Semester at Sea | Day Two: Hyde Park + Kensington Palace + Museums

I know that for the #SASTRAVELOATH, I vowed to be a traveler and NOT a tourist, but since we’re only in London for a few days and I’ve never been we are doing some pretty “touristy” things while we’re here. We had a full day of adventures and I have a feeling the next two are going to fly by as well!

We decided last night that we would sleep in this morning, but make sure we were up before breakfast ended so we could grab something to eat before we left our hostel. After breakfast we came back to our room to get ready and then took off for the day! All of the buildings on our block are stark white and it is so beautiful! I loved walking through the streets – it made me so happy!

We wanted to eat lunch somewhere along the way so we mapped out some restaurants and chose to check out the Cleveland Arms. This pub is super old and has so much character! The bar menu was full of eclectic sandwiches, classic bar food, and odd snacks. After an internal debate on whether or not to choose the sandwich with avocado and egg or the goat cheese, tomato, and pesto, I finally decided on the latter and Nathan got a ham, cheese, and egg sandwich. Our expectations weren’t super high for pub food so when our waiter delivered the most beautiful and creatively plated dishes we’ve ever seen we were shocked! I hardly wanted to eat mine because it looked so pretty, but I’m glad I decided to because it was delicious.

After lunch we continued on our way to Hyde Park where we spent most of the afternoon. Hyde Park is the Central Park of London. We decided to just start walking the loop and stop where we wanted. There were so many opportunities for photo ops! It was nice to go for a leisurely walk after being stuck inside most of the last few days.

Kensington Palace is technically separate from the park, but the two run into each other so seamlessly it appears they are connected. We walked around the back of the Palace and the other royal buildings on the property, through Princess Diana gardens, and to the Prince Albert memorial. Kensington Palace is absolutely stunning! With so many people running around constantly, it’s hard to believe royalty lives there! You can walk right up to the gate which I thought was just crazy. Princess Diana’s memorial gardens are beautiful and the Prince Albert memorial is outrageously big.

After we made it about halfway around the park, we decided to take a detour and visit the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum. I am glad both of them are free because you could spend several days in each one – there is so much to see! The science museum had an exhibit about food cravings which Nathan and I both thought was really neat. They have an entire floor dedicated to technology and one for energy with so many interactive exhibits. We spent a lot of time checking it all out before moving on to the Natural History Museum. The Natural History Museum has some of the largest fossil collections in the world and some of the specimens they’ve been able to put together are mind boggling! In every entrance there is a near-whole dinosaur skeleton and the escalator is surrounded by a model earth with different layers exposed. We didn’t have as much time there since we spent quite a bit at the Science Museum, but we did meander through the earth exhibits, the dinosaurs, and a few other fossils.

Before we visited the museums, I stopped at an ice cream truck and had the best vanilla ice cream I have ever experienced in my entire life. It was the softest, creamiest, and tastiest ice cream EVER! I think I’ll have to get some more tomorrow 😉

W were ready for supper when we got done visiting the museums so we started walking on the other side of Hyde Park across the bridge over the Serpentine and back towards our hostel. Both of us really wanted to get some fish and chips for supper so we stopped at a restaurant called The Swan and ordered just that! And the best nachos I have ever eaten. Seriously who would have thought you could get good nachos in London?! They were so tasty!

On our way back to the hostel we stopped at a little touristy shop so that I could pick up a flag and a map. Those are the two souvenirs I want to collect from each country! They don’t take up much room which is great since I don’t have a lot of that right now 😉

Both of us are wondering how on earth we should rearrange our bags to make it back to the underground to the airport on Sunday since it will be a bit of an adventure now that I have all of my luggage back! We are looking forward to spending another couple days here in London – it really is a beautiful city. =) I will be maintaining my blog posts daily with photos and then likely uploading photos to Facebook after the end of our stays in each country. Here are some of my favorite other moments from our first day in London: