Caitlin & Drew Visit London!

Caitlin & Drew landed in London mid-day Thursday. I met them at Victoria station when they arrived for a quick 'hello' and to hand-off the keys to our flat. Caitlin & Drew explored a bit around our neighborhood before Shane & I were able to meet up with them after work.

That evening, we headed to King's Cross for dinner. We went to Dishoom, our favorite Indian in London, and luckily didn't have to wait too long for a table.

The next morning, Caitlin & Drew set out to explore the city on their own before I met up with them at Borough Market for a late lunch. After lunch, we walked along the Thames to see Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. We grabbed a quick pint at Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese, took a stroll past St. Paul's and headed back to the flat to get ready for the Book of Mormon show that evening. We grabbed a quick bite near the theatre at Polpo before heading into the show. The show was great! After the show, it had started raining a bit so we took shelter in the tube and headed back towards our flat for a night cap at our local, the Sir Richard Steele.

On Saturday, we planned a day trip to Cambridge. Cambridge is a quick hour train ride from London which makes it easy to do in a day. We arrived in Cambridge, with what seemed like all of London, just before lunch. We knew that we wanted to go punting, so we quickly headed toward the river Cam to check-out the punting scene. As the river was extremely crowded, we elected not to rent our own boat but rather have a punter give us a tour. We saw way too many people, new to punting, getting stuck in the river. Our punting excursion took us past all the notable bridges and colleges. It was a fun way to see the college from the water. We got lucky with our punting excursion as it only rained for half the time. After our tour, we grabbed lunch at a pub and then walked around the town a bit. The town was packed with tourists, and the rain was not letting up, so we caught a train back to London. Once back home, we all needed a bit of a cat nap. When we woke up, we were all still exhausted from the day and decided to order in thai and rent a movie.

On Sunday, we set out in the morning to explore the Palaces. Our first stop was Buckingham Palace and we conveniently arrived to see a bit of the changing of the guards ceremony. We then proceeded to walk through Hyde Park and Kensington Palace Gardens to Kensington Palace. We continued on to Notting Hill to grab a bite for lunch. At lunch we decided we spend the remainder of the afternoon pub hopping and end at a pub where Shane & Drew could watch the end of the British Open. The first pub on our tour was Churchill Arms in South Keningston area. The pub is covered in flowers. We then headed North to pub hope in Hampstead. We started at our favorite, the Holly Bush, and then made our way to the Flask and ended at The George in Belsize Park.

It was so fun having Caitlin & Drew in London for the weekend. We were so sad to see them go on Monday!