Beginner’s Guide To London, England

TMPE59 - London
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Meggan: Hey everyone. And welcome back to the travel mug podcast. Of course. We're happy that you're here. We hope you're having a really great summer. It, it isn't over yet and it lasts until late September. So there, you know, get out there and enjoy what is left.

Jenn: Yes.

Meggan: She isn't over yet!

Jenn: No.

Meggan: Jenn, I needed to ask because you have a, a world expert traveler in your home now who is an international, not guest, but new resident. So how are things going with your little doggy, Lucy who traveled all the way from Texas?

Jenn: Yes. It is good. She is a rat terrier. So sort of close to a Jack Russell terrier. Especially in the energy department. So she really has two speeds, which are stop and go. Ah, so I just gave her chew to chew on one before I came up here to record. So hopefully she stays quiet.

Meggan: I did the same with Peter. I understand.

Jenn: Throw Peter a bone so that we can have some quiet time.

Meggan: I did that. We're good to go for an hour or so.

Jenn: All right.

Meggan: Well, that's awesome. And congratulations on your new edition. I love that for you. As for this week, what we wanted to do is take a journey to somewhere we've both been. And again, a bit of a beginner's guide. We aren't experts, but we both really enjoyed London, England, and we thought it would be a great opportunity to help people who are just sort of going for the first or second time. What you can see do, et cetera. So when was your trip to London, Jenn?

Jenn: It was on my honeymoon. So October, 2015, we actually planned our entire honeymoon around the trip to London. So yeah, we did Iceland, London in Paris, so, but it was mostly about London. We spent a week there. How about you? What, what is your London story?

Meggan: My London story goes back first and foremost to 1994. So I have been three times, so I traveled there with my grad grade 12 trip which was a lot of fun.

I was also there in February of 2008 with Peter and a couple of friends. Um, And then I went back again with a girlfriend for a 40th birthday trip in June of 2016. At which time I also attended celebrations on that trip for the Queen's 90th birthday, which had been in April of 2016, but they did the big celebration while we were there in June.

My friend is a huge Royal fanatic. So that was partially planned around that as well. So yeah, no, I've been there at very different capacities in my life. I have to. Right from a student on upwards. So let's dive in though and talk about some things to consider for your trip where you should go, what you should do, et cetera.

So Jenn, maybe we can start with like some fundamentals, like where to stay.

Jenn: Yes. Let's talk about where to stay. And as we always say, it depends on what you want to see. And do. So for families first time visitors, specifically the Mayfair area because of its proximity to Hyde park, green park, Buckingham palace, Big Ben and Westminster Abbey that's a great place to stay.

Some other great places for tourists are the West End, Westminster, Soho, Kensington, which is where Meggan and I have both stayed. So there's tons of areas and places. We'll talk about getting around in a little bit, but look at the things you wanna do. See what's around, what's close. Getting around by the tube is pretty convenient. So yeah, we stayed at Earl's Court studios. I went to look it up, I I'm pretty sure we booked it on hotels.com when we went, it's not there anymore, but it's on Expedia. Not really sure what's happening there. I couldn't even find their own website anymore, so,

Meggan: oh,

Jenn: not sure. Anyway, it was an amazing place to stay. It was a really great location that Earl's court tube station was like just around the corner which could take us basically where we needed to go. But we were able to walk to a lot of things. We chose the location specifically because of how close it was to Stanford bridge, which is where Chelsea FC plays, which is why we were going to London in the first place is to see a game.

Meggan: Right.

Jenn: And we knew that we would be in that area a lot. So I really liked it. And I know it was very close. To where Meggan stayed. I know I could have probably thrown a rock and hit you.

Meggan: I know. And it was only a year later.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: So yeah, my last time in England, 2016, we stayed at the best Western, the Boltons London Kensington. It's a very long name. It was reasonably priced the room wasn't huge or anything, small European room, two single beds. That's really all we needed. And that was fine for us. Uh, Breakfast was included. It was a really great breakfast. So that was a big deal as well, especially in an expensive city.

And like you said, it's a cute, safe neighborhood, tube ride away from anything we wanted to see and like highly recommend. So it's best Western the Boltons I really would, you know, highly recommend and it's still a. It's still out there taking reservations. So I would definitely recommend it.

Jenn: That's amazing. Yeah. We had a kitchen, so that was a really nice addition.

