Chels Goes To London: South England (Canadian Invasion)

At this time, my mother and aunt joined me in England and I knew my time in the UK was coming to an end. So bittersweet.

The first day my mother and aunt were here was a half day. We went over to the National History Museum, which was close to the hotel, and walked around for the rest of the evening. A quick stop at Buckingham Palace finished the day off.

Photo cred: Mom

Day two in London we made a b-line to Spitafields Market where we remained for lunch. We then took the tube to Tate Modern, where we crossed the Millennium Bridge to St. Paul's Cathedral. We them walked (the same path as seen in my video) to the Parliament Buildings and to the Prime Minister's home and office. The evening was spent around Covent Garden.

My aunt and I on the Millennium Bridge

The next day we were off to Canterbury, the first of three southern destinations. I should note that we spent two days in each place. We took the train there from London St. Pancras. The journey took about one hour.

Canterbury is a pretty typical English town: a high street, pubs, lots of buildings squished into a small area. Famous for the Canterbury Tales and the Cathedral.

Eastbridge Hospital

Canterbury Cathedral

Inside the Cathedral

Quick: Spot my mom and my aunt

Inside the Cathedral again

Mom, me, my aunt

Climbing sculptures in Canterbury

We grabbed afternoon tea at Fenwick's Department store.

Lunch Day One: The Refectory - 16 St. Dunstans St. CT2 8AF
Dinner Day One: Wildwood - 2-3 St. Peter's St. CT1 2AT

Lunch Day Two: Fenwick - St. Georges Ln. CT1 2TB
Dinner Day Two: The Corner House - 1 Dover St. CT1 3HD

Accommodation: Victoria Hotel - 59 London Road CT2 8JY

From Canterbury, we went to Brighton via train.

The day we got in we wandered around the pier for a bit, then checked out the Lanes (small streets filled with stores and restaurants).

Traveling on the train

Day two started at the Royal Pavilion and ended with some high street shopping.

No photos were allowed inside the pavilion :(

Lunch Day One: Classic Fish & Chips - 4 Maderia Dr. BN2 1ET
Dinner Day One: La Vendimia - 81-82 St. Jame's St. BN2 1PA

Lunch Day Two: Edendum - 69 East St. BN1 1HQ
Dinner Day Two: Donatello - 1-3 Brighton Pl. BN1 1HJ

Accommodation: New Steine Hotel - 10-11 New Steine, BN2 1PB

The last destination before returning to London was Bath. I had high hopes or Bath as it is different than most English cities because of the Roman Baths and the fact that its a bit hill-y.

The first day was spent going to the Roman Baths and the Fashion Museum.

A hot tub type pool where the sick would come and hope to get healed

Heated room hypocausts

Great Bath

Selfie with mom

The second day I went to the Bath at Work Museum and the Victoria Art Gallery as well as a bit of shopping.
The Bath at Work Museum follows the working life of one of it's residents, J.B. Bowler. The whole museum is reconstructed according to old photographs of Bowlers office and factory.

Lunch Day One: Blue Quails Deli - 7 Bridge St. BA2 4AS
Dinner Day One: Sally Lunn's - 4 N Parade BA1 1NX

Lunch Day Two: Clayton's Kitchen at the Porter - 15A George St. BA1 2EN
Dinner Day Two: Joya - 6 Newmarket Row, BA2 4AN

Accommodation: Highways House - 143 Wells Road BA2 3AL

We took the National Express back to London because the trains were undergoing refurbishment. The ride back was about three hours, we got off at Earls Court since it was closest to the hotel (we stayed at the same hotel as before).

Because we got back so early from Bath, we decided to take a walk through Kensington Gardens and explore the Notting Hill/ Bayswater area. We stumbled upon the Portobello Market and lots a boutique shops.

My aunt and me infront of the Albert Memorial

On our last full day in London, my mom and aunt went to some museums and I went back to Epsom to finalize everything: close the bank account, clean out the room, hand in my keys. We met up for dinner that night.

Dinner Day One: Lorenzos - 138 Cromwell Rd, SW7 4HA

Lunch Day Two: Patisserie Valerie - 37 Brushfield St, E1 6AA
Dinner Day Two: Lamb and Flag - 33 Rose St, WC2E 9EB

Lunch Day Three (coming back from Bath): Paul - 73 Gloucester Rd, SW7 4SS
Dinner Day Three: Memories of India - 18 Gloucester Rd, SW7 4RB

Lunch Day Four: Cafe 1 - 122 High Street, Epsom, KT19 8BJ
Dinner Day Four: CERU - 7-9 Bute St, SW7 3EY

The next day we all went to Oxford.

Traveling from London to Oxford is very quick and pretty simple. We left from Paddington station, and the train was under one hour long.

Arriving there, we walked through the Covered Market and the high street over to Magdalen Bridge, where we went on a punting tour (hit up Oxford punting at the Magdalen Bridge if you want to do some punting. They were very good).