicester Square station and some theaters. The feeling of being in downtown was heightened.

On the way, there was a very nice Harry Potter store called House of Spells and we had a look at it, but didn’t buy anything.

Finally arrived at Primark, in the corner of the Tottemham Court Road station. We visited the place for a long time, but in the end Natalia didn’t like the clothes’ style or the price. It was nice to go, but we didn’t buy many things.

We took the tube back to Waterlook and walked to a nearby pub to have dinner. It was called The Hercules and it was the first pub we entered. As I was already asking Natalia to go to a pub since the first hour of the first day in London, this was a remarkable moment for me!

The nice thing about this specific pub - and that has drawn my attention - is that it’s a Fuller’s pub, where we had the opportunity to drink an authentic London Pride stright from the tap!

And as a bonus, I also had my first fish and chips, and it was delicious! Natalia opted for a pasta, and it was also tasty.

According to my Maps timmeline, we even went to a Tesco Express after finally getting to the hotel. If I’m not mistaken, we went there to buy chocolate and sweets. Natalia also reminded me that we bought blueberries. It is worth noting that we loved the Tesco Express and the Sainsbury’s, small markets spread across the city with nice options of snacks. We got particularly addicted to the smoothies, that resemble a middle ground between a juice and a vitamin.

And this was - at least to me - a perfect end for the third day of travel.

Day 4 - Borough Market, Tate Modern, Museum of London, and Big Ben Region at Night

Step count:

Google Maps route:

The previous day was hardcore, so we once more woke up late and lazy. I like to plan and be objective, thus it makes me a bit uneasy, feeling like I’m wasting time. On the other hand, my zen side named Natalia reminds me that I am on vacation - honeymoon, even - and that the main goal of the trip is to enjoy and be happy.

After planning the day, uncompromised, we decided to start with the Borough Market region and explore the City of London later, focused on museums.

Arriving at the Borough Market, still before entering the place, I already got excited. For those who don’t know, I love a “farmers market”, an “open air fair”, and the likes. Even in Curitiba, my hometown, I love going to the farmers market, so you can imagine how much I was looking forward to doing it in London!

Before the visit, we looked for a restaurant in the vicinity to have lunch and landed in an Italian named Elliot’s. Natalia wisely ordered a pepperoni pizza, but I had taken a heavy breakfast so I opted for a leaf salad with pecorino cheese - a bold move that was worth it.

Going out of the restaurant into the market, it was love at first sight. Several food stalls made me question whether lunch outside was the best option and made me want to come back another day:

I was also awed by the food, spices and cheese stalls. In the hotel there wasn’t a mini bar, thus I only bought a slice of cheese to eat on the same day. We also bought some currys and black garlic.

Did you notice the stylish tourist shirt I chose for the day?

In spite of my passion for the market, the show has to go on and with this we start our walk headed to Tate Modern. On the way, I convinced Natalia to take a photo in a doorway, a rare thing! And it ended up very nice :)

The visit to the museum was nice to know the building, but we noticed that on such a trip, our focus is definitely not on modern art. Due to that, we moved ahead to the London Museum, in the hope to find something better aligned with our taste.

We crossed the Thames by the Millenium Bridge, toward the St. Paul’s Cathedral. In the bridge photographies below, it is already possible to see the charming cathedral dome in the background:

And after crossing the bridge, we got to the charming City of London, with a nice view of the side of the cathedral.

As we passed in front of it, we even considered taking a tour, but it was a paid one and the closing time was soon. We also had the idea of going to the Westminster Abbey on the other day, so we just walked past the cathedral and went to the Museum on London.

On the way, I found another nice doorstep to take a picture!

The experience in the Museum of London was the extreme opposite of the Tate Modern. By telling the history of London across ages, it captivated us. Because of the closing time, we could only get to the middle ages more or less, but only this much was already worth it.

The entrance is free, so to support the cause we bought some books about the city history in the souvenir store. And to close with a perfect ending, another silly tourist picture on the way out:

Tired, even if this was a short day, we came back to the hotel. I was still looking for more and decided to go out again explore the region without compromise. My initial goal became to wander through the graffiti street area, and after that I had no idea.

