Advantage-The Points Mom!
We headed to London over July 4th for a 4 night stay at the Waldorf. Recall, I used 320,000 Hilton Honors points for this stay and saved $1440. Yay me!
The main purpose of the trip was a day at Wimbledon for my 50th birthday. However, I couldn’t go to London without hitting more of the highlights, ones that I missed on our family trip and on my girls trip. So in addition to Wimbledon (will save the best for last), we of course made it to some other popular spots and trendy areas. Also, as I always love to do when traveling, we ate amazing food-I think I now like Indian. We attended the theater and saw a show that is not yet in New York! Finally, for the first time, I left London proper and explored a bit of the countryside, which was enough of a taste for me to know I want to go back to the country for a longer visit. With Rob and our friends Alexis, Jeff and Wendi accompanying us, we enjoyed so much of what the UK has to offer…..
Bermondsey Street, an area I had never gone to my 3 other times in London, was where we headed to for a traditional pub lunch at The Woolpack. Here, we sat in the outside patio and had our first of many pints and dined on bangers and mash and fried chicken filet sandwiches (held the mayo!).
The area was decked out with World Cup decorations as England had just advanced to the next round. The street was trendy with lots of microbreweries, pubs and other restaurants. Thanks Jackie Polikoff, a Luxury Travel Consultant with Courtyard Travel, for recommending the street and area to us.
The main purpose of the trip was a day at Wimbledon for my 50th birthday. However, I couldn’t go to London without hitting more of the highlights, ones that I missed on 
Bermondsey Street, an area I had never gone to my 3 other times in London, was where we headed to for a traditional pub lunch at 
The area was decked out with World Cup decorations as England had just advanced to the next round. The street was trendy with lots of microbreweries, pubs and other restaurants. Thanks 
While we were in the neighborhood of Bermondsey street, we also hit the close by 
A new attraction at the bridge (that my kids would have loved but wasn’t there when we were back in 2012) is a glass floor. I got dizzy and scared standing/sitting on the floor watching the boats go by on the Thames River underneath. If that doesn’t bother you, they offer Yoga on the glass floor…you can give that a try. I can’t imagine doing a downward dog while looking down 42 meters. Yikes!
I finally made it to the top of the The Shard for sunset drinks at GŎNG Bar, located on the 52nd floor of the modern skyscraper. You enter through the Shangri-La Hotel. We waited about 10 minutes in the hotel lobby before we were escorted up. (It says on the site they do take bookings). There were tasty complimentary snacks that accompanied our drinks and the views from the top were great. However, the area we were sitting in was hot. In other parts of the bar the AC was a bit stronger. Regardless, The Shard-check!
Wake up Alexis and Jeff!
Another day in the city, I finally made it to Kensington Palace, the official residence of William and Kate and their kids. I enjoyed the exhibit Diana: Her Fashion Story, which is on display in the palace. The exhibit shows the evolution of Diana through her clothes and style. You can see the actual original dresses and then a picture of Diana in the dress, detailing when and where she wore it. It is a good thing that I enjoyed the exhibit, because I found the rest of the palace boring! (that’s just me though). Also, you cannot even see the area where William and Kate and other members of the royal family reside. However, the palace itself is pretty impressive and the gardens very pretty. We took a lot of nice photos in the gardens.
En route to the palace we admired The London Mastaba, a temporary sculpture by the artist Christo. The massive sculpture sits on Serpentine Lake, in Hyde Park. The Mastaba consists of horizontally stacked colorful barrels on a floating platform. It was quite a sight and I got some great pictures. The sculpture will be on view until September 23, 2018. If you are in London prior to then, I would make this quick stop a priority.
We headed to one of my favorite areas in London after the palace, Notting Hill. We had an amazing lunch at 202 London on my favorite London street, Westbourne Grove. Elissa L.! (If you are in the area, I also highly recommend Granger & Co. for lunch, I had already been there prior to this trip).
Rob and I walked the four miles back to our hotel after lunch. (We walked that or more everyday…love me a good walking city!). We needed the exercise as we had an early dinner at the Ham Yard Hotel in Soho because we had a 7:30 pm show. Jackie P.! We got a table outside in the large, airy seating area and really enjoyed our meal at this bustling and trendy restaurant. Bonus, it was right around the corner from our show, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at the Apollo Theater.
We all really enjoyed Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, and we heard it is coming to New York. I can’t wait to say “I saw it in London”. 🙂 The musical was highly entertaining and the actor who plays Jamie, John McRea, was outstanding. We had one complaint, similar to the one we had at the Shard. The theater was hot! I should have mentioned above that it was warm in London the four days we were there, high 80s. I do not think many of London’s ac units are equipped for that heat when coupled with the crowds. Nevertheless, it was still a great show and night!
Hello English Countryside. For the very first time, I finally left the city of London for the countryside via a private driver/tour guide secured for us via Jackie (the one who led us to Bermondsey street). Thanks again Jackie! Our first stop was Stonehenge, the famous prehistoric monument which dates back thousands of years. It was cool to see the stone structure and wonder why it was built, which is still a mystery today. (Outlander fans-we know why the stones were built in Scotland…maybe here too? 🙂 ). You cannot touch the stones, but instead you walk in a circle around the monument and get different vantage points and good shots.
One theory of Stonehenge is that it is aligned to the solar cycle. This theory fits nicely with an event at Stonehenge that takes place 2x per year. On the summer and winter solstices, guests may touch the stones. 
Turns out that the stones are sacred to certain people and they come from far and wide to observe various rites and rituals and pray to the stones. Apparently it is quite a popular thing to do and thousands come. So cool to learn about that day!
Some useful Stonehenge tips-Our guide knew an alternate route so we could bypass the long line of cars that probably just followed their navigations to get to the attraction. We also had advance tickets, so that helped things go much more smoothly as well. Lastly, it is possible to book a private tour of Stonehenge after regular operating hours, at sunrise or sunset. Coming from London, this would be difficult because of the travel time to get there (close to 2 hours). But, I think this would be a beautiful and even more memorable way to see the mysterious stone structure.
From Stonehenge we headed to the town of Windsor for a traditional pub lunch at the Two Brewers. It was a fun and fine meal. From there we headed to Windsor Castle. Before entering the castle gates, we marveled at the Long Walk, the tree-lined pathway leading to Windsor Castle. This is the path that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle rode along in their carriage following their wedding ceremony. It is also the path that the Queen takes every day that the Royal Ascot is running. The Royal Ascot is a five-day thoroughbred race which takes place in Windsor each June. Queen Elizabeth II has attended the race every year since 1945. We heard that the locals line up on the Long Path every morning of the race to get a guaranteed glimpse of the Queen passing by on her way to the course. Cool facts!
Inside the castle gates we explored St George’s Chapel, and the alter within the chapel where the actual ceremony of Harry and Meghan took place. Our guide even pointed out where each member of the Royal Family sat during the wedding. The chapel itself is vast and majestic. We also looked inside the iron gates to the courtyard where you can see the Queen’s apartments, but we didn’t see her at all. 🙂
Afterwards, we had tickets to go explore the inside of the castle. My friends went but the guys passed to find a pub (one that looked like a coffee shop) to watch England in the World Cup. I, thinking it would be similar to Versailles where I had just been a few months prior, passed to walk around the streets of Windsor. Windsor was a cute town, with some pubs, quaint shops and wool purveyors. I later joined Rob to watch the rest of the game, where unfortunately England lost to Croatia 2-1. We then headed back to the city for the evening activity.
“I don’t like Indian food”, a common statement I have made in the past when anyone suggested an Indian restaurant to me. I will no longer be stating that! We had a late dinner that night at Dishoom in Covent Garden. Cindy W! Plan accordingly, there are no reservations and the line is long. We were quoted about an hour wait but it took only about 30 minutes to get taken to the bar. From the bar, there was another short wait for our table.
I told the waitress that I didn’t like curry (I don’t) and thinking that everything was going to taste like curry is what has prevented me from eating Indian in the past. We ordered a ton of food. We all shared. Everything was delicious even though at times very spicy. Nothing we ordered had a heavy curry flavor. I am game to try Indian in New York. Where should I go?
The best for last-WIMBLEDON!
We went early in the tournament, Day 4. We were lucky that we had a connection to score Centre Court tickets at the All England Club, where the tournament takes place.
We enjoyed our Centre Court seats! In the early part of the day, we watched Nadal defeat Kukushkin in 3 sets. Later on, we watched England’s own Kyle Edmund dominate over USA’s Bradley Klahn. Good tennis, nothing so crazy. Don’t forget, we were early on in the tournament. We were quiet and respectful (with the rest of the crowd) during the matches.