Meggan: Oh good.

Jenn: Because we, we didn't eat out a lot as we'll talk about, but it was, it was a really great place and I don't know what happened to them, but if you can find them, I would stay there.

Meggan: You had enjoyed it.

Jenn: all right. Let's dive into the. The meat of the episode, which is what to do. And the must see in London, there's a lot of things to do in London. As you may know. But let's start with Buckingham palace. How can you not start with Buckingham palace? So what can you do? The changing of the guard ceremony totally free to watch. It happens daily in June and July and on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, the rest of the year. I think the time is around 11:00 AM, but that can change

Meggan: it's 10 45 ish or something. I think I saw

Jenn: check somewhere else, rather than with us for the times. Cuz we're not sure. ,

Meggan: let's reconfirm that before you plan to do it.

Jenn: Yeah. For 10 weeks in the summer, you can actually go into Buckingham palace. The tickets cost about 30 pounds per adult, which is a bit expensive.

Meggan: Yeah.

Jenn: for the rest of the year, you can visit the Royal muse, which is where the like carriages are. And it's like old horse stable type thing. It was really cool. We did that. You can also go to the Queen's gallery and see some of her collection, which was closed when we went. Um

Meggan: oh, cool. Hmm. Well, you got to see part of it anyway. . And did you watch the ceremony?

Jenn: I did not. We missed it. Did you watch it?

Meggan: I did. On my grade 12 grad trip. Yes. We definitely watched that. And I mean, it's one of those things that like, it's not like, you know, enthralling necessarily. It's pomp and circumstance. Glad to say that I did it. Don't get me wrong. Like it's cool to, to see, but seeing once is great, small children may not, you know, love it. But it was, it was cool to see, I guess, as, as a grade developed student, I was like, cool. Where, where to next? where to next indeed Jenn?

Jenn: Where to next on our list is Westminster Abbey um, in the center of London. So it's been hosting every coronation since 1066.

Meggan: Oh, my

Jenn: and it's the final resting place for great Kings Queens, poets, musicians, scientists, politicians, all kinds of people. It's a beautiful, beautiful cathedral. You can tour it Monday through Saturday for 25 pounds per adult. Buy the tickets in advance. That's gonna be a common theme throughout this entire episode. If you can buy tickets in advance, just do it.

Meggan: yes.

Jenn: There are other exhibits that cost extra or shorter tour options. So there's the Queen's diamond Jubilee galleries. There's an abbreviated tour called the highlights. We did the tour with, you know, like self-guided with the headphones and the little thing. Yeah. It was really cool. It's very beautiful. I really enjoyed doing it. You can also attend a service if that's something you wanna do on Sundays, they have times and details and stuff on their website there.

Meggan: Cool. I didn't do it on my last trip. I'm sure I probably didn't do it on my second trip. So if I did, it was grade 12 and I don't remember, but it's, I mean, I've seen it with my eyes and it is it's, it's even worth just if you happen to be in the area, but that's not your thing.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: Cause it isn't everyone's thing. It it's still lovely to see

Jenn: mm-hmm all right. Where to next?

Meggan: All right. Big Ben. I mean, it's a big clock, essentially, right? Is located at the north end of the houses of parliament in Westminster, central London. It recently underwent a four year renovation that just wrapped up in 2021. It's really an iconic landmark, if nothing else. It's beautiful to take pictures of, you know, worth seeing one of those things with your own eyes, kinda like the Mona Lisa, it's cool to like see it with your own eyes. Now, question is, can you go up inside a bit? Well, yes. However, , it's a couple of stipulations. You need to either be granted permission from a local member of parliament. If you know, any, you know,

Jenn: yeah.

Meggan: Offhand or you need to be a resident of the UK. So even for those lucky folks, it's usually a six months in advance waiting list. And you do have to be able to climb 334 steps unassisted. So suffice to say, we may never, never be able to go inside mm-hmm but like the commoners that we are, we'll just admire it from afar.

Jenn: Yeah. Well, maybe there's a member of Parliament listening right now and they wanna invite us up.

Meggan: maybe, I mean, they just elected a new prime minister today, so they might be busy.

Maybe they have time for us. What do we know? I don't know.

Jenn: All right. More Royal stuff. There's a lot of Royal stuff in London.