So I went to the London Eye, then the Westminster Bridge and walking on the Thames bank. I found an interesting monument, honoring volunteers that served on the second world war through acts of sabotage on enemy countries:

I took the opportunity to take some pictures of the parliament and the Big Ben at sunset - that were already posted in the first blog from this series. I walked to the Lambeth Palace:

And crossed the Lambeth Bridge to go around the parliament square. Yes, I ended up walking much more than originally planned.

And even found the mad goat!

Me and king Richard I, also known as Richard the Lionheart:

And it was more or less by then that Natalia told me she was up for a ride. I liked the graffiti street and felt she would also like it, and that it would be an easy ride that would not tire her too much. I took the tube in the Westminster station to avoid fatigue and met Natalia in the beginning of Lower Marsh.

We went to the graffiti street:

At the end of the street, there is a board game bar. We didn’t go inside, but if we had more time I’d love to spend an evening there. This is just one of the reasons that made me fall in love with the Lower Marsh region.

Since Natalia was more rested, she was ok with walking a bit more through the city to see the nightfall. I was curious to see London lit, but in this summer we usually went to sleep under sunlight, so we had to make an effort and stay on the streets until late.

We took some nice pictures with the London Eye already lit, though it was still sunset:

And I took some Instagram photos for Nat:

This one was nice with the bike lad blurred:

And the ferris wheel lit in the background:

We sat on the Parliament Square Garden - the same from the first day - and watched the time go by, the night come in, and the city in motion. We even saw some rats in the square bushes, after hearing some strange noises.

I took some photos of Big Ben at night, playing a bit with the camera parameters. Natalia suggested we go for a late kebab dinner and we found a place that was still open and not far from the hotel. We took the tube and went there. The dishes were huge and for sure we could have had split one for us both, so we had to take the leftovers to the hotel.

We walked back to help with the digestion and had our rest, so we came back strong the next day.

Day 5 - Sea Life Aquarium, Photo Shooting, Tower Bridge and Pub Crawl

Step count:

Google Maps route:

I woke up early and while I searched the internet for programs for the day, I reminded - or came across - some tours that I saw on the website Londres para Principiantes, or London for Begginers in a free translation. I saw the city’s pub crawl tour and kind of bought it on an impulse! Well, the night program was sorted.

But before the pubs, two things were scheduled on our agenda: Sea Life Aquarium and a photo shooting session with a professional photographer. Just as a reminder, those photos were already posted in this blog series part 2.

I started the day going for breakfast in the hotel alone, which Natalia didn’t want to eat anymore because she didn’t like it. For the first time - or was it the second? - I ate the beans with sausage. Almost an English breakfast, huh:

After that, we got ready and went to the aquarium, because our tickets were scheduled for 9 AM. I love visiting aquariums, so I’m a bit of a suspect to say that it was very nice. This one has a child’s appeal, most likely to attract tourists with child. But, let’s go to the photos:

Natalia with Captain Nemo, folks!

Even Gentoo penguins we saw!

We went diving with sharks - or not:

Natalia on a psychedelic vibe:

The photos from the Sea Life Aquarium end up here, but I highlight that the ride was very fun. We saw many different fish - of course - but also several species of jellyfish, turtles, sharks, and much more!

From there we went to the hotel have some rest and lunch the remains of the kebab from last night’s dinner. We waited until the photo shooting time and walked to the meeting point. I won’t detail much because the photos are on the previous blog post from this series. The most important for this post is to say that we ended the essay on the Tower Bridge region:

In the next photo not even the HDR compensated for the light difference and only my silhouette remained. But since the HMS Belfast warship and the City of London in the background came up pretty nice, I decided to include it:

Due to the Pub Crawl later with the Guri in London, that was scheduled at the end of the afternoon, we went back to the hotel. After all, the tour would take 4 hours walking. That meant it wasn’t worth spending enery on anything else.

Among so many nice things yet to come, the facade of an old hops processing factory:

Let’s go to the tour! In total, we passed by 13 pubs, learning not only about the places but also about the city. Here in the post, I’ll only talk about the 4 pubs we stopped by and my personal impressions of the places.

