There are so many amazing cities to spend the holiday season in that it was hard for me to decide where I wanted to spend my “Skipmas” in 2015. I had spent 1 day in London on my first trip to the UK earlier that year and I knew I wanted to spend more time in the city. It’s hard to explain but there is something special about London. You don’t feel like a tourist because there are so many different cultures within the city.

Trip Recap: London in December

I had heard about the London Pass earlier in the year on our first visit to London and thought it would be a good idea. But, honestly, in the end, I didn’t really find that it was worth the money as the only thing I visited on the list was the Tower of London. However, if you are planning on visiting a lot of the attraction the pass would be a great idea.

My first stop after my first day of laying low in our hotel because of a terrible case of jet lag was the British Museum. At the time I was still in the process of getting my Bachelors in European History and the British Museum was my own personal version of heaven. It houses a vast collection of world artifacts and it has ruined me for all other museums. Its permanent collection has about 8 million works and is among the most comprehensive and largest in the world. It is, quite literally, the most impressive museum I have ever been to.

Sutton Hoo Exhibit – British Museum

My favorite exhibits included Medieval Europe, Ancient Greece and Rome, The Rosetta Stone and Sutton Hoo.

The Mr’s favorites from the British Museum: Ancient Egypt. He also really liked the Museum Tavern where we went to grab a pint and lunch (pictured above).

That night I checked out the tree in Trafalgar Square and had drinks/light dinner at the Sherlock Holmes Pub (I know it’s corny, but I loved it!). It’s a traditional English pub that serves pints, as well as food on the top floor. The menu and the entire upstairs dining area is kitschy in the best way possible. It is 1000% touristy AF but it’s one of those places where there is so much to look at that it didn’t really bother me. The dining area is filled with Sherlock Holmes memorabilia and a complete recreation of Holmes and Watson’s study and sitting room.

Since British history is some of my absolute favorite I wanted to spend a day exploring the Tower of London. On my first trip to London, I did a little bus tour that went to a bunch of the touristy site and I only got to spend an hour at the Tower. It was not enough time, in my opinion, and I wanted to spend as much time as I could exploring all that the Tower of London has to offer. This was the one and only attraction where I used the London Pass.

One of the most poignant spots for me at the Tower was the location where six females were beheaded including Ann Boleyn. I love Tudor history and to actually see this place was incredible. Although I find it funny that they set up a Christmas tree in the courtyard and coincidentally it was behind the beheading memorial. Ya know, bringing Christmas cheer to historic Tudor beheadings. I also love all of the etching in the Tower walls.

I passed on seeing the Crown Jewels on both of my visits to the Tower because the line is always out the door and although I love the historical aspect of crown jewels, actually seeing the jewels is a bit anticlimactic for me.

Tower of London. Armouries exhibition dragon. Wikimedia.

The Mr’s favorite: The dragon made out of weapons.

Sidenote on Tower Dragon: It’s a throwback, in fact, from about 1700 on there has been a long standing tradition of exhibiting Britains might by creating statues out of weaponry. This guys name is the Keeper and he stands almost 15 feet high.

After the Tower of London, I headed for my first round of Winter Wonderland. It was crazy and for whatever reason, I could not find the Christmas market. Probably because of the fact that Winter Wonderland is located in Hyde Park, which is a mere 350-acre royal park that was established by Henry VIII in 1536. He took the lands from Westminster Abbey and used them as hunting grounds. The park became public in 1637 and remains popular today. Instead of doing a bit of Christmas shopping I decided to eat our weight in chocolate-covered churros and have a few mulled ciders. Best decision ever. Try the churros…any and all of the churros.

The boy who would not grow up

Then I was off to find the Peter Pan statue in Kensington Gardens. The gardens are beautiful and I absolutely recommend walking off churros here. I have always loved Peter Pan and on my first trip to London, it was the only thing I could think about any time I saw Big Ben. The statue was commissioned by J.M. Barrie and is located in Kensington Garden west of The Long Water. Interestingly, Barrie’s former home was incredibly close to this location and his stories were inspired in part by Kensington Gardens. The statue is located at the place where Peter Pan lands after flying out of the nursery in Barrie’s The Little White Bird.

On my way back to my hotel I decided to check out the Christmas tree at Parliament Square. It was one of my favorites and to be honest, it’s probably because of that gorgeous backdrop.

The next day was pretty much based around our very first experience with Flytographer. I had googled how to take better selfies on vacation and accidentally stumbled upon the Flytographer website. I am so glad that I did. I’ve used them 3 times total at this point and have had awesome experiences every time. I’ll be writing a full post on my Flytographer experiences soon. I had chosen the Tower of London and Tower Bridge as the location because, ya know, Tudor history nerd here. We used Jackie in London and had an absolute blast with her. Totally recommend.

*funny story – I went and bought an umbrella on the day of our Flytographer shoot because it was supposed to (and did) rain throughout most of our shoot. These shoots are rain or shine and I thought we could probably do some pretty cute stuff with the umbrella as a prop either way. Well, after taking the time to go find a cute umbrella, I accidentally left it in the cab that we took the Tower Bridge. It rained and by the end of our shoot, I looked like a drowned rat.

After Flytographer I checked out Christmas by the River, the Christmas market by Tower Bridge. Totally recommend the chocolate marshmallow bubble waffles and some more mulled cider. Plus, you can’t beat this view while you warm up with the bubble waffle and warm cider.

The next day I took some downtime and went and had lunch (ish) at St. Stephen’s Tavern. You can’t beat the view, as it’s right down the street from Big Ben and Parliament Square. The bangers & mash and fish & chips were yummy. Since it was fairly close to my hotel I decided to go check out the London Eye Christmas lights and ice skating rink that night. The lights were gorgeous and some of my favorite from that trip.

Westminster Abbey was on the agenda for my fourth day in London. I had taken some pictures of the outside of the abbey on our first visit to London but didn’t have time to actually go inside. You can imagine how excited I was to see some of the tombs of my favorite historical figures. You can’t actually take photos inside the abbey for obvious reasons but it was a fantastic place to visit and one that I absolutely recommend.

There are a few parts of the abbey where photos are allowed and of those, my favorite was the charter room. Some of the windows were destroyed during WWII so the entire room was restored in the 1950s. Everything inside the abbey was gorgeous and incredibly ornate. The abbey also houses the oldest door in Britain, which was most likely constructed in the 1050s for St. Edward the Confessor. They also had Christmas trees set up in the abbey, I loved that.

From Westminster Abbey, I headed to the Southbank Christmas Market. It was really close to my hotel and I honestly got dinner at the food stalls at the market several times during my week in London. I also saw a Stormtrooper at this Christmas Market, which was hysterical. This Christmas market had a lot more street performers then the others I had attended.

Being an absolute Potter nerd at the Warner Bros Studio Tour

The following day was Hogwarts in the Snow day read more about that here. Suffice to say, it was one of my absolute favorite days. Huge Potter nerd here.

On my final day in London, I just wandered around. I found myself at the Horse Guard, St. Jame’s Park, Buckingham Palace, the Wellington Arch, followed by dinner at the Southbank Christmas Market, thank you grilled cheese place! I sat across from Big Ben and listened to the clock chime before heading back to my hotel to pack up for my morning flight to Ireland.

I had already been to Ireland once and thought Dublin for a day on my home sounded like a great idea. Who wouldn’t stop in Dublin on their way back to Boston? Since I only had 1 day in Dublin I started off at the Guinness Storehouse because my first trip to Ireland was guided and I only got to spend about an hour there. I honestly spent most of the day taking my time through the storehouse. I did a little Christmas shopping before heading back to my hotel to enjoy drinks before turning in for my flight home.