Meggan: There is

Jenn: Kensington palace, the birthplace of queen Victoria, home of Wills and Kate. Duke and Dutchess of Cambridge. So the part of the palace that you get to visit is basically a museum. It's really interesting. If you are into Royal history at all, it's 20 pounds per adult. Buy tickets, online book, a time slot. Blah, blah, blah.

Meggan: , you know, the drill,

Jenn: all those things the gardens are really beautiful. You can visit those for free. They have kind of also changing things going on in there. So when I went, I got to see gowns of princess Diana, which were really cool to see.

Meggan: Yep.

Jenn: Long gone now, seven years later, but it was, it was really cool.

Meggan: Yeah, I was there in 2008 I think there was some kind of art exhibit when I was there. So yes, they do change out the things that you can see there. So yeah, I think that one's worth it. I enjoyed it. Okay, good. Next off to the London Eye. So again, buying tickets in advance is key. So you don't have to wait in line to literally buy a ticket and it's actually recommended by the website to buy in advance. So not just from us. You know, you've heard the drill from us too many times. The website says to do it. The only thing I found with the London Eye which is essentially big gondolas on a Ferris wheel that offers really great views. It does cut into any spontaneity because you do need to purchase tickets in advance. So yes, of course, waiting in line to buy a ticket, that's not fun. So there's a definite advantage to doing so, but also you really just have to make sure you build your day around your ticket time. So the rest of your day sort of depends on when you have to be there.

I did enjoy the ride though. I've done it twice now. It's relaxing. There's really great views of the city. The second time when I was there in 2016, it was raining. So a little bit of break from the rain. A standard ticket these days will cost you around 32 pounds. A fast track ticket, which allows you to skip the line as you wait to board, apparently.

Jenn: Oh,

Meggan: is around 51 pounds. So it really isn't a cheap excursion, especially if you're a family. So that's really something to take into consideration because it won't be cheap. Sure. It's lovely. But do you need to do it? But I, I did enjoy it. Did you guys do the London eye?

Jenn: No, we didn't do it at all. And I, I have a fear of heights so I was like, dunno if this is for me. And I felt like it was one of those things that was expensive for what I was going to get out of the experience.

Meggan: Yep.

Jenn: So we skipped it.

Meggan: That is very fair. Where are we off to next?

Jenn: We're off to Trafalgar square. Often seen as the heart of London. So it's basically a public square. It's a really good jumping off point. There's a lot of things to do in the area. So like the national galleries there, there's like fountains there's street performers, Nelson's column. I'm sure you dunno what I mean by that? Once you see a picture, you'd be like, oh yeah, I know.

Meggan: Yes. Yes.

Jenn: Was built to commemorate Vice-Admiral Horatio Nelson's decisive victory at the battle of Trafalgar.

Meggan: Of course.

Jenn: Yes. Right. There are four bronze lions and they're made from the French and Spanish ships that were defeated in the battle of Trafalgar

Meggan: burn.

Jenn: Uh, yeah, apparently they were controversial addiction, but I can't imagine them not being there.

Meggan: Yeah, it's a lovely spot of the town, especially on like a sunny day. The fountains are so pretty. I really love it with a national gallery in the back. I think it's a really, really nice area.

Jenn: Good place for people watching

Meggan: it is indeed. It is indeed. Now my biggest tip, I would say something I love about going to London is going to the theater. So the theater district is in your Piccadilly circus and Trafalgar square. It's a busy area with lots of energy, but also somewhere you have to keep sort of your belongings close to you as you walk about. But honestly, that's advice for any city really. Uh, The closest subway station is actually called Piccadilly circus.

Um, And also you could go to Leicester, Leicester I don't know someone out there correct me square. Although it would be a bit more of a walk for that one. During my grade 12 trip, we saw two plays. One was completely performed on roller skates. I loved it. So. Much it was called Starlight Express. And the other one was miss Saigon.

And then in 2016 I saw the play that goes wrong by Henry Lewis, which was really amusing. We were like front row. It was awesome. And then a tip I wanna give people as well as. We wanted to see on our last night, another show when we were there in 2016. So honestly we just picked one, went for Showtime, hoping to get tickets and scored some last minute seats.