Starting with The George Inn, an old pub - although all of them looked old - that stayed in a strategically well-positioned trade route:

There we had a George Inn Ale, a local exclusive ale from that pub, old fashioned with very little gas and a bit warm:

Next, we came through 5 other pubs and stopped at The Blackfriar, a pub with mosaic stained glass and a very nice appearence. Unfortunately I am not a specialist in architecture to be able to describe it in technical terms, but fortunately this wasn’t a requirement to try out the next beer:

It was a Camden Pale Ale, from a modern local brewery and that I also saw in many other places, both canned and on tap:

The third stop was at the Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, another very old pub that really looks very old indeed. It transported us to another time, as we appreciated a Samuel Smith’s Imperial Stout - beer that I had never imagined I would ever be able to try!

The stairs to the basement are so low that one has to go down very carefully:

And we ended up the tour in front of The Knights Templar, an exquisite and very large pub, more akin to a bar or a restaurant. It was where I ended up the night with a Brewdog Punk IPA and a delicious fish and chips, while Natalia chose a nice steak with peas, fries and onion rings.

We came back to the hotel by bus, enjoying the city’s night lights. We agreed to visit Camden Town the next day, because Bruna - the photographer - mentioned it as being a very nice place.

Day 6 - Camden Town, The Regent’s Park, Madame Tussauds and Pub Sprint

Step count:

Google Maps route:

Once again we woke up late, because the pub crawl was heavy and ended up late. With our objectives set, we went to Camden Town.

As we walked to the tube station, it started to rain heavily, confirming the weather forecast for the day. Luckily, the Camden High Street, where we went out of the tube, is full of small shops and it was very easy to get an extra umbrella.

We walked up the street until we reached the famous Camden Market:

We strolled through the streets in the upper level and went down to visit the rest of the market. On the outside, we found the bridge with the Camden Lock painting. We also noticed some “capsules” with tables where people can sit to eat something sheltered from the rain. These capsules design reminded me of the tube stations for buses in my hometown of Curitiba.

As we chose a place to have lunch, among numerous available options, I came across a gin boutique and bought a bottle.

We had a well-filled bagel for lunch each, in a table in front of some sort of wharf for boat tours on the canal.

The moss that spreads through the surface looks like a carpet:

Another photo of the capsules, from the upper level:

After lunch, we slowly explored the other market sections, with various types of indie stores. We went through an alley with umbrellas hanging from the roof:

And after finishing the inner section, we came back to the beginning through the outer section. There we found by chance the statue of Any Winehouse, who used to frequent the neighbour and serve beer to the customers in her favorite bar.

As the rain stopped, we came back to Camden High Street to enjoy the street, the movement, and the shops. It was very hard to notice all these things with the umbrellas earlier. Natalia even found a bubble tea shop, but got disappointed with the low quality and didn’t even finish her tea.

We came back to the canal, headed to Regent’s Park. We were already starting to get tired and, to help with, I even went the opposite direction by mistake for a couple of minutes, and we had to walk it all again unecessarily.

But fortunately we got to the Regent’s Park after a few minutes walk.

We took the shortest route, walking down The Broad Walk towards the Madam Tussauds museum, to spare our breath. On the way, we walked through the Queen Mary’s Rose Gardens:

There was a big queue at the museum, so we didn’t even have time to rest a bit. On the bright side, the queue went fast. Can you tell who are the celebrities below?

To our surprise, there was also a Star Wars section!

On the way out, we bought 3 Funko Pops from Star Wars: Bobba Fett, Kylo Ren and Luke Skywalker with Grogu - also known as Baby Yoda.

After leaving the museum we had the opportunity to wander through the Baker Street region. It is a famous street because it’s where the ficticious character Sherlock Holmes lives. But due to being tired, we were happy enough to come across the statue in the tube station entrance, then we decided to go back to the hotel:

End of the day for Natalia, who decided to stay in the hotel, rest, enjoy some social media time, etc. but not for me! I decided to visit as many pubs as possible in the vicinity of the hotel, which I named as Pub Sprint instead of Pub Crawl.

