Thursday July 17, 2025
This morning we decided to head back to All Bar One, because who doesn’t want a little shooter glass of smarties with their tea? I think this should be my new thing… tea and smarties!
In this case I believe we were misled. We had read that it was the story of Fleetwood Mac creating their Rumours album, so we thought it would be interesting and have terrific music. Spoiler alert: There is no Fleetwood Mac music. They are clearly telling the Fleetwood Mac story as all the characters are accurately in place (although they have different names), but the music was original to the play. And in my opinion the play was mostly boring. There was a lot of talking/arguing but not in a compelling way. We decided to leave at the interval because the whole thing is actually about three hours long and I didn’t think they wanted to hear me snoring from the back. Sometimes you just don’t get a winner…
We decided to console ourselves by getting a little treat at a bakery. There are A LOT of amazing looking bakeries here. We chose to go to a bakery called Amelia right across the street from our hotel and were not disappointed. I had a delicious lemon tart and Steve had a yummy (but not as good as mine) raspberry tart.
Since we had a little free time on our hands we decided to head out for a walk. Steve wanted to go back and look at St. Paul’s Cathedral from the Millennium Bridge as he really loved the view of it last time we were in London.
I'm going to include a few shots Steve took of the streets of London as we headed towards the bridge, because the buildings really are very beautiful!
We had a very enjoyable walk across the “Wibbly Wobbly Bridge” which is the nickname of the Millennium Bridge because the bridge was swaying alarmingly on opening day as pedestrians walked across it. It wobbled so much that it is rumoured some people even fell over... so they closed it a few hours after it opened. It was then closed for two years while they made modifications to make it more stable.
And… Steve was correct. The view of St. Paul’s Cathedral is quite amazing from the Millennium Bridge!
Fun fact: There is actually a law in place that restricts buildings from impeding the view of St. Paul's Cathedral from 13 vantage points in London!
We now found ourselves on the South Bank and decided to walk back to the Westminster Bridge on this side and enjoy the street entertainment and people watching. We had hoped to go into the Tate Modern Museum, but alas it was already closed when we arrived. I don’t think we are going to have any time for museums on this trip! I guess we’ll just have to come back.
Since the museum was closed we consoled ourselves with some candied almonds from a street vendor. Steve also remembered these from last time and was quite excited to try them again! (UH-OH, I'm starting to see a pattern of consoling ourselves with delicious treats!)
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After the snack break we continued our walk past the London Eye. No, we did not feel compelled to spend 30 pounds (60 CAD!) to ride the London Eye. Did you know when it opened it only cost 5 pounds? That is inflation!
Fun fact: Did you know there are 33 capsules on the London Eye, one for each of the burroughs in London. Anyway… I’d rather spend my money at the bakery.
Finally we made it back to the Westminster Bridge and took the obligatory photos of The Queen Elizabeth Tower which houses the bell Big Ben.
Next we headed up to Trafalgar Square and stopped in at a pub we tried last time and really enjoyed called the Admiralty pub. Conveniently and surprisingly there was a table available for us (although it wasn’t the cool one we got last time) and we enjoyed a drink (Hugo Spritz for me! So good!!!) and some fish and chips. Not a fan of the mushy peas, but the guy in the pub told me I can order them hard next time.
Side note: Often in pubs you just go up and order your food at the counter and pay ahead. Then they will bring it to your table. Bills often include a small service charge (seems to be around 10-12%) and there isn’t even an option for tipping when you pay with a card. I have to say this is refreshing!
Next we stopped in Trafalgar Square and had a look at the fountains, buskers, and other interesting people.
Side note/musing: I'm wondering if they make the water in the fountains look so sludgy so people don't go in there?!
At last we headed back to our hotel room and watched the movie Notting Hill to remind ourselves of what we are looking for when we go to Notting Hill in a couple of days. I have to say that I enjoy this movie every time I watch it!
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