So it's always worth trying that we saw another Henry Lewis one, which was the comedy about a bank robbery. Both were really enjoyable and it's really random and weird that I love the theater in London, but Broadway does not entice me. So I don't understand. And I don't know. Maybe it feels more exotic. I have no idea, but I, I freaking love it.

Jenn: I can't even,

Meggan: I'm a mystery in [inaudible]

Jenn: oK. That makes no sense. That makes no sense.

Meggan: Thank you.

Jenn: Okay. I, I, haven't been to a show in London. I've been to several on Broadway, which apparently according to you is inferior, but I loved them. So ,

Meggan: I have been to a Broadway show as well. And I mean, I, we know I fell asleep, so I, I don't know what to tell you.

Jenn: I don't know either. Yes, I would love to see a show in London. That's definitely something that I would put on my list for my next visit.

Meggan: Yes. All right, Jenn, what's up next. Since this mystery, we need to get away from it. So where should we

Jenn: We'll never make sense of it? It'll never make sense.

Meggan: It won't.

Jenn: All right. Let's head to the tower of London, which was one of the highlights of my trip to London. So parts of it were built in the 11th century by William the Conqueror. It's been extended and added to numerous times king Edward, the first expanded it to basically what it is today.

It's served as an armory, treasury, prison, home of the Royal mint ,public record office, home of the crown jewels, and more, it's been

Meggan: very busy,

Jenn: many, many things. We spent so much time here. Like I think we were here over four hours. We did the tour given by the Beefeaters, which runs every 30 minutes. We just kind of happened to walk in, as one was starting. We're like, oh, this is perfect.

Meggan: Nice.

Jenn: But I would plan to do one again. The Yeoman Warders, the beef eaters, as you would call them. They live in, they still live there. They live inside there and they're the guards. They look after the towers and the Ravens who live there because legend has it that if the Ravens leave the tower, the kingdom will fall. And so the Ravens live there and they have clipped their wings. So they don't leave.

Meggan: That's so so the irony of that is the, I guess the kingdom will never fall cause the Ravens just simply can't fly.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: Mm-hmm

Jenn: I mean they can fly, but not far, apparently. It's very strange, but there were Ravens when I was there.

Meggan: All right. All right. Another mystery. We'll just leave alone. Yep. All right. Well, there's some bridges there. I don't know if you've heard.

Jenn: I have

Meggan: so tower bridge and London bridge along the Thames. So London bridge gets all the hype. However, tower bridge is the real beauty. So if you can only see one, I mean, I would choose tower bridge. It's cool to walk through. Part of it has a glass floor. If that's your thing, some people don't enjoy glass floors. If you just wanna walk. It is free, but if you do wanna see the glass floor in like the steam engine room, which we did on our last trip, you do need to buy a ticket.

However, you know, you should also walk across London bridge. It is free to do so you can say that you did it if that's also your thing. And they are located in different boroughs. So just plan accordingly, if you do wanna do both

Jenn: mm-hmm we had planned to do tower bridge, but then we took too long at the Tower of London and then it was closed. So sad

Meggan: next time,

Jenn: next time. Mm. All right, museums, there are, so

Meggan: there's a few,

Jenn: many museums. We actually love museums. And the fact that London had so many and that they were free is amazing. So we visited the natural history museum, the Victoria and Albert museum, the Tate modern museum, the Royal muse and the British museum. Hard to pick a favorite. Honestly, we had a really good time. I did really like the natural history museum, although it's a little bit similar to the museum of natural history in New York.

Meggan: Right.

Jenn: Victoria and Albert museum was really cool too.

Meggan: I went to that one, actually. Yeah, I know I'm not a museumy person, but I did enjoy it very much.

Jenn: We did. We were very briefly in the British museum and I don't even know if we could still find this, but it was Rick Steves and it was like a podcast thing. I

Meggan: okay.

Jenn: And he, it was basically an audio tour and it took you to like 11 highlights of the museum. Like we had very little time to do this museum. We were fitting it in, in the morning before the game at Stanford bridge. So we just like went in and hit some of the highlights and then got out. So it was really cool. If I can find it, I'll link it in the show notes, but it's been like seven years so I dunno if I can find it.

Meggan: Right. I also wanted to mention before, move on though, that I also enjoyed the British library um, seems very random.

But my friend took me and down in the basement, there's like tons of archives. Of like original sheets of music from the Beatles, like really cool, cool things can be found as well at the British library. So I would recommend that as well in terms of like, quote unquote under the museum umbrella.