Starting at The Crown and Cushion, where I could enjoy an Old Speckled Hen and a pint of Guiness:

Next, I went to The Vaulty Towers, that stays right in the middle of Lower Marsh, where I chose a Camden Hells Lager. For some reason, I could not explain that I wanted only half pint and I had to face the big glass, which put me at a disadvantage in terms of time and how much I could responsibly drink left. On the picture, highlight for the lady with a psycopath face behind me:

The next pub in the journey, The Hole in the Wall, was my favorite of the entire trip. It is a pub that is a bit hidden in an alley next to the Waterloo station. The front room is small and it has a low ceiling, and as the pub is below a train bridge, the establishment vibrates as they go by.

The place is very cozy, a small haven amidst the big city, and it is because of this that I liked it. Regarding the ale, my memory is a bit hazy. I think I had a Southark Brewing London Pale Ale, but it could have been something else.

The pane above illustrates, in a way, the beer options on the majority of the pubs I visited: traditional ales and continental lagers.

On the pit stop for dinner, I found a place specialized in fish and chips called Fishcotheque. I chose a rockfish option, that seems to be a small shark species. On one hand it was very worth, because the fish was delicious and well-served, on the other hand the dinner took longer than I expected and I left the place full because of so much food, putting at risk my ability to visit more pubs.

Going back to our hotel, I stopped at The Wellington pub inside the same named hotel, the biggest and most “exquisite” of the day, so to speak. With ample space and very comfortable chairs, I stopped for a Fuller’s London Porter. Once more, I was not able to explain the bartender that I just wanted a half pint:

And finally, the last pub for the day was The Stage Door, in the same square than the hotel. I chose a St. Austel Tribute Cornish Pale Ale to end the sprint. I drank it while enjoying a calm view of the side street from the pub’s terrace.

As the pubs close at 11 PM, I had to call it a day, end the sprint and go back to the hotel. Although I had 6 beers, I was under the impression that they come with less alcohol on tap, because I didn’t get nowhere near drunk as it would be expected.

Day 7 - English Breakfast, Imperial War Museum and Museum of Natural History

Step count:

Google Maps route:

On the previous day, we found a restaurant and bakery on Lower Marsh named Balance. This place became one of our favorites for the trip, it was love at first sight. And, to begin the seventh day of adventures, we chose to have an authentic English breakfast there:

I chose fried eggs for Natalia and poached eggs for me. I ended up eating the yolk from Natalia’s as well, because it was very soft and she didn’t like it.

Full tank! We had so much food that we even got lazy:

We walked to the Imperial War Museum, that stays near the hotel. On the way, I took another photo in a random house porch:

And another besides a phone booth, because I liked the building in the corner:

Getting to the museum, we were welcomed by a huge naval cannon used in some wars, including a participation on D Day of World War II:

And right after getting inside, I just saw a true Spitfire! The legendary combat airplane used by the Royal Air Force, the RAF, against the dreaded Luftwaffe:

We saw many nice things that represent the human ingenuity and courage. On the other hand, at the same time we were awed, we also were extremely sad by realizing the waste of life, of humanity, with such a horrible act.

I was stunned by a fragment of an Avro Lancaster bomber:

We bought some tokens on the museum store: beer, a beer glass, a t-shirt. We took the tube in Lambeth North headed to the Museum of Natural History. I had big expectations about this museum, but in the end I thought it was only ok, despite the many nice things to see.

In a summary, we visited the dinosaur, mammals, insects, and reptiles sections, and an expo about the future of the planet. In the end, I think it was worth visiting the museum and it would have been bad to not go there.

We didn’t have time to visit the Science Museum, that is just next to the Natural History one. We walked to the Royal Albert Hall, at least to see the building from the outside, and also to have a quick glance at the Albert Memorial on Hyde Park - more a coincidence than planning - and from there we took a bus to Waterloo.

The bus was delayed because there was a traffic jam, and apparently a car broke in the middle of an avenue, which made things a bit worse.

When we got to Waterloo, we went to the Lower Marsh to find a dinner place. We decided to eat pizza at Pizza Pilgrims. It was very hard for Natalia to pick a topping, poor her. And, to make things worse, when we were about to order we found out that her topping of choice was not available on that day. In the end, I took a cheese topping and she chose an eggplant one.

