Europe Trip: London - Day 1

Jeff and I had been wishfully hoping and planning that we would be able to go to Europe as a 10 year anniversary gift to ourselves for awhile now. We celebrated the BIG TEN this past December, so this was the summer we were shooting for. It was a scheduling nightmare trying to get this trip to happen! Luckily, it worked out in the end and we are so grateful for our parents who were able to watch the girls for us!  

Jeff and I at the airport so excited to get our long awaited trip to Europe started!

We took a Red Eye flight out of Buffalo on Friday evening and landed in London early Saturday morning. Despite not being able to sleep much on the flight, we pushed through being tired to make the most of our day. We took a cab to our hotel and since our room was not ready yet, we walked around the hotel a bit and had lunch at a pub across the street. I of course had a traditional London meal of Fish and Chips, and it was awesome!

I stole this picture of our hotel at night from the hotel's website:

Our hotel was STUNNING. It was so regal and really just took my breath away. It is centrally located close to Kings Cross Underground station, the National Rail, and Eurostar station, which is why we initially picked this hotel, since we would later be taking the Eurostar to Paris. The hotel is iconic and was restored from when it first opened in 1873.

Pictures I took of outside the hotel:

Lobby:

Kings Cross Station which is directly connected to the hotel:

Our room:

We were so lucky that Jeff had accumulated so many Marriott points for us to use on this trip. We decided to upgrade to stay in the Chambers Suite. This allowed us to stay in the original building and have access to the Chambers Club, which included free breakfast each morning, afternoon tea and light snacks and drinks in the evenings. We also took advantage of the VIP Eurostar transfer service that was included.  

Afternoon tea in the Chambers Club:

After getting settled into our room and having afternoon tea, Jeff and I got freshened up for the evening.

The details in the hotel were exquisite. Here is the grand staircase:

Heading out for the evening:

We hoped on the subway - which seemed to be the best way to get around the city while we were there.

We walked around the Thames River and checked out the iconic Tower Bridge (which is often confused for London Bridge).

We walked past this monument which was built to commemorate the great fire of London 1666:

While walking around we found the sight of one of the most recent terrorist attacks in London:

We then made our way over to The Shard, which is the tallest building in the UK.

We had reservations to go up to the open-air observation deck and viewing gallery for a glass of champagne...

...and then we had dinner at one of the restaurants located in The Shard. We got lucky with a table that was right against the window and had an awesome view as the sun setting over London.

Not the best pictures (due to the glare of the window) but it was an awesome way to end our first night in London!