Simon Wallace
December 29, 2023
- Take a morning coffee walk through Hyde park, London’s main city park. Check out spots like the serene Italian gardens, the Princess Diana Memorial Garden, and the Peter Pan statue.
- A few blocks away from Hyde park is the Natural History Museum. You can spend hours in here, but it is also free entry (as are nearly all the museums in London), so it’s worth at least a half hour of your time. I would at the very least walk through the main hall which holds a blue whale skeleton as well as a slice from a giant sequoia tree.
- Hop on the tube for a short ride to Tate Modern, London’s free contemporary art gallery.
- Take a 10-15 minute walk along the River Thames to Borough Market, a huge, bustling market with artisanal food stands offering a range of international dishes.
- After picking up your wallet that you dropped in the Tate Modern museum, hop on the tube for a 45-minute Tube ride to Richmond Green, the setting of the popular "Ted Lasso" TV show. Here you can walk through the Richmond Green park to the “The Prince’s Head” pub, a spot frequented in the show by Ted and Coach Beard. Right along the pub is also the alley Ted walks down in the show to get to his apartment.
- Head back to the London city center, grab dinner at 7 Dials Market—another place that offers an array of food vendors—and spend the evening walking around downtown in the Covent Garden area. November and December is a great time of year for this area as there are many little Christmas markets, lights, and decorations.
- The next morning, start your day off by taking in Buckingham palace, and afterwards stroll through the Green Park right next to it as well as St. James Park.
- Only a block away from the corner of St James park is the famous Big Ben clocktower, connected to the Palace of Westminster.
- After taking in the clocktower, head up along the river for a nice view of the London Eye, the city’s large ferris wheel.
- Start to make your way to the British Museum but be sure to cut through Trafalgar Square, a wonderful city square with huge fountains and home of another famous art museum with impressive architecture, the National Gallery.
- The British Museum is a must-do, as it holds ancient cultural artifacts from all over the world, including the famous Rosetta Stone and sculptures and pieces from the Parthenon in Athens, Greece.
- London is known for great Indian food, so I would head to one of the extremely popular Dishoom restaurant locations. I had possibly the best Indian food of my life at this spot, so it’s worth the hype. You’ll likely have to wait at least an hour for a table if you don’t make reservations, though.
- After Dishoom you’ll be a short Tube ride from the Tower of London, a medieval castle along the river. We did a lap around the walls of the castle, and then took in the iconic Tower Bridge. The Tower of London and Tower Bridge, to me, were great spots to check out at night.
- The next morning get some shopping in at Oxford Street, a prominent shopping area in the Soho district.
- For lunch, we went to Sketch for an authentic Tea House experience. This was probably the fanciest place I’ve ever ate at. A literal ballerina would come into our room every half hour or so and perform. The food was phenomenal, but this place is more about the overall Tea House experience and aesthetics, so I would recommend splitting a course between two or three people.
- To wrap up your weekend I would continue to walk around the downtown Soho area and just take in the city center, or hit any sort of landmarks you still want to check out.
- Once you’ve worked up an appetite, get some classic fish and chips. A local Londoner recommended Hobson’s Fish and Chips, a popular new fish and chips restaurant in the city.
- Cap off the night by exploring some classic English pubs. Even if drinking isn’t your thing, it’s worth experiencing the atmosphere. Many pubs have live music with crowd-pleasing, sing-along type of music.
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Simon Wallace
I'm from Williamsport, Pennsylvania and I am a senior at Penn State University studying computer science. I enjoy being physically active, whether that's organized sports, going to the gym, or just spending time outdoors.
Program:
Home University:
Penn State University
Major:
Computer Science