After eating a lot, we went to the hotel. And Natalia definitely prefers pizza with the Brazilian style and ingredients.

Day 8 - Shopping, Chinatown, City of London, and Harrods

Step count:

Google Maps route:

This time we woke up reasonably early, and started the day slowly. I went for breakfast in the hotel and then went to Balance to get something for Natalia.

We went for shopping in the Tottemham Court Road region - and there are no photos of this part of the ride, after all, who takes a lot of pictures of stores as they go shopping? But the summary is that we went into several stores and liked just a few things.

To me, the nicest stores were: a tea store named T2 Tea, where I bought my only tea in a metal can for the entire travel, besides the souvenir store ones; and the organic products market Planet Organic, where we found some nice incenses to give as gifts, and a nice scented candle for us.

In the Oxford Street, we went into TK Maxx, H&M, Zara, Whittard of Chelsea (another tea store), and Primark. We bought several souvenirs, but Natalia didn’t like the clothes too much. Last, we briefly visited the Soho Square Gardens and took the tube to Leicester Square.

Out of the station, we went straight to Chinatown:

We randomly chose an asian restaurant for lunch. I ate a fried rice with shrimps, Natalia chose a dish with chicken, and to share we ordered some delicious chinese bread cooked in the steam. After lunch, we resumed strolling through chinatown:

Arriving on Leicester Square, we had a look at the TWG Tea, M&M’s World and LEGO store but didn’t feel like entering none of them. Maybe, if there wasn’t a line, we could have entered the M&M’s. By chance, we also came across a Swiss monument.

We came back to the hotel to empty the shopping bags and then went to the City of London. On the way, we entered a Korean market named Oseyo, where we bought some odd snacks such as instant lamen (flavors we don’t have in Brazil), canned juice, and spices. Both of us thought the juice was pretty bad, too sweet and with a deep industrialized taste.

Though our shopping plans still included the famous Harrods, we decided to enjoy the City of London a bit more while it was still early. We slowly strolled across the Tower Bridge, because the other time we were there in the photo essay, we were so focused on the essay itself that we didn’t really enjoy the landscape:

We didn’t visit the tower from the inside, but had a quick peek on the outside of the Tower of London. It seems to be a pretty nice place, and if I ever come back to London, I definitely want to go there.

This pub’s name sounded quite interesting to me, The Hung Drawn and Quartered:

In the sequence, Natalia stopped by a Starbucks for a coffee and we unintentionally came across a Brewdog bar. After passing in front of two other Brewdog bars on other days, finally my wish was granted and we stopped by for an authentic Brewdog on their own bar - in this case the Brewdog Tower Hill Outpost:

In the previous photo, highlight for the neon sign that reads City of London Hop Exchange. Yes, in London there was a “stock exchange” where hops were bought and sold, to which the sign alludes.

I tried an Elvis Juice for the first time and bought some canned beers to bring back home, as I thought those would be hard to find in Brazil:

This bar is definitely much nicer than the Sao Paulo’s one. On the other hand, for London’s standards, the beers were quite expensive!

We went quickly through the monument to the Great Fire of London…

… and continued until the Leadenhall Market, that was almost entirely closed, but our objective was anyway to visit the place due to its architecture :

We took a crowded tube in the Bank station and for the first time I got off the train in the wrong stop! I’m surprised it took that long. In the Harrods, sincere disappointment. The place is very luxurious and there are no divisions between stores, it is a fine and beautiful place, but the problem is there was nothing interesting or cheap enough for us there. It was not a full waste of time, because the market section was very nice, with many wonderful food options to see. I ended up taking a small wheel of cheese to bring back home.

On the way to the hotel, we had dinner in a Mexican restaurant named Wahaca, where we ordered a sequence of dishes for dinner. The food and service were awesome, and it was one of the most expensive meals we had in the entire travel.

Happy and well-fed, we ended the last night of the travel packing our luggage for the travel back home. As there would be a tube strike on our return day, I also spent a good amount of time evaluating options to go to the airport: bus + train, bus + tube (some lines were operating), cab, Uber…

Day 9 - Westminster Abbey, Charing Cross, Balance, and Airport

Step count:

Google Maps route:

Being this the last day of our stay, we left the room before going out into our last city ride. Fortunately, the hotel had a luggage service that allowed us to go out without worrying about it.

