Summer Travel Adventures in London

The weather is getting colder, pumpkin spice lattes are in the shops, and autumn is definitely on its way, if not here already. So now is the time for me to blog about all the little adventures we went on over the summer months.

I have a lot to write about, so have decided to divide it into two posts, with this one covering all the places we went to around London this summer. Living on the Elizabeth Line makes it very easy and convenient (if not super quick) to get into the city, and it's something we've done a lot of weekends, whether that's to see famous sights, show Chilean friends around, or visit new neighbourhoods.

Here are our highlights!

Elephant and Castle

Over the spring we visited various neighbourhoods to discover the different cultures present in London, from Indian to Australian. Of course, Claudio also wanted to visit the most Latin American neighbourhood in London, so in June, we went to Elephant and Castle.

It was definitely an interesting experience for Claudio to hear Spanish being spoken in the streets, though he was a bit disappointed not to hear any Chilean accents! However, the neighbourhood was very pleasant, and it was fun to see the elephant statues in the park!

Evita at the London Palladium & Mayfair

One thing I was most looking forward to when moving closer to London was having the chance to see more West End shows. This is actually something I haven't taken much advantage of yet, mainly because prices are so expensive at the moment. However, there has been one occasion so far when we've seen West End theatre - and it was completely for free!

If you live in or around London, or follow theatre news, you would have certainly heard about the production of Evita that was running at the Palladium this summer, starring Rachel Zegler. Of course, the most unique thing about this particular production is the part where she comes out on the theatre's balcony to sing the musical's most famous song, Don't Cry for Me, Argentina.

We decided to go along to see this moment at one of the Saturday matinée performances, and even though we arrived around 45 minutes before, there was already quite a crowd building up in the street. As we got closer to the beginning of the second act, we looked around, and were amazed at how many people were behind us. I'm not a big fan of crowds and can get a bit claustrophobic, but I made the effort to block out what was going on around me, and it was definitely worth it!

When Rachel Zegler came out on the balcony, a big cheer went out across the crowd, and then everyone went silent, spellbound by her performance. It was amazing to experience several minutes of great West End theatre, completely for free!

Afterwards, we had a look round Selfridges (Claudio's first time visiting) and then went for a gelato from Badiani at Mercato Mayfair food market. Badiani's gelato is one of the best I've ever tried, and Mercato Mayfair (which is located inside an old church) is a beautiful setting.

One New Change Roof Terrace

Claudio's friend and former colleague Mauricio (aka Maverick!) was working in Europe over the summer and came to spend a couple of days in London. We met up with him at Farringdon station and gave him a tour of the city.

We started off by visiting the roof terrace at the One New Change mall near St. Paul's Cathedral. This is somewhere we hadn't visited before, and which isn't as busy as some of the other famous viewpoints around London. It has amazing views of the cathedral and pretty great views of the rest of the city.

Heathrow Airport

Back in July, I went for a job interview near Heathrow Airport. I was ghosted by the company afterwards, and wasn't massively interested in the job anyway. But it was a lot of fun to take the bus from Hayes & Harlington station, sit in the best seat (top deck at the front!), and see the planes going right past overhead!

Soho, Aloft Hotel Excel, Bank and the Sky Garden

A couple of weeks later, Claudio's friend Nico and Nico's girlfriend Jesu were also in London for a short visit. We met up with them where they were staying in Soho, but as we arrived a little early, we did a bit of sightseeing by ourselves beforehand. I wanted to see some of the sights from the Cormoran Strike books and TV series (I am currently reading and enjoying the latest book!), which is set in the area, including the Flying Horse pub, 6 Denmark Street (the office/Strike's flat in the TV series), and 26 Denmark Street (the office/Strike's flat in the books)!

Soho is an area that I have somewhat mixed feelings about - the crowds can be a bit overwhelming, but there's also a lot of excitement there for me, as it's where a large amount of West End theatres are located! 

Growing up in the west of England, trips to London were an occasional treat, and I especially loved when those trips involved seeing a show. Theatre was always such a magical world for me, and I imagined one day living in London and going to work as a performer in the West End every day. Obviously, that didn't quite happen, but I am working in London now and live just outside, so I can't be too disappointed!

After our evening in Soho, we got back on the Elizabeth Line and travelled east to Customs House. This is an area that we explored back in May and that we really liked. We chose to spend a night at the Aloft Hotel Excel, which was much better value than the hotels in the city centre. It also has a swimming pool, which may have been the deciding factor in why we chose to stay there! 

We were very happy with our decision - the hotel is super modern, and our room was huge (probably almost the same size as our flat!) and so comfy. I loved that the wall was decorated with a drawing of the local area's landmarks: the O2 Arena and Canary Wharf!

It was also absolutely fantastic to be able to start our day with a swim. We both love swimming, but don't much enjoy busy public pools, so to have a relaxing swim with just a few other people was something we appreciated very much, and we felt great afterwards. 

After meeting up with Nico and Jesu and going for brunch, we began our tour of the city, taking in all the famous sights including Buckingham Palace, Big Ben and Tower Bridge. 

But there were also a couple of new sights for us along the way, starting with the Bank of England. We'd been meaning to check it out for a while, as the contrast between the old and new architecture is really striking. 

Another new experience for us was visiting the Sky Garden on the roof of the Walkie-Talkie. It's free to go up to the top, though we did have to reserve well in advance. It was pretty crowded, but the views were great.

The British Museum, Harrods and Hyde Park

Another classic London attraction that neither of us had previously visited was the British Museum. So one weekend, we got our free tickets and finally went.

It was quite an overwhelming place to visit, because it was so so big and so so crowded, but we're glad to have experienced it at least once in our lives. Highlights for us included the statue of Bastet, the Parthenon marbles and, of course, the moai!

We relaxed after the chaos of the museum with ramen and matcha ice cream at Hare & Tortoise in Bloomsbury. We both really like Japanese food, and this is one of the best places we've tried.

Then we got on the tube over to Knightsbridge, where I showed Claudio around Harrods for the first time. Having just seen Egyptian artifacts in the museum, it was fun to see the opulent Egyptian staircase in the iconic store. We also had a good time looking around all the expensive items - as always, the food court was my favourite part! 

We finished our day with a bit of a walk in Hyde Park and then some time looking at fancy cars, which Claudio enjoyed a lot!

The Natural History Museum, Kensington and Paddington

The next week, we were back at a museum once again. This time we went to the Natural History Museum - somewhere I hadn't visited for many years. Again, it was a bit of a chaotic visit (we regret going during the school holidays!) but it was great to revisit this beautiful building and to see its interesting exhibits. To be honest, I'm not sure it's changed much at all since the last time I went (which was more than 15 years ago), except for the fact the there's now a skeleton of a whale in the entrance hall, rather than a dinosaur. The highlights for me this time were pretty much the same as they were before: the big blue whale, the escalator going into the globe, and the earthquake simulator (though the one in the MIM in Santiago is better!).

Afterwards we had a nice walk seeing the classic buildings and quaint streets around Kensington and Paddington.

I really liked this animal sculpture near Paddington Station - I had never seen it before.

Summer is a great time to be in London, but in hindsight, it's definitely best to spend time in the city's numerous green spaces, rather than in the crowded museums and iconic attractions. Moving forward into autumn, we've been visiting places away from the centre and focusing more on exploring different neighbourhoods around the city.

But before I get started blogging about that, I'll be writing about our travel highlights of the summer -  outside of London!