European Adventure

Are you ready to go on a European Adventure? I’m so excited to share my adventure to London, Paris, and Disneyland Paris with you!

I visited in mid-June. The weather was cool and cloudy with some rain. You always have to be prepared for rain in this region!

Would you love to explore Europe but it’s a little intimidating? London is a fantastic “gateway” city to get familiar with international travel but not be overwhelmed by language barriers and the like.

We had a short 2.5 days in London and we made the most of it!

If you are looking for an absolutely gorgeous hotel with amazing history and fantastic location I can’t recommend the St Pancras Renaissance Hotel enough! Day 1 we arrived and it was quite a sight pulling up to this hotel.

It puts you within walking distance of some activities, and then the Eurostar train station is literally in the building (quite convenient if you are taking the train to Paris). And the Underground is right underneath! You can’t really beat that location. And if you are a Harry Potter fan, you are right across the street from Kings Cross station.

You might even notice the hotel’s iconic Grand Staircase from your favorite music video (such as Spice Girls “Wannabe”), and films such as Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and James Bond “The World is Not Enough”.

The rooms themselves are clean and comfortable and spacious with good A/C.

Once we dropped off our luggage with bell services at the hotel, we headed right across the street to O’Neil’s pub and had some delicious British pub food. I went with the classic fish n chips which is of course served with a side of peas.

After lunch, we took a taxi down to the Sherlock Holmes Museum! This was a really fun experience. If you are a lover of literature or Sherlock Holmes, this is a must-see!

We walked around exploring the area a bit and came across some pretty cool things, including a location where Charles Dickens lived and wrote several of his books (which my sister, the Dickens lover, was thrilled about!).

After a wander, it was time for dinner at Booking 1893, a restaurant in our hotel. We ate some very yummy food and enjoyed the atmosphere. This restaurant is located in what was once the ticketing office for the train station in the late 1800’s. If you look carefully, you can still see the ticket windows behind the bar. And then through the windows is St Pancras station for the Eurostar.

Then it was time to head to bed!

Day 2 started with a jaunt on the Hop On/Hop Off Bus down to the British Museum. While waiting for our time slot, we came across a really cool little book store specializing in books from the 1800s.

After the British Museum, we made our way to Liberty of London, an iconic London store. This building has so much amazing history. And they have some beautiful memorials for the workers who fought and died in World War 1 and World War 2. I have to include a picture I took of a pub while on the way there. There are so many amazing pubs with flowers around the doors and in the windowsills. This was one of my favorite things about London.

After Liberty of London, we went to Harrod’s and explored a bit. My favorite thing at Harrod’s was the gigantic teddy bear!

That was a wrap for day 2!

On day 3, we used the Hop On/ Hop Off bus to see some of the major landmarks as well as walked down to China Town and the M&Ms Store.

Pictured are Trafalgar Square, a yummy little ramen place near China Town, China Town gate with amazing pub next to it, the M&Ms Store (3 levels!!!), Parliament with Big Ben, St Paul’s Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Tower of London, Buckingham Palace.