Day 3 - Westminster Abbey and a Spin Your Own Chocolate and Books Tour

Greetings from Big Ben

Gayle: In trying to get settled into a new space last night, it was roughly 10pm by the time we were lights out. It was pushing 11pm for me to get to sleep. After a red eye flight and many hours around the city, it was no surprise we slept until approximately 8:30am - with no guilt! FYI, yes we can hear the Eurostar coming and going, as this is an old hotel. However, they are infrequent and sound more like calm planes. As someone who grew up next to an Air Force Base and both of us having lived near train tracks in the past, we still slept just fine!

To you, our reader, know when you see “ADVENTURE!”, this means we happened upon something (usually) delightful. 

After a round of showers and a quick “breakfast” at 10:30am in the hotel Chambers Club, we headed for the Tube. 

ADVENTURE! We were actually delayed leaving the room, because Kara couldn’t find her jeans. Since we both packed in advance she was sure she forgot to put them in since they wouldn’t be with her hanging items. It was dueling-Googles to find stores with jeans that would meet her needs. With a couple of options picked out and a more open-schedule day from all we accomplished yesterday, we were about to leave. Just then she realized they were packed in her carry-on as the “emergency outfit” should our luggage have not arrived with us. When we packed those, I noted the strategy to pick “something not easily replaceable”! So phew and on with the day!

A great aspect to the Renaissance St. Pancras is being at a major transportation hub for the Tube, Eurostar, busses, and more at St. Pancras/Kings Cross Station. And when I mean “at”, I mean we don’t have to go outside to reach any of these things!

Outside has been atypically London so far with bright sun, cloudless skies, and just brief to mild breezes. With temps ranging in the 50s, for someone always cold like me, it means a sweater along with a lined coat that bounced between on & off.

Using Apple Pay, we seamlessly took the Tube to Westminster Abbey. It was a delightful stroll through the Abbey store to pick-up postcards and a small piece of art for our house and onto Parliament Square Garden to acknowledge world leaders. 

A mass began at 12:30pm, so as is our tradition, we took in a formal service at Westminster Abbey. It is always soul-stirring to be in such a historical place, to connect spiritually, and personally, be reminded of those we have lost. (The last time I was here in 2017, I was frantically trying to find my mom an assisted living option. Now it has been nearly two years since her passing. Kara lost her mom during this period as well.) As we had both previously done the full, audio guide tour - which we love - this time we skipped it.

The priest you see walking out is coming to tell us there are no photos or videos during the service!

Since Kara successfully had us use a London bus yesterday, we were quite comfortable adding that as a transportation option. These are much more of a valuable option for this trip, as we are bouncing around the city a bit and taking in some places that aren’t on the top tourist site lists.

Next we were headed off to the Old Bond Street (read: posh) area of the city. On a prior study abroad I led, I took a grand chocolate tour. Since that time the company shifted from small groups to all private, which are at a far higher price point! So of the four stops from that tour, we decided to visit two since Kara hadn’t been on the prior trip. Our path took us by Ferrari, DeBeers, McQueen, and others. So, if we did too much shopping, we’d have no retirement savings! Our stops included:

Prestat - A small, incredibly colorful shop with chocolates and truffles. This shop earned a Royal Warrant, which means one or more members of the Royal Family shop from this establishment. It is told this was a favorite shop of the former Queen Mother and Princess Diana. We had a nice chat with the staff and Kara purchased a box for her family.

ADVENTURE! Hatchard’s Booksellers - Kara: So, this chocolate tour had some diversions for books on it. I had planned a different bookstore, but I’m so glad we stumbled upon Hatchard’s because it was a far better experience than what I’d come up with in my planning. Hatchard’s also has a Royal Warrant and is the official booksellers to the royal household. This store was 5 floors and was incredible! I wanted to buy so many books - but that wouldn’t make for good carry on luggage on the way home - so instead just grabbed some photos. What a gorgeous bookshop. 

Back to Gayle…

Charbonnel et Walker - Also a small, quaint shop featuring chocolates, truffles, and more. It is known as “Britain’s first luxury chocolatier” and received a Royal Warrant from Queen Elizabeth II. Kara had a custom box made for herself, while I chose boxes for a friend, co-workers, my boss, and a custom box for myself! #$$$$ 

From here we were headed to a Tube stop to return to our hotel, when…

ADVENTURE! There it was: Venchi! Also from the same prior Study Abroad, I accidentally discovered the Venchi in Rome near Trevi Fountain. I say “discovered” as in my walking about I saw a store with a flowing wall of chocolate! It sells both chocolate and gelato. While this London edition lacks the chocolate wall, it was the perfect time to stop for some gelato. (Unknowingly, Kara had been craving ice cream.) She had both strawberry & mixed berry, while I had the 75% dark chocolate. It reminded us that true Italian gelato is smooth in a way not available/experienced in the USA.

Next it was a brief 4pm stop at the hotel to drop our shopping and immediately head back out. Behind St. Pancras/Kings Cross is a burgeoning area of Coal Drops Yard. Here Kara wanted to visit Word on Water - a rarity in being a bookstore on a houseboat!

Since we never had a true lunch, we quickly opted for Beer + Burger. We each got a cheeseburger and split sweet potato fries. The burgers were a better version of Steak & Shake (which I typically don’t like). Also, I’ve decided the Brits might be doing all fries better than the USA too! However, it was too loud. Yet we were the only ones in there. It was fine for a pop-in, but I wouldn’t seek it out again.

Finally, just on the other side of our hotel was the British Library - obviously a necessary visit for two travelers with “Dr. “ in front of their names! We didn’t spend too much time here, but did take in the Magna Carta.

Upon arriving back at the hotel and stopping into the Chambers Club again, we were a bit frustrated that sliders were on the menu tonight, so we could have just had a small plate meal here. Sigh. 

Back in the room Kara updated our lunch reservation for Thursday and we settled in with dueling keyboards to keep this blog up to date!

We were eager to have a relatively early night as tomorrow we are off to the Warner Brother Studio Tour: The Making of Harry Potter! (I briefly experienced this on the prior Study Abroad, and it wasn’t enough.) Honestly, it is THE reason I wanted for/Kara wanted to add London to this trip! 

Kara's Video Summary of the Day

Each day during this trip, Kara made a quick video to recap the day. We're adding each one to the end of the daily posts.

Next Up… Off to Hogwarts! 

On that note… Disclaimer: I (Gayle) am a travel agent with Authorized Disney Travel Planner agency - Off to Neverland Travel. Contact me today for a no-obligation quote!

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