Last July, I spent part of a trip to Europe with my mother in my favorite city: London. The trip started out in Paris, the city my mother most wanted to visit, and I tacked on a trip to London for the second half, as it was just an easy train ride away and I couldn’t resist. It had been nearly three years since my last trip, when I came to visit my best friend, Shae, during her semester at UCL. Shae herself decided to “crash” our trip, going up to Edinburgh for my recommended solo trip while we were in Paris, and then joining us in London. We spent the days in our favorite city revisiting some of our favorite places and showing them to my mom, who had been to London around my age and seen all of the most touristy things, as well as checking out some places that were new to us. We also took a day trip to Cambridge partway through the week.
The very first thing we did after all meeting up at the hotel was take a little walk around Bloomsbury, where we had both attended classes and I’d lived, before heading to the National Gallery. This was a walk I knew well, even after almost three years; I’d taken an art history class on the Renaissance that met at the National Gallery almost every week, so I spent a lot of rainy mornings walking to the museum. I love that museum so much that I went even when I didn’t have class, so who knows how many times I’ve gone at this point. Shae, the actual art history student, also adores it, so it naturally became our first stop. (Or first major spot — we did make a necessary stop for ice cream at Udderlicious.) We sadly didn’t have enough time to properly re-explore the museum, so it turned into us pulling my mom around to our favorite paintings and rooms before we got ushered out so the museum could close.
a few stray phone photos scattered in this mostly-film post — outside my dorm
Seven Dials
Shae talking about a favorite Turner painting (Rain, Steam and Speed – The Great Western Railway) with my mom
We got sourdough pizza for dinner at Franco Manca and then took a long walk, going a few miles from Covent Garden to Primrose Hill for sunset. We went through Fitzrozia and on to Regent’s Park, where we walked until we crossed the canal and hit Primrose Hill, crowded with people doing the same thing.
We walked around Bloomsbury a bit more again in the morning — we went by NYU London and Bedford Square for me, and then around UCL for Shae, plus a quick stop in the Waterstones on Gower Street. Then we headed east to Greenwich, where neither of us had been before. After a brief stop in Greenwich Market, we went to the Old Royal Naval College and University of Greenwich. The Painted Hall at the Old Royal Naval College had just reopened after several years of restoration and was so wonderful to check out. Straying away from film with a few digital camera shots of the Painted Hall below because it was so remarkable, and I don’t have a good film shot of it!
Next we went back on the train and got off in the City to go to St Dunstan-in-the-East, a church that was largely destroyed in the Blitz. The ruins were turned into a public park in the midst of the modern buildings, with ivy growing over the remaining structures and trees and flowers in the center. It felt perfect for a photoshoot, and I couldn’t believe I’d walked by it multiple times without ever going down the lane to it to take photos or sit and read.
Afterwards, Shae went to dinner with a friend and so my mom and I walked around a bit more, went to see St. Paul’s in some lovely evening light, and headed back over to Trafalgar Square to meet Shae after we also got dinner.
Our third day in the city was… very hot and chaotic. I’d been excited about the possibility of cooler British summer, compared to New York’s horrible heat, for many hot weeks leading up to our trip. The weather forecast says it’ll be in the 70s or low 80s, I said. Even if not, it couldn’t possibly be as hot as New York or Virginia or DC in the summer, I said. And then we got stuck with an unexpected heatwave in a city that isn’t prepared for that kind of heat. This day was the worst — the hottest July day recorded in London. Ever.
We made the most of it, though, not wanting to lose a whole day to the heat, but it really was miserable at times. In the morning we went to Notting Hill, starting off with brunch at Granger & Co (without any wait!). I’m still thinking about the pancakes I had there. Then we spent some time walking around the neighborhood, taking photos while we could stand it and ducking inside slightly cooler spots (a Starbucks with several fans and quickly melting ice in their drinks, a bookstore with a nicely distracting selection) in between photo locations.
One underground journey later, we were at the Victoria & Albert Museum. The V&A is another beloved favorite of mine, a place I spent many afternoons in while studying in London. It’s too big to really see much of it in one trip, so we primarily wandered around the sculpture halls and cast courts, though we also stopped elsewhere to see the pieces like the Raphael Cartoons. The courtyard was full of people with their feet in the water and kids playing in the pool.
Shae wanted to imitate this moment from Pride and Prejudice (our favorite, the 2005 film version).
I’m a planner when it comes to travel — I like to have some form of itinerary, with tickets booked, restaurants and a train schedule in mind, and at least a loose schedule of the day with a list of places. So it was a surprise that Shae and I made an impulsive decision that shifted our plans for the rest of the day. For weeks I had been keeping an eye on tickets for the Harry Potter Studio Tour, because tickets had sold out before I knew Shae would be coming with us. I’d last checked in the morning with no luck, and decided it wouldn’t happen this trip. But while sitting on a bench in the room above, I decided to check one last time, because why not? Maybe people were cancelling their plans. Turns out I was right — two tickets had become available for a later timeslot. I called Shae over and asked if she wanted to do it. After quickly googling the train schedule, we figured out we could make it in time, and so I quickly bought them on my phone.
My mom went back to the hotel to relax while Shae and I began a very dramatic trip to the Harry Potter Studios. That journey could be its own blog post, but it’s definitely not photogenic at all. While the trains in the city had been fine for us throughout the day (just quite warm), countless commuter trains were affected by the heat, between delays, rerouting, and full cancellations. After a nightmare at Euston, we finally managed to squeeze onto a train, though that had its own drama: already late for our ticketed timeslot, fully packed and unbearably hot carriage, some worry that the train wouldn’t actually stop where we were supposed to go, and a passenger who passed out right by us just as the train pulled into the first stop. It finally started to rain just as we ran from the train station to the studios shuttle.
At long last, we made it to the studio tour in time for the last entry time (which was significantly later than what I had booked) and went into the film world of Harry Potter. I’d gone in 2016 with my roommate, but new sets had been added since then and, to be honest, I didn’t need an excuse. Shae and I had first bonded over Harry Potter, so it was especially great to go with her and get to nerd out about every set, prop, and detail together. I had an even better time the second trip, and we stayed until they were literally kicking us out to get on the last shuttle back to the train station. Despite the insane trip to get there, it was a ~magical~ visit.
First, a sampling of my many phone photos…
The Gringotts set was the newest big addition, and very cool to see and walk through.
The Forbidden Forest set, one of the parts added since my last visit
Seriously, this was amazing.
One more phone photo, because I LOVE this model of Hogwarts used for filming.
On our last day in London, the temperature had finally dropped and it rained all morning, so it was easier to be outside and actually felt the way we’d expected. Shae and I got up early and walked in the rain to start the day at Foyles (the first bookstore documented here but definitely not the first one we visited), where we could have easily spent all morning if Shae didn’t have a flight to catch. Our flight was later, so my mom and I were able to squeeze in an outing to the Tate Britain, Hatchards (the oldest bookstore in London), and Fortnum and Mason (for some treats).
I can’t wait to travel again, but I really can’t wait to visit London again: to go to museums and bookstores, see theater (I sadly didn’t see enough on this trip!), walk and walk around the city like I usually do, and cross more things off of my list.
I’ll end this with Shae’s wonderful video of our trip: