My last stop in Europe was London. It had always been on top of my list, but I hadn’t had time to visit this famous city. We stayed at Travelodge since it was more affordable. Finding accommodation in London is extremely difficult just because they are extremely pricey! Even a hostel can cost you double of what you would pay in the rest f Europe! Immediately, the first thing I noticed was the iconic red telephone booths. I’m not sure if people still use these today, but I just had to get a picture of it! The red double decker buses are also everywhere. Another famous feature are the underground trains. However, I find that they arem’t exactly trustworthy, just because they constantly have construction or there are accidents, meaning you must take a reroute. It also took almost an hour just from the Heathrow airport to the city center.

From there, we just did a lot of walking and wandered towards the Tower of London, also known as Her Majesty’s Royal Palace and Fortress.  The castle was actually used as a royal residence, but was also used as a prison! When we went, there were huge lineups, but I would assume there are huge lineups at anytime since London is filled with tourists year round. We didn’t have much time, so we did not end up going in. Outside, there is also an outdoor skating rink in place.

The castle actually houses the Crown Jewels too. This is the entrance to the castle. You can see there is already a huge lineup to enter. There are also two lions at the entrance.

From the Tower of London, you’ll also get some beautiful views of London since it’s right by the water. One structure that really caught my eyes was The Shard. It’s a glass pyramidal tower and is the tallest building in the EU! It has 87 floors with 72  being habitable, but it seems that not many people have purchased it due to its high price. I believe there are some restaurants in use currently.

Then we come to the famous Tower Bridge. It’s definitely an icon of London and I even have a 3D model of this structure! It’s a suspension bridge supported by two towers with a higher level walkway at the top. Pretty cool since you can walk on the top there. Contrary to what I had always though, this is not the “London Bridge” that every one talks about. Personally, I think the London Bridge is really not as impressive as the Tower Bridge.

We then made our way towards Borough Market, which was just a 10 minute walk away. Borough Market is a wholesale and retail market and is one of the largest and oldest in London. It carried a wide variety of food and was very international.

We love trying the local food, so first thing we thought of in London were pies! Luckily, at the Borough Market, we found a line up at Pieminister. Props for a cute name too. Anyways, Pieminister makes pies and they show up at various farmers markets as well as selling them at restaurants all over the UK. At the market, they sold both hot and cold pies. Cold pies would be perfect to take home and heat up on your own. Those hot pies on the other hand sell out really quickly! We had wanted to try the Moo pie, but it was already sold out! When you see a new batch coming out, you’ve got to beat that line!

We ended up resorting to the Shamrock, which is a pie filled with tender beef steak and Irish stout. It was super hearty, but so delicious! You could taste that slight hint of beer, but it wasn’t overwhelming. The pie itself was flaky and the crust was thin, so you got a lot of filling! It was perfect on a cold day! Definitely recommend!