On Christmas Day we roused later than we’d really intended to, or had
thought we would be able to be honest, but the late night after Midnight Mass at Westminster Abbey took its toll.
After opening some presents and English Christmas crackers that Santa
had delivered and grabbing a midday bite from the Executive Lounge, we headed out to explore the city a bit. We had Hop-On Hop-Off bus tickets for the day
as there would be no public transportation on Christmas Day, so the thought was
that we’d use it to actually get on and get off buses wherever we wanted to
explore. However, once we got on at the
Marble Arch stop (at the corner of Hyde Park) it was apparent that it was not a
quiet Christmas Day in London, other tourists were out in force. With all of the museums and tourist
attractions closed for the day, I guess the tourists had no where else to be
but outside on the streets of London. We
sat outside on the second level of the double-decker bus as soon as we could
snag seats up there and decided quickly to just stay there for the entire loop,
not wanting to battle the hoards in Trafalgar Square, near Westminster or, most
of all, in the Tower Bridge area.
Honestly, it suited us just fine, staying on the bus for a couple of
hours enjoying the views of London.
The double decker bus—which provided earbuds to listen to
information on the sights on our drive—took us from the Marble Arch at Hyde
Park by Buckingham Palace, the Churchill War Rooms, Whitehall, 10 Downing
Street, the Horse Guards stables, and then by Westminster Abbey. We continued on to Trafalgar Square, getting
our first look at the lions and Nelson’s Column in daylight. We then
headed down Strand on to Fleet Street, passing cool pubs, such as The
Wellington and The Old Bank of England, and also seeing the Australian Embassy (which
was used at Gringott’s bank in the Harry Potter movies), the Royal
Courts of Justice, and Temple Bar Monument (griffin statue). The bus then took us by St. Paul’s Cathedral,
the Duke of Wellington statue, the Bank of England, and the Monument to the
Great Fire of London (1666) before crossing the Thames on London Bridge (the
first of four times we would cross the river on our tour).
On the south side of the Thames, we drove by the Shard and
then over the Tower Bridge to the Tower of London. On the Lower Thames Street for just a few
blocks, we headed back across the Thames (third bridge, in case you were counting)
towards the South Bank via Southwark Bridge.
We passed Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, Waterloo Station, and the London
Eye before making our last trip over the Thames River, this time via
Westminster Bridge. We retraced our
steps a bit by Westminster Abbey, Parliament Square, and St. James’s Park, but
then took a detour to Piccadilly Circus, allowing us a peek at the beautifully-decorated
Christmas windows of shops such as Fortnum & Mason and Alexander McQueen
(plus a look at The Ritz where we would enjoy a Christmas Afternoon Tea later
that afternoon).
The last leg of our ride took us to Knightsbridge and South
Kensington, where we got a look at the Wellington Arch, Harrods, the Victoria and
Albert Museum, the Natural History Museum, and a quick peek at Kensington
Palace (you really can’t see much looking through the gardens).
Our bus tour was a great way to really feel like we got to see
a ton of London. As we were going on a
day trip out of London the next day, Christmas Day really was our last
opportunity to see London in daylight. I am definitely satisfied that we made
the most of it.
We donned our Christmas finest and walked to The Ritz for
our 5pm Afternoon Tea (a little late for afternoon tea, but we didn’t want to
waste any of the daylight for touring).
As if flying first class to London and basically having the run of the
Executive Lounge at a fancy London hotel weren’t enough to make this trip feel
lux, Christmas Afternoon Tea at The Ritz definitely put us over the top. This was a special experience and we were
treated like royalty—a great Christmas present to ourselves. And, honestly, I was surprised how much Jack
was in to the whole thing. We each
ordered our own pots of tea and Jack loved his ‘Moroccan Mint’, finishing off
his entire pot. We were served finger
sandwiches, scones, and tea cakes and pastries to our heart’s delight. Jonathan and I enjoyed some champagne, too,
while the kids received gifts from Santa.
‘Christmas Cake’ was offered at the end, but we were all too stuffed on
mostly finger sandwiches and scones by then to partake. It was a lovely ending to a very
extraordinary Christmas.
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