Our seats were across from the Royal Box, with its 74 dark green wicker chairs We couldn’t make out anyone noteworthy but kept wondering how those spectator men survive the sun and the heat in JACKETS AND TIES! The royal family as well as friends and guests of the royal family must follow strict dress protocol. The women are asked not to wear hats, as to not block the people sitting behind them.
When we weren’t in our seats, we were enjoying every other aspect of Wimbledon. We tasted strawberries and cream, and drank a traditional Pimms Cup (a few!). We were blown away by the floral display that you can see everywhere you look throughout the grounds. 
We learned that almost 50,000 plants and shrubs are laid out before the tournament, all timed to flower to perfection during the 2 weeks of play. WOW! The flowers are something that still stands out to me today. We visited the Wimbledon Shop. I got a tote bag and Rob got a hat. And we people watched and chatted with all of the other lucky folks that were there with us that day.
We saw a lot more tennis too. That early in the tournament there was always a match taking place on one of the many other smaller grass courts within the grounds. We stopped to watch various singles and doubles matches throughout the day as we made our way to different locations within the stadium.
A big highlight-Rob and I decided to forgo our fancy centre court seats for a bit to watch a match (the centre court match) on the screen at Henman Hill. Here we watched another Brit, Johanna Konta, unfortunately lose in 2 sets. But oh, was the Hill fun! I was so excited to be sitting there after seeing the Hill on TV so often. It is like a big tailgate party. We even saw ourselves on the big screen. So memorable!
One other thing really stands out from our day at Wimbledon that has nothing to do with the stadium was the Town Of Wimbledon. We walked from the train to and from the stadium through the charming and manicured streets of the town. 
What struck me the most, was all of the cool and creative tennis displays in practically every shop window. Even the nail places, haircutters, attorneys, banks, etc had some sort of unique tennis ball array in their windows. It surely was a great place to “window” shop. Also, the town is a useful stop for dinner on your way back to London, if you don’t want anymore stadium food. We had dinner at The Dog and Fox before heading back to the city. The pub was hopping and our steaks and chips (fries) were quite good.
As for the transportation to and from Wimbledon from the city, we took the train. Our hotel was conveniently located about 10 minutes (walk) from Waterloo Station. It was 4 stops to Wimbledon which took about 15 minutes. However, you have a bit of a walk (1.2 miles) when you leave the train station. But I love to walk, and had we not walked we would have missed seeing the town. We reversed all of that heading back to London. There are buses and taxis when you leave the train station as well. You can also take the tube to Southfields Station and I think that stop is a bit closer to the stadium.
I am not sure if I will ever make it back to Centre Court, but I definitely think I will make it back to Henman Hill. I just said to my oldest son, let’s go the summer before he leaves for school-2 summers from now. The way we would be able to accomplish this, is the queue…
Wimbledon allows you to queue for same day tickets at a reasonable price (cash only-waah!). A very limited number of tickets are available daily for Centre Court, No. 1 Court and No. 2 Court (BTW-our tickets couldn’t get us on to courts 1 and 2 where there are usually other big matches). To get those tickets, you would likely have to get on line in the middle of the night.
We met people on the Hill who queued up at 6:30 AM that day to secure a Grounds Pass. With the pass, you have access to everywhere but the stadiums mentioned above. So you can watch all of the matches on Courts 3-18 and the big matches via big screen on the Hill. It would still be an amazing day just having access to these areas.
There are a lot of rules relating to the queueing process, and based on some of them, you can see that people definitely get on the queue the night before. (“Early in the morning (approximately 6am) anyone in The Queue will be woken by the Stewards, asked to dismantle any overnight equipment, and close up into a tighter formation to create space for those joining The Queue on the day“).
Here is a great article where you can learn all about the details on how to queue. Also, I don’t know much about this, but in the spring there is a public ballot (like a lottery) that I believe anyone can enter for a shot at tickets.
So that was our busy four days in London for my 50th birthday. I head to the U.S. Open this coming weekend, but I will surely be remembering my time at Wimbledon and will miss seeing all of the grass courts, FLOWERS, hats and tradition of the prestigious tournament.
Game Set Match The Points Mom!
