Back in March I took another trip to England, and after some last minute changes to plans I ended up spending the first weekend on my own in London! Since I had already been and gone to most of the common tourist locations, I had a more laid back time and was able to explore some lesser known places.
I stayed in a very unique hotel right in Picadilly Circus called Zedwell. It was a great central location in a very busy area, but I thought it would be convenient for me coming from the airport and leaving on the train. The hotel has many rooms of various sizes, called “cocoons” where they are extremely simple and modern, but do not have windows, so are able to be packed into the center of the building and take you away from the hustle and bustle of the area. I thought it was pretty cool- the whole check in process is done by yourself on a tablet, and the whole place feels very modern and sleek. The room was very small, however, so I was glad to be alone and only be staying for a night. But, for what I was looking at and at a less expensive price point, it was perfect!
After checking into the hotel on Saturday I had the rest of the afternoon to myself, so I decided to go to Hampton Court Palace, a recommendation from family friends. It was about a two hour train ride outside of London, but I got there and was able to get the audio tour and walk around this incredible palace for a few hours, learning about the past kings and queens who had lived there, and the different architectural styles that were added throughout time. I didn’t have much time to walk around the grounds because it got late in the day, but I thought it was an amazing day out and definitely worth a visit. I took the train back into London and got pizza that night for dinner back in my hotel room.
On Sunday I woke up and got a donut and hot chocolate for breakfast, and sat out in a park to eat. I was really lucky with great sunny weather both days, even though it was a bit chilly. Next on my list was to visit the London Mithraeum, which I had found on TripAdvisor, but didn’t know much about. This was the site of ruins from back when the Romans occupied the area. There was a cult that worshiped the Roman god Mithras and created this Mithraeum, which has recently been discovered and turned into a museum. While not a lot is known about this cult, the museum had lots of artifacts from the excavation and audio and visual presentations about the cult members and what is believed to have gone on in the Mithraeum.
I found the museum to be really well done, and the immersive presentation was fascinating. It wasn’t a long visit, but very cool to learn about something I had never heard of before.
My next stop was the nearby Monument to the Great Fire of London. It was only a short walk away from the museum and I hadn’t been so I got in line and walked the 311 stairs up to the top for a great view of London. The only hiccup was that several small children were scared on the way down the spiral staircase, so it took quite awhile to slowly make my way down.
I then got bubble tea, stopped by my hotel to get my bags, and took the Tube to the train station, where I got on the 1.5 hour long train ride up towards Leek.
Overall, I had a great weekend in London, and while it wasn’t what I had originally planned I felt like I made the most of it and enjoyed getting to explore a couple more places that I hadn’t known of when I first visited!
Hammond Adventures 