LONDON, ENGLAND — Lauren Mossberg

My mom had never been to London, so we planned a long weekend together: lots of sightseeing and dining, The Devil Wears Prada Musical, and a nice stay at The Langham.

Thu Sep 11

It took us almost 2 hours to Uber from Heathrow because of the Underground strike. (Absurd.) The strike meant there were a lot more cars on the road. Once we finally made it to The Langham, the pool and sauna were calling my name. Then I crashed for a couple of hours before showering and getting ready for the afternoon and evening.

The Langham lobby florals, which seem to change every day

We headed out around 3:15pm and walked through Carnaby Street, Soho Square, Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square, Chinatown, and the Historic Seven Dials Circle. To be completely transparent, I cheated and asked ChatGPT to give me a Google Maps walking path from The Langham to Dishoom in Covent Garden - I didn’t want to do any of the heavy lifting.

Shaftesbury Memorial Fountain at Piccadilly Circus

Dishoom smelled heavenly as soon as we walked in. Apparently, the Covent Garden location is the newest in London. That was exciting. And I can’t wait for the NYC location to open.

Mom doesn’t love spicy food, so we went with the chicken ruby and the grilled lamb chops, plus the broccoli salad, grilled greens, garlic naan, basmati rice, and raita. The choices seemed the safest for her, though the server claimed everything at Dishoom “has a kick”. The food was phenomenal as expected. It was the perfect kick off to our trip. I had actually been dreaming of the broccoli salad for weeks.

We walked leisurely back to The Langham to grab a drink at the Artesian cocktail bar. I had made the reservation to keep us awake on our first night, knowing we would probably be tired. But also, I just love that bar. The menu is always so creative.

Fri Sep 12

After coffee and croissant, we walked to The Ritz to join our City of Westminster walking tour. We had booked this three-hour tour on Viator. I enjoyed it much more than I would have thought. The guides knew exactly where to bring us and when to see the different changing of the guard processionals. And they knew so much history just from memory. The walking tour ended by dropping us at Churchill’s War Rooms, where we used prepaid tickets to gain entry and listening devices. It was like stepping back in time. When WWII ended, everyone left the offices just as they were. And they’ve been preserved since.

Changing of the guards at Buckingham Palace

Queen Elizabeth and her corgis, part of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth memorials along The Mall

After the tour of the war rooms, Mom and I walked back towards Big Ben to see Westminster Abbey and Westminster Palace.

Then we made it back to The Langham before dinner. We took the Tube to Fallow where I had made a chef’s counter reservation. The entire experience and the food were absolutely amazing. We shared a bunch of things: corn ribs, ricotta and focaccia, duck pancakes, mushroom parfait, beef ribs, flaming mussels, tomato salad, and the Chelsea tart. And the best part was we got to see everything get made by the chefs in the kitchen.

Sat Sep 12

Beatles before brunch! We took the Underground out to Abbey Road to see the Abbey Road Studios, visit the gift shop, and walk the iconic crosswalk. Around 10:45-11:00am it wasn’t too crowded. We were able to take some pictures pretty easily.

Then we trained to The Rubens at The Palace for high tea. We were early so we walked by Buckingham Palace to get a close-up view. It wasn’t nearly as crowded as the day of the changing of the guards. For high tea, we were seated right by the window in a love seat which was so fun for people watching, with a view of the Royal Mews.

We had help catching a taxi from the hotel staff, and we headed to Harrods to window shop. We walked through the women’s floors, the “shoe heaven” floor, and the gift shop. Then I wanted to pay a visit to the townhouse where they filmed The Parent Trap, which was only a 10-minute walk away.

The townhouse from The Parent Trap, located at 23 Egerton Terrace, London SW3 2BU

From there we rode the bus for the first time towards Covent Garden Market. The weather was rainy, so this indoor market seemed like a good thing to check off the list. Then we stopped back at the hotel to drop some things before heading out to our show.

The original motivation to plan this London trip was to see The Devil Wears Prada musical, starring Vanessa Williams. It was only in London, not yet in New York. The show was so good! Vanessa was great. And the woman who starred as Andy, Georgie Buckland, was wonderful. Assuming the show opens in New York, I might even see it again.

After the show, we walked home and ordered room service at The Langham.

Sun Sep 14

I slept until 10:00 after staying up late on my phone and watching TV. That was okay though, because our day was beginning with a Sunday roast at Quality Chop House in the early afternoon. We got the works: rump roast, brisket, horseradish cream, roasted potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, roasted squash, savoy cabbage, and leek gratin. It was a lot of food but all particularly good.

Instead of the food-coma nap I wanted to take, I shopped my way around Marylebone for a while before returning to the hotel to freshen up for a cocktail reservation at Soma Soho.

We walked to Soma and if I didn’t know the little logo of the bar, I might have missed the light beside the door. The cocktails were excellent. I got a tomato cocktail reminiscent of a vodka tomato martini, then a cucumber mint cocktail.

Mon Sep 15

We woke up and took the train to my first and only f**k up of the trip. I didn’t realize, in all of my research, that Borough Market was closed on Mondays. That was a big bummer for me because I love a big, bustling food market. Mom didn’t really care. She just wanted a cappuccino. Easy to please! We popped into Monmouth Coffee Company for coffee and a pastry before walking to the Thames River.

I had made a lunch reservation for The Vault 1894, where I knew we could get some good fish and chips. We sat inside, actually under the Tower Bridge. It was pretty cool. On a nice sunny day, The Vault 1894 has tables outside with some of the best views of the Tower Bridge.

We crossed Tower Bridge to visit the Tower of London. I had purchased tickets for us to see the crown jewels. We then spent a couple of hours going through the other exhibits there, too.

Walked to the Owl & Pussycat, a random pub I had saved, to kill some time before dinner. Nice spot! It was bustling for a Monday, I was impressed. When it was time for our dinner reservation, we walked over to Gloria. It’s part of the Big Mamma restaurant group that I loved in Paris, and with the name being mom’s, we had to go. The food was delicious and the service delightful. We shared a couple of pastas, then the lemon pie for dessert which has an infamously large layer of meringue on top. It was comical, but tasty!

Tue Sep 16

Then after a relaxed morning of coffee and packing, we flew home!