Val and I are off to England for another tour with Alison Weir and her friends. This one is through Northumberland and starts in York.

We flew into London and have basically 2 days to see the sites before heading up to York for a few days on our own before the tour starts.

Flight was a little late (about an hour) taking off but made up some time in the air. It was a full plane and we were packed in like sardines. I almost upgraded but I guess I wasn’t the fastest to realize my future sardine status. I hate to spend the money but I think the regular seats are getting smaller while the first class have more than double the space than they used to.

We arrived just fine although squished and tired but breezed through customs with just a photo and scan of passport. The taxi line was where the day kind of fell apart. There were cabs aplenty until about 4 groups ahead of us then it was a dead zone. We kept watching cabs drive by but none pulled into pick up passengers. Turns out there are just airport taxis and we needed a city car. Finally cabs start coming and we headed off to London. Trip that should have been 40 minutes was well over an hour and a half and cost about $175. We could have taken the tube straight from the airport to the tube stop at our hotel for $12 and well under 20 minutes. Live and learn. Highly recommend the tube or the train if you don’t have too many bags. Will definitely bring doing that next time.

Our hotel the Tower Hotel, is in a great location. It looks out on the Tower Bridge and is next door to the Tower. The lobby and restaurants all looked really nice. The room was a little dated. We should have upgraded to the bridge view. Ours had a nice window it just didn’t look out over anything. As far as London hotels go this one is pretty good. I would stay here again.

Due to the late departure, the wait in the cab line and the crazy drive through London (30 minutes for the last 2 miles) we missed our afternoon tea reservation at the Jubilee Room at Fortnum and Mason. Thankfully I was able to move it to 5:45. So we just grabbed a snack on our way to the Victoria and Albert Museum to see the Cartier exhibit.

Crazy amount of diamonds and gems in one spot. There were some amazing pieces. Grace Kelly’s engagement ring, Jackie Kennedy’s tank watch, the rose broach Princess Margaret wore to her sister’s coronation, and more tiaras than I could count. Surprisingly the Duke and Duchess of Windsor ( Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson) had the largest collection of jewels I guess when you are no longer King and miss having access to the royal collection you spend outrageously on Cartier.

There were way more pieces than I expected to see. It was a little overwhelming. If the exhibit travels and I don’t know that it will (how they insure it I do not know) I would recommend seeing it. Well worth the price of admission.

We didn’t do too much more at the V&A since we toured it the last trip but did shop in the gift shop. If in London the V&A is free except the special exhibits and it is one of the best museum gift shops I have been to. So even if you just pop in to shop you won’t be disappointed. I bought the cutest poppy earrings in honor of the tower display.

After the exhibit Val and I continued to shop. We headed down through Hyde Park to the Mayfair area to shop at Hatchards bookshop and Fortnum and Mason before our tea. The walk was uneventful except for a few raindrops but we were prepared with our umbrellas so all good.

Hatchards is the oldest bookshops in London, it opened in 1797 and it is a twisty curvy old building with several floors of books. It was actually around in Jane Austen’s heyday. So maybe she browsed for books here when she was visiting London. Of course I didn’t leave without a few books. One on witches by Tracy Borman who will be on the tour and another on love stories of WWII as told through letters. Very excited about them both.

After Hatchards we went right next door to Fortnum’s and shopped a bit waiting on our reservation for afternoon tea. Fortnum’s is a great store even if you don’t like tea. They have a bit of everything (including jewelry on the 2nd floor) so everyone can find something there. They did have the cutest advent calendars but sadly too big for my suitcase. Maybe next year.

We went up to the Jubilee Room for our high tea and it did not disappoint. We celebrated Val’s retirement in style. We started with a couple of cocktails- gin, champagne and peach liqueur anyone? They were delicious. The tea was served with scones, finger sandwiches and fancy desserts. Who knew we liked coronation chicken (basically chicken salad with curry but delicious).

We spent more time than intended and had to rush to Liberty London for our last shopping stop. It is a great store that has been around forever and sales everything from fabric to furniture. I wanted the liberty London adidas shoes but didn’t find them. Almost bought a silk scarf but talked myself out of it. They had their Christmas decorations up which was fun to look at but sadly came away empty handed.

Having walked enough we decided to take the tube back to the tower. Through some misadventures underground we ended up walking almost as much as we would have had we skipped the tube but at least we got to sit for awhile.

Perk of the hotel being near the tower and the tower bridge. Great night shots.

Back at the hotel. A big adventure for our first day in England. We usually don’t make it so late but I guess we can always stay awake for shopping. Tomorrow we will be seeing the poppy exhibit at the Tower before heading off to York.