Our sole focus of the day was the Westminster Abbey, so we went straight to there:

The visit turned out to be quite interesting, even though we didn’t follow the audioguide. The abbey feels more like a fancy graveyard, given the huge number of tombs and efigies. We saw the tombs of kings and queens, dukes and duchesses, homage to British writers and so on. We visite the coronation place and throne, visited the abbey gardens and the patio.

Next, with free time, we bought a smoothie at Sainsbury’s and strolled without direction besides the Thames toward Charing Cross. On the way, we passed in front of the New Scotland Yard:

And stopped for some clicks in the Whitehall Gardens:

We went by Benjamin Franklin’s house…

… and walked until the Charing Cross entrance and its fancy facade:

Back to the Waterloo region for lunch, we stayed close to the hotel. On the way, I bought some ciders in an M&S Foodhall to bring back home. Guess where we chose to have lunch? Yes, in the Balance, on Lower Marsh! And I also chose a cider to wash down a salmon and cream cheese sandwich for lunch - it was definitely the cider day!

Back to the hotel, we decided to take an Uber to the airport, because the price would be very similar to taking a bus + express train, and it would be much more comfortable. Our driver was a very nice guy from Pakistan, and he even knew how to speak some Portuguese. I think he went a bit off-route on purpose to get a few extra pounds, but it was a bit disguised and we didn’t challenge it.

We took sandwiches to the airport, to avoid big expenses. To my surprise, Heathrow has a fair number of options with a good price, so we could have bought our snacks there. But here remains the lesson for the next visit. Still before getting into the aircraft, we bought a piece of cheddar cheese, some spirits and colognes:

And got into the modern and beautiful Airbus A350-1000 from British Airways. This time, without delays:

In the Duty Free we almost didn’t buy anything, because the prices were expensive. We got to Valinhos in safety and took a long rest.

Final Considerations

Here are some trivia and highlights:

• Even though London is a big city, it is quite silent. The cars don’t make much noise and there are very few motorcycles, and those are far less noisy than the ones in Brazil. We were also surprised about how clean the city is, though in some specific spots we saw a bit of dirt and garbage.
• The building architecture is pleasant. On several occasions we noticed that old and new buildings coexist as if they were planned together, with aligned facades. The houses architecture is very close to the cliche terracota bricks with a chimney.
• There really is a pub in every corner and it looks like the Londoners have happy hours starting from the Mondays. The ales are warm and still, it isn’t a myth! On the other hand, every pub I visited had at least a few cold and sparkling lagers.
• We noticed that many people have snacks for lunch in the squares and parks. It inspired us to follow the lead on several days. We will dearly miss the English wraps and sandwiches.
• In the same vibe of the above post, we’ll miss the small markets and convenience stores Sainsbury’s Local, Tesco Express and Pret-a-Manger, among others.
• The ethnic diversity is huge, especially in the places we visited, where there are tourists from all over the world. We noticed many people we think are from middle east, due to the veil.
• We noticed that many people smell the same. If there is a famous perfume or soap that everyone uses, we don’t know. It might have been only our perception of things.
• Our favorite borough was Waterloo. Staying there possibly allowed us to absorb more details about the region and create some fondness of it. Our favorite place was the Lower Marsh region. Our favorite restaurant/snack place was the Balance.
• The extraordinary heat and lack of rain allowed us to have a wonderful travel. London is very famous for the rain and we were very lucky.
• Nine days is too little, we weren’t able to finish the list of places to visit. I would easily stay for 15 days or more, enjoying everything at ease and going to all the places I wanted. I only imagine about how long it would take to visit all the other places in the UK I can only dream of right now.
• The London Tube is awesome. Even with all the heat and the rush hour, we loved to use it as a mean of transport.
• It is very strange to get used to the English driving being inverted. In doubt, we adopted the habit of always looking both ways and crossing the streets carefully.

And finally we got to the end of this mega post. I hope you enjoyed and see you next month!