48 Hours in London
We all know that sometimes the hardest and most expensive part of a trip is actually getting to the location. Especially so when you have to cross an ocean. Recently, we took a trip with some friends to France and enjoyed a great 8 days of wine tours, architecture, and amazing food. Luckily for us, the vacation bumped up against a holiday, so after our friends had to return to the US, Anne and I had a couple of days to kill. We could have stayed in France and explored more, but instead we decided to take advantage of the two extra days, and jumped the Eurostar train under the English Channel to London. So what do you do with 48 hours in a major city?
1) Indian Food Tour
The evening we arrived we jumped on the Underground (London’s sub system) and met up with our guide Amin to do an Indian Food tour in the area known as Banglatown with Secret Food Tours. Let’s be honest, England isn’t really known for its native food scene, but it is a great place to experience food from immigrant communities. We ate at 4 different restaurants as Amin guided us down famous Brick Lane (where there’s a large concentration of Bengali and Indian restaurants/shops) and showed us art, and described cooking practices as we moved around. We tried delicious treats such as Mango Lassi, Piyaju, Chicken Korai, Saag Lamb, Paneer Tikka, and more. Learn more about our Indian Food Tour here, but this was a great experience.
2) Hop On/Hop Off Buses
One of our favorite things to do in any major city is to jump on a hop on/hop off bus. There are a couple of different companies operating in London, but we went with Big Bus Tours, a brand we had used in other cities and trusted. We spent the morning cruising through the city seeing the landmarks and learning the history of the city and its neighborhoods. You can jump on and off at dozens of stops at all the best landmarks and neighborhoods, so it doubles as transportation and a tour guide. (Protip: bring a comfy pair of headphones to plug into the onboard guide, but the bus also provides a generic pair)
3) Science Tea
For lunch we hopped off the bus and headed into the Ampersand Hotel for a special twist on afternoon tea, Science Tea! We were served tea like normal, but the food and desserts on our tower included things like a petri dish filled with blood orange & cherry jelly that looked like something you’d see under a microscope, a caramel chocolate & raspberry mousse filled “Saturn” and lemon & coconut macaroons shaped and decorated like Earth. You can learn more about our Science Tea here!
4) Last Minute Theater Tickets
One of the stops on our Hop On/Hop Off tour was at the theater district. That gave us the idea to try to grab some last minute theater tickets. Luckily the bus had free wifi, so while we were exploring, Anne snagged some great seats to see Disney’s Lion King! We threw some big kid clothes on and headed to the Lyceum Theatre. Needless to say, the play was amazing. The music, the choreography, the actors, all incredible. The entire area is full of theaters and venues where everything from plays to concerts were going on. Guests of all types were there early to enjoy the pubs and restaurants. The whole district is a vibe.
5) The British Museum
The next morning we took a walk through the Bloomsbury neighborhood to visit the British Museum. The museum is huge and you definitely can’t experience the whole thing in one day, but we went in with a plan to see a couple of different exhibits including Egypt, Africa, Clocks and Money. We can’t help ourselves though so about 15k steps later we had checked out all of that and more. This is one of the premiere museums in the world, so I can’t express enough that it is worth it to devote a lot more time than we had to exploring everything. We did about 4 hours and it still wasn’t enough. (ProTip: Download the app and bring some headphones to take your own private tour)
Bonus Adventure!
Check out Leake Street Arches! There’s tons of graffiti, murals, and restaurants. We were able to catch the Michigan vs Penn State game at Passyunk, a Philly themed bar that’s actually run and staffed by Americans, with members of the local Michigan Alumni chapter.
48 Hours isn’t a long time to experience a city, especially one of London’s caliber, but if you go in with a plan, and a little wiggle room, you can make some amazing memories. Next time you are overseas and have a little extra time, consider doing your own 48 hours of awesome.
