Travel: Covent Garden Market, Transport Museum, a meet-up, a Pub, & other must-sees (London, UK)

We started our second day in London by heading to the London Transport Museum. On the way there, however, we passed through the Covent Garden Market. The former fruit and vegetable market is now a beautiful shopping centre. It has high end brands like Dior and local shops selling artisan goods.

Though what really got to me were the antiques and other awesome vintage finds. In case it isn’t that obvious yet, let me just put it out there – London is an awesome city for shopping for vintage. They have the best stuff I’ve seen! And I do love spending time looking through markets and stores that sell vintage and antiques.

London Transport Museum

From the Covent Garden Market, we walked towards the London Transport Museum which was a must visit for my husband. Not a lot of people know this about Alvin but he has this crazy fascination for planes, trains, and even buses.

He used to avidly collect plane models but that has gotten slower these past few years due to our collective allergy to clutter. Alvin also loves simulators for operating and driving these modes of transportation. Married to a nerd, ladies and gentlemen.

The London Transport Museum is actually a place that caters usually to kids. The exhibits are interactive and great for pictures. Kids (and adults) can easily learn more about how transportation in London evolved through the years. I, myself, am quite interested in the Underground system and I do love vintage trains. Although I’m not as nerdy about them as my husband. 😛

Look at my little kiddo enjoying the place. 😉 When he’s not writing reports here in KL for the Ambassador, my husband is planning journeys for us. He also loves long drives. Our weekends are often spent on the road going out for errands or driving to another city to check out a restaurant or new place of interest.

He loves how the double-decker buses in London have so many buttons. High tech dashboard? Husband approves. 😛

London cabs are such a classic. <3

I did say that it was a museum for kids, right? Upon entry, they will be presented with this cardboard stamper trail. The museum has stations where you can get yours stamped – this is to ensure the kids go and learn something from each section. I completed mine, obviously. Just look at that smug smile.

The London Transport Museum is located at: Covent Garden Piazza, London WC2E 7BB

It’s open most everyday from 10am to 6pm but better check their website for holidays and sudden closures.

Adult tickets are at GBP17 and kids go in for free. London Pass holders also get free entry.

Coffee at Selfridges

After we enjoyed being little kids that morning, we went to meet up with one of our favourite couples to double date with. Doc Margie and Jeremy were in London at the same time, and we couldn’t pass up on the chance to meet and catch up.

Doc Margie and I met while I was working with Rappler and we instantly clicked. My friends are almost always a bit older than I am. For some reason, I hardly click with people my age and I’m happy that Alvin and Jeremy get along really well too. They’re both smart, mild-mannered men who married crazy (in a good way) women. 😉

Wandering around the city

From there, we took a train then walked through Whitehall and tried to see a bit of 10 Downing Street. I was hoping to see Larry through the gates but I guess the Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office was quite preoccupied.

We then went to the Churchill War Rooms where we spent a couple of hours going back in time and learning about one of the most interesting people during World War II. I love Churchill but I must admit that it’s Clementine who I have such a fascination for.

My full review of our visit to the Churchill War Rooms can be found here:

READ: Travel: The Churchill War Rooms (London, UK)

And so, the long walk continued. We passed the Horse Guards, a Palladian building that houses the Household Cavalry Museum. We didn’t stay long as there were still a lot of war monuments and sights to pass by on the way home.

An OOTD shot disguised as a touristy picture. 😉 Also, a moment of silence for those red flats that never made it back to KL. By the end of our 3-week European adventure, they were already too scuffed. They were still holding up but the soles were already too thin so I left them at my mom’s. 😛 We were averaging at 21 thousand steps a day! My husband and I love walking. Especially when there’s so much to see and the weather is just right – sunny with a bit of a breeze.

Will let the next photos do the talking since they don’t need further introduction.

Harry Potter fans will get why the next photo is important. 😉 Also – curse you, Fenrir Greyback!

We passed by Tate Modern (we’re not huge modern art fans – we prefer older styles) then went to the Borough Market area but sadly, there were no stalls open that day. We looked around some areas where we can have dinner, ate a bit then decided to take a double decker to the hotel.

Right beside the place where we were staying was a pub called The Horse & Stables. No visit to London is ever complete without hanging out at a pub and I got my husband to go even if he doesn’t really drink. 😉 I’m not a beer person myself (hard liquor all the way!) but my friend Arpita got me addicted to cider months into moving to KL. London has great choices for cider so I got one that has a tinge of strawberry for myself and pear for Alvin.

Not too shabby with the servings, great ambiance and a friendly crowd of mostly locals. I highly recommend this place. 😀

Gotta rush now as I have another event to go to today. More of our London adventures later!

Love,

Carol

*Trip is not sponsored by any country’s tourism department, company, or brand. Although almost all of our expenses were shouldered by my side of the family who want to see me more often. Thanks, fam!😘