Jenn: Yes.

Meggan: Now, of course there's so much to do there, but we don't wanna spend the entire episode talking about all the things you can do because really the possibilities are endless. But I did kind of come up with a running list of just a couple other like quick tips of things you should do. So. Here's a quick list.

Pause if you need to. But I would suggest a few things. So grabbing a drink at the famous Savoy hotel, so posh, so fun. I also recommend doing a proper tea time at a proper tea house. I went to Soho's secret tea room. I don't understand why it's secret cuz I went there and it, I found it. So I don't know but it is above the coach and horses Tavern. It was awesome. I loved it so much. If you are a Canadian visiting, I recommend going to Canada house. Every province has their own room within Canada house, and there's a cool beehive on the roof as well. You will need your passport to visit. So don't forget that. Grab a bite to eat at Fortnum and Mason, it's a really high end grocery. I had a coffee and a piece of cake. Jack, the ripper walking tour did that last time I was there. There's so many parks and green spaces. We didn't even really touch on that, but there's just a ton. So if that's your thing, definitely look those up. The London transport museum, if you love trains or transportation and the history of it, that's a really great place to go.

And then finally, the Covent garden market, it's a large outdoor farmer's market with 20 plus restaurants in it. I was there and I had a lovely drink of pimms and a lovely meal. It was wonderful. So those are just some like extra things I wanted to throw out there that we of course didn't have time to get into, but those are some fun things that I've done before that I loved.

Jenn: Yes, there's so much. I do wanna actually give a special mention to the Brompton cemetery, which seems like a weird addition, but we walked through it numerous times because it was the fastest way to get from our hotel to Stamford bridge. And at the time in 2015, they were raising money to restore it. And so now they have, so it is a cool place to kind of stroll through. And if you happen to be going from Earl's Court to the Stamford bridge. It's a nice little walkthrough.

Meggan: Cool. All right. Well, I think that's a ton of information in terms of like what you, you know, should see or do. But the next question is like, how do I get there?

So Jenn, why don't we talk a little bit about the best way to get around London?

Jenn: Let's get around. So the London underground, AKA the tube is pretty easy to use, in our opinion. So it's divided into nine zone zones. One and two are most of the touristy attractions. So you will need to get an oyster card so you can load money on it. And then you just go, we picked our up hours at the airport before we took the tube from the airport to go to our hotel. Right. And they were super helpful at the airport and kind of helping us learn how to use it and the tube.

Hop on, hop off, you know, we love the hop on, hop off great way to get around and get your bearings. I will mention actually we bought the London pass when we went to London for two days. Which included entrance to a lot of the attractions that we talked about. And then it also included the hop on hop off for one day. So

Meggan: You gotta love that.

Jenn: Look into the London pass if you're going, because like a lot of the places we said were kind of expensive for like a one time entrance.

And so if you're planning on visiting quite a few of them, I it's probably worth getting the London. And then, but use, use your feet. Walk around. We walked a lot here.

Meggan: Yeah and Google maps now is obviously super up to date. It's, it'll help you really good around. And another thing you can do too, is take the tube to a place where there's like a lot of attractions in one area, and then you just walk from there. So a combination of the, of the two things I think is key. You mentioned taking the tube from the airport. We did that on our second trip. It really can be sort of a money saver as well as compared to like a taxi. So. If that's something you're comfortable with taking your suitcase on the tube, I would definitely recommend it. And if I remember correctly, we actually did that on my grad trip as well. So I I think it's a great way to save money.

Jenn: Yeah, for sure. All right. Let's talk about some food and I'm gonna need you to tell me about it because we cooked all almost all of our meals. We ate out one time at a place called gourmet burger kitchen.

It was delicious, but we were really on a budget on this trip. So

Meggan: that's fair.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: and London is not a cheap place to visit. So if you wanna do a lot of things, then you have to, you have to pick and choose what's important. And as long as you're full that's key, mm-hmm . So pub culture is really huge in London. But eating as usual will depend on budget. Like we just mentioned, and really the types of meals you want to eat. Do you wanna be walking around with like a full belly of pub food all the time? Probably not, but it did remind me a bit of Halifax in that a pint and some pub food were readily available.

I do recommend the mash peas. I'm not even a mash peas fan. I'm not a pea fan, but. And there are some really great spots. You can go and buy, ready to eat food, which I think is, you know, really the way to go, whether you're on a budget or you just need something fast and you don't wanna do a sit down meal and you can get those at places like Tesco, Sainsbury, and also Marks and Spencer as well.

So you don't wanna blow that budget. On food, if you have one. So it's a really great way to go. Also reserving a hotel with a breakfast included could also be a great way to save money. You can either, you know, shove some fruit or granola bars if they have them from breakfast in your bag, go about your day. And the are of course, many options for like fine dining. And also, like I have mentioned. A podcast previously talking about food, finding a great spot for Sunday dinner, such as the one I had at the London Marriott county hall near Westminster Abbey. Actually, it can be a really fun dining experience.

We had the time. So we like were there for an hour or two. It was lovely. Another restaurant. Which was smaller, but near our hotel where we grabbed a bite and I'm really not, I don't eat a lot of Indian food, but it was an Indian restaurant called Masala and I would highly recommend it again. People might hear that and be like, what?

But I'm not an Indian food expert. And it was, I, I loved it. It seemed like a family run business and it was highly enjoyable. So you can go of course, like anywhere from like high end to the grocery store and everywhere in between. When we were there in 2008, we actually ate a lot at a place called literally called eat E A T that's all it was called. And I actually Googled them for the episode, but they closed down all of their UK locations in 2021. So RIP to them for the UK. But yeah, there's lots of options. And it's according to your budget and what you're looking for.

Jenn: Yeah, I think in 2015, when we went. I definitely had a different approach to like planning, travel. And I don't think I looked up like any restaurants, whereas now I would do research beforehand and find stuff that was in our budget and in our food taste. I love Indian food, so yeah. I want to try myself, me

Meggan: indeed. I have some pictures. I'll try to, if, if I have space, I'll try to include it for the social media.

Jenn: Delicious. All right. So London is great. We love London. Yes. It's also a really good jumping off point, especially because if you're from Halifax or Nova Scotia, like we are, we have a direct flight from Halifax to London, and then you can kind of spread out and explore a little bit. So Meggan, where did you go?

Meggan: Yeah. And I think I probably didn't travel like this prior to meeting Peter. So he's very much where can we go from here kind of person. So if you are open to that opportunity to visit places outside of your main destination, it's a great travel hack, honestly, to be able to see more places than just that one city.

So. We were able to go online and book ahead of our trip. And we booked a bus tour, picked us up from our hotel. This was in 2008. It was a really horrible hotel. I don't remember the name and I wouldn't recommend it, but on digress Um, we were on talk about a budget. That hotel was on a budget. Luckily the tour was lovely.

So we went to Stonehenge, Bath and Winchester. We had a guide with us on the bus. Obviously she spoke both English and Japanese, which was honestly fascinating to listen to. I'm like, Speak more Japanese. I love to listen. And we drove to the countryside. We headed to the first incredible stop, which of was course Stonehenge it's a Marvel. I highly recommend. On the way back, we stopped at bath where we did a quick guided tour. Then we had some time on our own to explore, which was great. And we grabbed lunch. We then headed to Winchester, which was one of the most memorable moments of the trip because we went to the Winchester cathedral and the choir was practicing. Oh, the acoustics literally brought tears to both of our eyes. I'm like, this is the coolest thing I've ever heard. It was just. It was so awesome. Something to keep in mind though with that kind of tour. And I'm sure it was probably the same for you is it's a very full day

Jenn: mm-hmm .

Meggan: So we left before 8:00 AM. We arrived back. It was dark but it was worth it. And there's lots of great options. I checked, you know, prior to the episode, still to be able to book those kind of tours online, just ensure it's a reputable site. And check reviews, not only on their site, but also in a secondary location as well. And just to quickly mention, we didn't do it, but we have friends who visited London. They also took a bus and went to Wales and Cardiff. And then they also took the train and went to Brussels for the day. So there are so many other side trips you can take from London. If that. Your thing, what did you guys do?

Jenn: For sure. We also took a bus tour similar to you. Ours was through Greyhound. So we did Salisbury Stonehenge and Bath. So our first stop was at Salisbury where we took a tour of the Salisbury cathedral, and we got to see one of the four remain copies of the Magna Carta, which was really cool. And then we did. Same as you Stonehenge and then finished the day in Bath.

I loved Bath. Like the Roman baths were really cool, like that part, but also the town was a adorable.

Meggan: Yes.

Jenn: And I wish

Meggan: it was,

Jenn: I wished we had more time there. So I think next time we go back to London, we'll probably go on our own and spend maybe a couple days just in bath. I'm sure that there is a train or more publicly transportation option. I'm I'm not sure to Bath instead of taking like a bus tour.

Meggan: Right, right.

Jenn: But yeah, it was, it was really fun and it was nice to get out of the city for, you know, some time too.

Meggan: Yeah, no, I agree. It's nice to sort of see the countryside and, and now even, even now we travel in a lot less big cities it seems like. So it it's really nice to sort of take a break from that and see sort of some nature

Jenn: yeah.

Meggan: all right. So, I mean, this has been a lot of info. We thought we would end the episode with just some like fun facts. You know, things you might not know about the area. So what do we have up first, Jenn?

Jenn: All right. So big Ben, which we talked about earlier, what we think of big Ben is not actually big Ben. Big Ben is the name of the bell.

Meggan: yes,

Jenn: the structure is the clock tower which like, blah, so. Big Ben sounds so much more interesting, but it is funny that we're, we're all calling this tower big Ben, when that's yeah, not actually its name

Meggan: who knew? Right. I guess everyone now . That's what we all know.

Jenn: Yeah.

Meggan: Next up black cab drivers. So the taxis that you see everywhere, the, the famous London black cab, so the drivers are actually tested. So there is a difficult test called "the knowledge", so where they literally have to memorize every single street in London. It it's, my mind is like blown even when I consider it. So when I was there in 2016, my friend actually asked our cab driver about it. And it is a true fact. Some even walk the city to try to remember everything that they've experienced on foot. So can you imagine, like trying to remember every. You know, street and side street and alley and London, and then writing a test about it. Anyway. So, I mean, it's really comforting to know that they really know the deal. Yeah. I mean, they know where you're going, regardless of what you say, but I can't imagine having to take the test.

Jenn: I don't even know every street in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.

Meggan: well, exactly. There's no need to, I guess, unless you're opening your own black cab taxi.

Jenn: I guess, but oh my God, I can't even imagine .

All right. Next fun fact, do not feed the pigeons in Trafalgar square. It is banned.

Meggan: Oh

Jenn: banned. Apparently there used to be thousands of pigeons there, and then feeding them was banned in 2003 and a hawk was brought in to keep them away. Apparently it worked, there are a lot less pigeons that makes me happy, cuz I don't really like birds that much. So

Meggan: no?

Jenn: Well not like large groups of birds make me very nervous.

Meggan: Wow. The little drips and drabs of who you are just spills out into this podcast and jobs. I mean, yes, I can see, like, I don't wanna be like surrounded by a large group of birds either.

So I, I get what you're saying. I love, I love, I love birds, but large groups would be scary.

Jenn: Yes.

Meggan: That's why a movie was made about them. I guess I don't know... As we've already talked about, even only mentioned a few London has over 170 museums, you could spend an entire trip, a long trip there just going to museum. So they're both of course, big and small, the city's full of culture. And there's a museum for nearly everything, including one, just for like fans, you know, like that you fan yourself with? That's in Greenwich. So if you're just really into fans, Head to Greenwich, I guess. I don't know.

Jenn: Interesting.

Meggan: Yes. So literally something for everyone.

Jenn: Last fun fact, London is the smallest city in England. You heard that, right? The mega city that we think of as London is actually greater London while the city of London itself is a small portion of greater London. So the London itself only is a population of 9,123 people making it the smallest in England.

Meggan: Wow. Weird. That's a great one to end on. No one would think that I get it, but no one would think that right.

Jenn: Nobody. All right. Well, that's all that we have for this week. This beginner's guide to London has made me want to book a trip to London.

Meggan: I know.

Jenn: Thanks for listening to the travel mug podcast. As always, you can find us on our website, travel mug, podcast.com. Facebook Instagram travel mug podcast, support the show on buy us of coffee or buy me a coffee, I guess it's technically called similar to Patreon, not quite Patreon. You'll get some fun bloop things. There might be one or two from this episode. I don't know.

Meggan: Maybe,

Jenn: um,

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Meggan: Bye.